I have begun to dabble in making jerky in both a smoker and dehydrator.  I bought some of the prepackaged seasoning and cure.  The recipe calls for making it with ground beef/ground meat.  So far I don't care for that kind.  I have used a jerky gun and tried a rolling pin.

I guess I have a few questions for the jerky pros:

1)  can the seasoning and cure be used on strips of meat instead of ground meat?

2)  if so, do you just sprinkle it on like nay other seasoning (sasoning and cure together?

3)  is there a secret to making jerky from ground meat, or does it always look kinda nasty?

I haven't made any in a long time, but I used to make a lot. I don't think there's any way to make jerky out of ground meat that looks like anything else. Sorry.

I always sliced mine as thin as I could get it. I'd remove all the fat that I could, then put it in the freezer for a while. You want it almost, but not quite frozen. After a couple of attempts, you'll know what I'm talking about. Slice it across the grain, as thin as you can.

I always used a marinade, not the dry rubs. One of my favorites was the simplest one I found. One bottle red wine, one bottle of worchestershire,  one cup brown sugar, half cup salt and 1/4 cup black pepper. If I can find the exact recipe, I'll send it to you. No promises on that, I haven't done this in a while. Heat it just enough to get the sugar to dissolve, cool, and pour just enough over the meat strips to get it good and wet.  You can save the rest of the marinade for quite a while in a jar in the frig.Leave the meat in the frig for at least 24 hours, stirring it about every now and then. Wring it out, getting the meat as dry as you can,  pepper it to taste, then smoke it or just dehydrate it.

Cheers,

GK

Thanks for the recipe idea.  Sounds interesting.  I will probably give that a try.

When I make jerky I use a brine mix made by Luhr Jensen. I've had alot of compliments from family and friends about how good my jerky is.

There is no e-mail address on the package, but here is the phone number: 1-800-535-1711.

I even use the same brine for smoking salmon.

Falcon

Falcon, are you using a gun or strips of meat?

Sorry about that. I should have mentioned I use strips of meat. Beef or venison.

I also use a charcoal smoker and not a dehydrator.

Falcon