Groundhog Recipes Jerky

GROUND BEEF JERKY

Steps:

• Stir salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, black pepper, and cayenne pepper together in a large bowl; add ground beef and mix well.
• Pass beef mixture through a meat grinder set with the finest blade.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Place wire-racks onto baking sheets.
• Place 1/2 ground beef mixture between two sheets of heavy plastic on a solid, level surface. Firmly roll beef mixture to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap, invert beef mixture onto prepared baking sheet, and remove the bottom layer of plastic wrap. Repeat for remaining beef mixture.
• Bake beef mixture in the preheated oven with the oven door slightly ajar for 2 1/2 hours. Rotate the baking sheet. Bake until jerky is cooked through, another 3 hours. Remove jerky from oven and cut into strips while warm.

HOMEMADE BEEF JERKY

Steps:

• Whisk Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, paprika, honey, black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and onion powder together in a bowl. Add beef to bowl and turn to coat beef completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator, 3 hours to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack over the foil.
• Transfer beef to paper towels to dry. Discard marinade. Arrange beef slices in a single layer on the prepared wire rack on the baking sheet.
• Bake beef in the preheated oven until dry and leathery, 3 to 4 hours. Cut with scissors into bite-size pieces.

PEMMICAN-STYLE GROUND MEAT JERKY

Steps:

• Grind the venison, bacon and dried cranberries through the fine die of your grinder. If you are using pre-ground venison, chop the dried cranberries well and add them to the ground meat. Put the meat and cranberries in a large bowl and add all the remaining ingredients. Mix well with your (very clean) hands until everything comes together and starts to stick to itself.
• If you have a vacuum sealer, seal the mixture and set in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. If you don't, pack the meat mixture into a lidded container and press some plastic wrap directly onto the surface and let it sit that way.
• The next day, separate the mixture into two or three chunks, depending on how big your jerky gun is. Pack it in and squeeze out lengths of jerky onto your dehydrator trays. Make sure they are separated from each other. Dehydrate at 150°F until the meat is mostly dry, but still chewy. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can smoke-dry it in your smoker, or in an oven set to "warm," with the door slightly ajar. In both of these cases, you want to keep the temperature as close to 150°F as you can.
• This sort of jerky doesn't keep as long as traditional jerky because of the fat content. But it will keep for several weeks in the fridge, and it freezes well.

JERKY MADE FROM DEHYDRATED GROUND BEEF

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Keep the ground beef chilled until you are ready to use it.
• In a large bowl, mix together lemon juice, lemon zest, onion, tamari or soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, olive oil, paprika, garlic, salt, pepper, optional liquid smoke, and optional cayenne pepper. Let the ingredients sit for 15 minutes for the flavors to "marry."
• Add the ground beef and combine well (clean hands are the best kitchen tool for this job). Put the mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Lay out a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on a work surface. Scoop 1/4 of the jerky mixture onto it. Place another sheet of paper on top and roll it out to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
• Remove the top sheet of paper, if you used one. Put one of the dehydrator trays on top of the jerky and flip the whole thing over to transfer the jerky to the dehydrator tray. Remove the remaining sheet of parchment or waxed paper.
• Patch any holes by putting in more of the raw jerky mixture.
• Dehydrate for 4 to 8 hours at 155 F. Check after 4 hours. You want the jerky fully dried but chewy, not crunchy. Don't worry if you're not 100 percent sure that you've correctly identified that consistency; the next step helps ensure food safety.
• When the jerky seems dried but still chewy, transfer it to baking trays and finish it off in a preheated 275 F oven for 10 minutes. This is an important step because not all dehydrator temperature settings are accurate. You want the meat to get to an internal temperature of 160 F to 165 F to be safe. Jerky is too thin for a meat thermometer, so this ensures it's fully cooked. This only cooks the meat ​and isn't a substitute for drying it in the dehydrator.
• Cut the jerky into strips. Once it is completely cool, store it in airtight containers at room temperature.

HOW TO MAKE BEEF JERKY FROM GROUND MEAT INCLUDING WILD GAME

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly including any optional ingredients you have have decided to add.
• Divide mixture into flat strips. You can use a jerky gun for this or follow the directions in the post. The strips should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. For ticker strips more cooking time will be needed.
• Place strips on baking cooling racks.
• Place racks in oven and let cook/dry for 2 hours.
• For a dryer jerky, increase cook time but do not shorten time to less than 2 hours. The jerky needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit for this recipe.
• For best long term storage I refrigerate the jerky in FoodSaver Bags or in Ziploc.

GROUND BEEF JERKY

Steps:

• In a glass bowl, combine all ingredients and let sit (refrigerated) for at least two hours. I mixed this up at bedtime and let it sit until after lunch the next day, and it wasn't too strong.
• Load the mixture in the jerky gun and use the gun to load your dehydrator trays. I do recommend using the mesh inserts or fruit leather trays for your dehydrator. This mixture is fairly soft because of the added liquid, which makes it easier to fire through the gun.
• If you don't have a jerky gun, roll the mixture out very thinly (1/8 inch thick) and score lines where you would like the pieces to break apart.
• Dry at 145° - 165° F (63° - 74° C) for 4 to 12 hours, until jerky is hard but still flexible and contains no pockets of moisture. For extra safety, heat finished jerky in a 275° F (135° C) oven for 10 minutes.

GROUND BEEF JERKY - GROUND VENISON JERKY

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Using a jerky gun, press thin strips onto dehydrator racks. Or, roll thin between parchment paper, cut into strips and place on racks.
• Dehydrate for 7-12 hours until dry and crisp.
• Store up to 7 days in refrigerator or freeze for longer storage.