Culinary advice

SimpleMan

Soli Deo Gloria
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Anybody use a pellet grill to make jerky? I have a new Camp Chef Woodwind, and it has a "160 degree low smoke" setting that I'm planning on trying for homemade jerky. I just ordered the jerky racks made for this grill. Also, what brand or where should I look for a meat slicer? I'm thinking at least a 10" slicer. The slicer is something I would buy of higher quality, one that will last the rest of my time, hopefully, for $300 or less. If a $100 slicer will work just as well, that'd be great. Meat will mostly be venison, but I may try some store bought beef as well. What do y'all use?
 
Yeah, find a nice slicing knife. Save money and clean up time.
Get the meat to almost frozen and it will slice nicely.
 
Depending on how thick your meat is (for the jerky lol) you may want something a little taller than your average kitchen knife. I do a lot of my slicing with a small and very sharp cleaver, because I find when the blade is entirely covered by the stuff I am cutting its harder to get even slices.
 
Google "biscuit test" for your pellet grill to find hot spots... I prefer to use a pellet tube for jerkey in my grill... smoke for a couple hours then put in dehydrator at 125F

Also...check local grocery store...many have thin cut eye of round already sliced thin and ready to marinate.
 
If you truly want to get a slicer I recommend getting a used one at a restaurant supply store. Most city’s have at least one of them. Call around..
 
My knifing skills are not adequate enough to fulfill my OCD disorder, the perfectly thin consistent thickness I'm hoping for. I'm really wanting my jerky to be super,super thin, like the kind you can buy at Love's truck stops. And, I'm thinking a knife will be slow at the rate I'm wanting to produce the jerky.
 
My knifing skills are not adequate enough to fulfill my OCD disorder, the perfectly thin consistent thickness I'm hoping for. I'm really wanting my jerky to be super,super thin, like the kind you can buy at Love's truck stops. And, I'm thinking a knife will be slow at the rate I'm wanting to produce the jerky.
You will be surprised how thin you can slice a semi-frozen piece of meat with a sharp knife
 
You can also get it slice a butcher shop when you buy the beef. If using deer, soft frozen and a sharp thin knife
 
If you are cheap like me, I made a slicing tray. I had a restaurant type plastic cutting board and cut off about 4" section. Took it to work and used the milling machine to mill 2 different depth pockets in it, leaving a rim around each pocket. One side is 1/8" deep and the other is 1/4" deep. Then used a round over router bit to break the sharp outer edges.

I take a piece of meat, lay it into which ever pocket and using a long thin sharp filet knife resting on the rim around the pocket, slice the meat to that thickness. I use my left hand to hold the meat down with my fingers outstretched so I don't cut them. I can get very uniform cuts and it did not cost me anything.

upload_2019-9-14_20-58-54.png
 
If you are cheap like me, I made a slicing tray. I had a restaurant type plastic cutting board and cut off about 4" section. Took it to work and used the milling machine to mill 2 different depth pockets in it, leaving a rim around each pocket. One side is 1/8" deep and the other is 1/4" deep. Then used a round over router bit to break the sharp outer edges.

I take a piece of meat, lay it into which ever pocket and using a long thin sharp filet knife resting on the rim around the pocket, slice the meat to that thickness. I use my left hand to hold the meat down with my fingers outstretched so I don't cut them. I can get very uniform cuts and it did not cost me anything.

View attachment 153970

We did this with an old cutting board years ago. Just milled it out 1/8" deep. With a good, sharp knife you can cut up a piece of meat pretty fast.
 
Just finished a small batch of Garlic Carolina Reaper Beef Jerky. This is from presliced bottom round from my local food lion. All I had to do was season and dehydrate. I've come to like dry rubs more than marinated. Definitely a true jerky with a lot of chew.20190915_165745.jpg 20190915_170406.jpg 20190915_170410.jpg
 
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