How to Make Homemade Restructured Jerky - Recipe

[blackbetty61]

Jonathon that’s kinda what I thought just making sure…thanks

[Jonathon]

blackbetty61 lol love the hat!

[ToddS]

I want to use Venison mixed with pork. I am told to use about a 30% ratio of pork and or beef. Does the cure come in the jerky mix? Or do I use something else?

[Daniel Cybulski]

Jonathon, Just received the jerky and seasoning I won on the last monthly giveaway live broadcast. The jerky was fantastic! What was the excalibur seasoning you used?

[Bigtwin]

@x7k6400 I’ve always used 100% ground venison for jerky. Adding pork may introduce fat or too much fat which is undesirable in jerky.

[Jonathon]

Daniel Cybulski Yes, the Walton’s Bold was the base. We then added 18% of the weight of the meat in brown sugar and then 18% in low sodium soy sauce, then dash of rice wine vinegar and a smaller dash of lemon concentrate. We then vacuum tumbled it and let it sit in the vacuum tumbler in a cooler overnight, then we smoked it. A full video will come out on this soon(ish) and then some videos on how to do it without a vacuum tumbler.

Glad you enjoyed it, I am super happy about how that turned out! That jerky will be the main live stream giveaway item from now! on

[Jonathon]

Bigtwin I don’t make restructured jerky all that often and when I do I grind the meat from a low fat cut first. Have…just reread your post and see you are using venison so you are grinding it too…question was going to be (and anyone who sees this feel free to answer) have you ever made ground and formed jerky from 80/20, what about the 93/7? Is there any noticeable difference between the 2?

[Bigtwin]

Jonathon no, I’ve only used lean ground venison. I’m assuming you can add fat but shelf life would be short and globs of fat beaded up on the jerky probably wouldn’t be desirable.

[Daniel Cybulski]

Jonathon I’m definitely going to give this a try. Looking forward to seeing the video.

[Chance]

Can this be done in a dehydrator as well?

[Dave in AZ]

I think there is a bit of misinformation above concerning the smoked meat stabilizer. It seems to me like the results of the “telephone game” where you start with one phrase, after 5 or 6 people that phrase has been warped. Here are some points for your consideration about mixing “smoked meat stabilizer” with water:

1. Smoked meat stabilizer is just vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and citric acid. This is a combination that is found inside every citrus fruit, and in the stomach of every person who ever ate a vitamin C with a glass of citrus juice… I hardly think adding these two to water will create poison gas.
2. The ACTUAL warning for the product, and also the warning contained in 3 meat brining nooks I have is this: Should not be used in a brine or pickle as it will gas out immediately and create dangerous fumes.
3. The dangerous fumes is NOT FROM THE CITRIC OR ASCORBIC ACID. It is the nitric oxide rapidly created from the sodium nitrate found in Cure#1, or Sure Cure as Waltons sells it. This cure #1 along with salt is what is in most all curing BRINES.
4. It is the COMBINATION of sodium nitrate (cure#1 or Sure Cure) with the two accelerants ascorbic acid and citric acid (what Waltons calls “smoked meat stabilizer”) that causes quick nitric oxide formation… and not just the combination, but specifically mixing the two in a bucket of water, i.e. Brine! Not mixing them in meat where the gas is absorbed, but in a bucket of brine where the gas has nowhere to go but in your lungs.
5. Somehow this common warning to not mix accelerant into brine, got twisted into don’t add any water to your mix, and also later in video, don’t add the acid blend to water. Both of these are flat wrong, we do both all the time making sausage, that is literally the directions on how to add a cure accelerator when making sausage!
6. In fact, most books direct you to not add the accelerator directly with the sodium nitrate, just so they are not in direct contact in concentrated undiluted form… this is exactly what was done in the video, both poured right on top of each other. Better practice is to mix in the cure, and after it is spread through the meat, THEN add the accelerator at end.
7. Marianski specifically recommends you mix the accelerator (“smoked meat stabilizer” i.e. vitamin C and citric acid) with a bit of water so it is quickly and more completely dispersed in the meat, and doesn’t have to dissolve via contact with water already in meat. Then add it separate from the cure.
8. In any case, I applaud your excellent commitment to publishing safe processes and attempting to ensure critical safety risks are mitigated-- great attitude and well done on that! I just want to clear up the misconception that somehow developed from not adding to BRINE, to don’t mix with water etc.

Best regards, keep up the awesome work and community building, you’ve absolutely made something special here!

[cdavis]

Dave in AZ very informative. Thanks