Teriyaki Jerky

Last night I made some teriyaki jerky, as per my mother's request. It's not quite as seasoned as we wanted, so next time I'll either use only 4 pounds of meat with this much or add in some extra seasoning. As it's a good flavor, I decided to put it here for me to find again, and for any others interested.

5lbs of ground venison
1T salt
1C soy sauce
1/2C brown sugar
2t garlic powder
2t ground ginger
1t black pepper

Mix it all together with your hands in a big bowl. Shoot it with a jerky cannon, mold it with your hands or whatever way works for you. Then either use an oven or a dehydrator or a smoker to dry it out. I used my dehydrator for 8 hours at about 140 degrees. My dehydrator doesn't have the best temperature dial in the world, but I think that's the temperature it was.

This was made in Oklahoma, where humidity is nonexistent. If I were to do this in south Louisiana at home, well...8 hours just turned into about 12 or 14... :)

Dog Food (et al) Totes

I don't know where I first came across them, but subsequent searches have led me to find this awesome use for plastic dog/cat food/deer corn bags. Since we're at the camp in Oklahoma right now, I actually have a good bit of time to work on crafty stuff. I'm trying multiple patterns out to see which I like best, and then kind of making up my own. The first came from here, and my mom and I made it like that minus the lining. Here is the result:

The second and third ones I did all by myself, as my mother was busy. The second was from here. I prefer the sides and bottom of this one over the first bag, but I like the way the picture shows better on the first one.

Third off, I made my own pattern somewhat. I used this page as a basis of a pattern. I wanted the picture of the deer to show up nicely on it, and as the pattern for this cuts out everything, I drew out what I wanted on newspaper to make it fit. This is my favorite one so far that I've done.

I want to make one of these next. I don't know that I'd put it inside out for the white like they do, unless I cannibalize a puppy food bag with a cute picture on it. 

Sigh. I need to learn to take some better pictures. Any suggestions?

Making Deer Jerky

So last year for Christmas, my parents got me a refurbished dehydrator from LEM Products. That website/catalog is like a candy store. I want everything in it just about.

That's my dehydrator. He lives in our camp/house/remote business location in Oklahoma. I use my grandma's old one at home. Anyway.

This year, since I made a good bit of deer jerky from my dad and brother's kills last year, my parents thought this would help.

It's a jerky cannon. Holds 1.5 pounds of ground meat and you can make either flat jerky or snack sticks. It also has a bottle brush to clean it, a barrell stomper to pack the meat in, and 2 packs of LEM's seasoning (good for 5 pounds each). Naturally, I had to make all 5 pounds of the original flavor one.

The seasoning came with a cure packet in it. I know that technically you're supposed to use all that stuff, but the main reason that I got into drying and canning my own foods is because all those cures and preservatives make me sick. So we store the jerky in the freezer.

The cannon works like a cookie press. You pull the plug all the way back, pack the barrell full, put the tip you want on and go to town. Each of those sticks is 2 "clicks" with the handle/trigger thing. It took me under 2 hours to put together, season 5 pounds of meat, put it on the trays and wash up. I don't even want to think about how many hours that would have been by hand. 1 pound at a time took me long enough last year.

The LEM Original seasoning for jerky is pretty good. I'm more of a teriyaki person myself, but this was good. Normally I make my own seasonings or use the dry rub stuff (bbq, lemon pepper, steak seasonings, etc.) My brother likes all the weird stuff, so I make it for him.

I dried these too long when I did them, since I was worried that they might not be done enough I guess. Next time, a bit shorter would be better. The dog doesn't care though. He likes it just the way it is.

(He was chasing my brother's eggnog.)