Need Help with jerky from ground meat

[Squidward]

I have looked at the "calking gun" for jerky before and have never tried it, as I like chewy jerky. However, my parents brought me one and now I have to try it out. I have always smoked in an old school smoke house or little chief, with this kind of jerky is it ok to put in a smoke house or do I just oven or dehydrator it?
when I smoke jerky / fish, my brine is a simple one, i don't do hot / spicy as I have a wide range in age of eaters. so it's salt, b-sugar & water. 
I'd like to use a simple home brine however, I don't know if the meat will stay together without the chemicals that are in a commercial brine.
anyone got any good home recipes for a simple dry brine for hamburger jerky?

Thank you for taking the time.  Squidward

[Wolfdog2314]

I do my burger jerky the same as whole muscle meat. I use the sportsmans warehouse seasoning/cure packages and then smoke it the same in my Bradley smoker. I like these pre packaged seasonings because they mix in well with the grinder meat, as apposed to a liquid brine. In the smoker I just test often until it's how I like it. I'll always pull it off a little sooner than later also, because I don't want it overly dry and tough.

Is there fat added to your burger? I've noticed with mine I get a ton of fat that cooks out of it and rests on the top of the meat. I don't mind it too much, just looks funky once dried. I have some frozen whole meat that I will grind myself and not add any fat, specifically for burger jerky.

Good luck!

[jrebel]

Here is a link with a little bit of information.  I did ground meat jerky and loved it. 

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,162085.0.html

[JODakota]

Los the smoke house!

[CoryTDF]

Los the smoke house!

Is that Spanish?

[JODakota]

Los the smoke house!

Is that Spanish?

Ci senora

[Squidward]

Thank you all for the feed back, I'll be stopping by the store for a season packet to try out this new jerky adventure. still not sure if I will dehydrate the 1st batch or put it in the smoke house. I'll let ya know how it turns out. Squid

[HarboritE]

I just started making jerky with elk burger too . I use a Nesco jerky gun and dehydrator. I've only used nesco original jerky mix so far and it's really really good. I made 12 lbs of it and gave it out as Christmas gifts and it was a hit !  I want to try the spicy mix. I also have some high mountain original mix I haven't tried yet. The gun works awesome and just takes a minute to get good at. It looks store bought and is not as tough on teeth as whole meat jerky so old people can eat it . I'm really interested in making my own cure/seasoning mix but haven't looked into it yet because when I got my dehydrator it came with enough mix to do 33 lbs.

[lamrith]

One trick with the jerk guns is to make sure you use non-stick spray between each fill up, I found it helps quite a bit.  I ran mine on pellet grill at low temp and it turned out great.  I have the Nesco setup as well.

[Stein]

I've only used a dehydrator for jerky of any type.  The guns work pretty good, just takes a few times to get the hang of it.

[bosshogg112]

When I make jerky out of ground meat, I press it between two cookie sheets (they need to have a small lip on it 1/4-1/2 inch thick is what it ends up being).  Then once I have a giant patty of jerky I use a pizza cutter to cut it into strips.  I have found this method much faster than the jerky gun. 

[CP]

Tagging 

[lamrith]

When I make jerky out of ground meat, I press it between two cookie sheets (they need to have a small lip on it 1/4-1/2 inch thick is what it ends up being).  Then once I have a giant patty of jerky I use a pizza cutter to cut it into strips.  I have found this method much faster than the jerky gun.

Awesome idea!

[Squidward]

When I make jerky out of ground meat, I press it between two cookie sheets (they need to have a small lip on it 1/4-1/2 inch thick is what it ends up being).  Then once I have a giant patty of jerky I use a pizza cutter to cut it into strips.  I have found this method much faster than the jerky gun.

Awesome idea!

I picked up a pack of commercial jerky mix, it mentioned using cookie sheets like you do it also showed just having the meat in a roll and cutting slices off of it. could have tried this ground meat without a caulking gun  . going to give it a try tonight, going to brine some meat and give it a go. Hope you all have a great weekend. Squid

[NRA4LIFE]

I roll mine between wax paper or parchment and then freeze for a bit on a cookie sheet.  Then slice into jerky sized pieces.  I have found that the recipes I've used from the internet needed a bit more salt.

[Squidward]

Los the smoke house!

thank you . I have some adjusting to do for cold weather smoking but it works nice and should be around a long time.

I made a few small batches of jerky with my new gun. the grand kids really like it. I ended up mixing the meat up let it set and cooked in the oven. it worked really well. thank you all. Squidward

[spin05]

Try the mountain high seasoning mix

[Squidward]

Try the mountain high seasoning mix

I'll look for it. is there more than one flavor in that brand? is there a better one out of the mix? thank you. Squid