FEED YOUR FACE: VENISON JERKY

 Well, I received some deer meat and was asked if I could make up some jerky. I asked what flavor they would like, and was told teriyaki. So, here we go.

I was given five or six  wrapped packages of meat. There was stew meat, a small roast, and some back strap. All of the meat was frozen when I got it. I decided to do the meat in small batches. When cutting the meat, you want it to be a bit thawed. It is a lot easier to get your slices that way. Slices should be about 1/4 thick or so.

First, I did some of the stew meat. Now, venison is lean, but there is still some fat. When making jerky, you want to trim as much of the fat off of the meat as you can. If you leave the fat on the meat, it can turn rancid and it does not keep for a long period of time. So, I trimmed and trimmed as much as I could from the stew meat.

I placed chunks of meat in a glass bowl. Don't use a metal bowl. It will give your jerky a funny taste. Pour a bottle of store-bought teriyaki sauce over the meat. Make sure it covers the meat. Stir, cover, and let marinate 24 hours for a light favor or 48 hours for a stronger teriyaki flavor. After marinating, remove the meat, and place it on paper towels or newspaper. Blot the meat to remove the excess sauce. At this point, if you want, you could sprinkle salt or some other spice lightly on the meat. If not, then it is ready for it to go onto dehydrator trays.

I cranked up my smoker, then smoked the chunks for about 1 hour with cherry wood. Then I put them on my racks for the dehydrator. I set the temperature on the dehydrator at 140, and dried the meat for 8 hours. You can use your oven at 200 degrees if you do not have a dehydrator. You'd put the meat on the oven racks with some foil on the bottom of the oven to catch any drips from the meat. You need to have the door of the oven cracked opened some. This lets the meat dry, instead of cooking. It takes about the same amount of time. 'Course, you may have to sample the meat as it dries. Want it drier? Add more time. When the first batch was done, I let the jerky cool before putting it in a zippered food storage bag.


The next couple of batches were the roast, the back strap and the rest of the stew meat. I cut strips of meat against the grain. It makes it more chewy.

After I poured off the marinade and blotted all of the meat, I sprinkled some with sweet BBQ rub, some with garlic powder, and the last bit with Cajun spice. I just did this lightly, but you can put on as much as you want. I only did this on one side of the meat. You don't need to rub it on. Put the meat on your racks and into your dehydrator. As before, 8 hours, 140 degrees.

I then bagged them up and marked the bags. My sister and brother-in-law are both a bit of a wusses when it comes to spicy food. So, the jerky with the Cajun spice was spiced very lightly. Play around with it. Come up with your own version of spices.

You can also make some homemade stew with the jerky. Shave or shred up some of your jerky, and put it in the pot with some of your dried 'taters, corn, peas, carrots, celery, or whatever else you like in your stew. My dad and I made up some dried stew in zippered food storage bags for hunting and camping trips. Figure out your serving sizes. (We made ours for two servings.) Everything can go in one bag, dried meat and veggies. We poured enough water over everything in a pot, then let it set for a few hours. When we came back to camp, we would add more water if we needed to.

For our evening meal, we would then bring it all to a boil, and let it simmer for a bit. We like ours served with a loaf of homemade sourdough bread and some chunks of cheese. A hearty meal on a cold night in elk camp -- YUM!

So, give it a try. Make some jerky. And FEED YOUR FACE!