Deer jerky, meat grinders, recipes

[power napper]

Wow-this is a good thread.
For many years we made baloneys with old hand grinders-enterprise- and it works quite well.
Last year we purchased an electric grinder from Northern Tool, it was on sale at the time then we purchased a five pound capacity stuffer from Grizzly that was on sale.

These new electric tools make a lot of difference in the amount of work it takes to produce a quality product. I consider this as smart not being lazy.

So far this year we have only ground up one doe with the grinder--works wonderfully and stuffed thirty seven and a half pounds of balony into beef casings-smoked with an electric smoker and it is just plain wonderful.

I shall try the recipes on jerky listed in this thread when we harvest our next deer, soon I hope.

Thanks everyone for sharing.

[Zane]

p nappe,
I'm looking for a "good" stuffer also. I could add it in the assembly line and not take up grinder time!
Do you recommend the Grizzly? How does it feed/stuff? Did you get the electric or hand crank type? How much$$$?
Also what type of Bologna recipe do you use? We do lots of sausages but never tried bologna.

[Sundance]

I've been buying pieces at auction for the last couple
of years. PN is right, electric sure makes life easier!

I have to get a stuffer as well, used ones are rare or
way over priced.

Like to hear where you get your supplies. So far this
place has been great to deal with. Good prices, fast
service, and quality goods. I bought some of their
JohnsonVille Brat mix that I am dying to try!! Deer
season opens next Friday.

http://www.midwesternresearch.com/INDEX.htm

[Tom G. Laury]

Best cooked deer meat is aged till it's turning green. Do you guys age for jerky or process fresh? Man my stomach is growling!

[power napper]

Zane-we purchased the crank stuffer strictly because of cost. It would be nice to have the larger electric stuffer but reality is the five pound crank stuffer is just fine. We stuffed on the kitchen table, the hand stuffer would be better to use it it were mounted onto a piece of plywood or countertop--I did not think that my lover girl (wife) would appreciate holes drilled into the kitchen table.
Perhaps keeping your eyes on ebay and craigs list might produce a quality electric stuffer--that would be nice.

We mostly mix our own seasonings for balony and jerky, but Con Yeager and Pittsburgh spice co are both good quality and excellent tasting spices.

[Barry]

and it is just plain wonderful.

Is it ever!
You've got some mighty fine stuff there pn! Did you come up with your own recipe or find an existing one?

Doh! you already answered my question.

[power napper]

Thanks Barry, we sure enjoy it.
It is our own recipe that is actually several combined to make it the way we like it.
The recipe you tasted was from Pittsburgh Spice Company "Pennsylvania deer balony" I think is the name. The seasoning is for twenty five pounds and comes with a container of one ounce cure salt enclosed.
We blended 20 percent (5 pound) ground beef with 80 percent (20 pounds) coarse ground venison.
Mix in two cups powdered milk, the package of seasoning for 25 pounds meat, half of a large onion and four cloves of garlic (vita mixed or blender mixed) with 2 cups of olive oil, and several tablespoons of honey, emulsify this mix thoroughly.
Mix this thouroughly with the meat -we have a meat lug for this use-and the blended mixture should squeeze out of your fist easily--sort of like squeeze and squirt.
This enables you to stuff the casing with the meat nicely.
I prefer beef casings for this recipe, after stuffing we sometimes let set in refrigeration for twenty four hours before baking or smoking.
The smoking was done in an electric smoker that I just bought on craigs list . We also make a hundred percent venison baloney with our own seasoning.

[Zane]

Here is a link I use to get meat proccesing stuff from spices to blades etc.
http://www.alliedkenco.com/catalog/index.php
Hope everyone has a good deer and elk hunt and get plenty of meat for the upcoming year

[Ruben]

If you wanted to go simple you could cut the meat into strips of variuos lengths 3/16-1/4" thick. Order some Texas BBQ Rub www.texasbbqrub.com dip the strip of meat in whorechester sauce and rub down with TexBBQRub and dehydrate to your desired chewyness.

[Black Creek]

I just finished writing this over on the "deer hunting" thread. Prolly works better here !!

well, i harvested just a small buck with the musket so far this year... Wild game is the only red meat i eat all year long. If it doesnt make it into the freezer during season, then we go with out. So i use all that i can. Normally i always go for the heart and liver(and brains to use to tan the hide) but i've never tried kidneys. I kept them this time. Anyone know of a good kidney recipe ?

and for those of you who havent tried this..... keep all the bones as you butcher the deer and make a soup stock. I keep all the bones and the big ones i cut open to expose the marrow(a sawzall with a fresh blade makes it easy) and boil them. take out the cooked bones add in more raw ones and more water as needed. I reduced an entire buck's skeleton down into 2 cups of liquid. oh man ! That is some GOOD stuff right there !!! Venison Ambrosia !



But back to the inards... anyone else eat any of the odd parts? i dunno what to do with these kidneys... except maybe make a Venison Hagis !

[Ruben]

Heck Black Creek, the buzzards gotta eat something

[BULLSEYE BILL]

”To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.”


Outlaw Josey Wales

[Zane]

Black creek- just the heart and liver for me. We tried frying the sliced heart for sandwiches and thats a nice change from boiled! sure is good. We've had some disease going around here they call "blue tongue" where the tongues swell up and they die near a body of water thet cant drink. So we have refrained from much organ meats lately. Same out in Colorao and our elk. The CWD is gettting around our herd we hunt.

[nursebee]

My update and questions.

I bought a Sam Baere 810- a real beast. I did not need this much of a machine but can do a lot with it. I've got my first batch of jerky drying in the oven using American Harvest/Nesco Original Jerky Spice. I look forward to trying my own.

I find myself absent of understanding related to the cures. All the recipes posted here do not include meat cures such as nitrates or nitrites. Same for most of the recipes I see online. But what you can buy has this in. Can anyone school me on this? I want to stay alive and healthy...

Another question: a few of the recipes with cures in them say to refrigerate for 4-24 hours. I kind of understand the penetration needs for whole meat jerkies but not for ground. Any thoughts?

Dehydrating: use oven or commercial product? Oven seems good for bulk but I picture an american harvest dehydrator in my future for utility.

Thank you jerks!

[Zane]

Nursebee,
I've used the nitrates and "salts" in sausage and jerky but dont really think it "needs" it. I dont use it now and I'm still alive!!!I think
I still have a bag or 2 of the stuff and probably wont ever use it. It turns the meat a red color and it does look nice in the summer sausages. Alot of the store bought spice kits still have them(nitrate additives) in it but if you dont care about the color and "nitrates" you'll do fine w/o them. There is some things on the i net to read about them, I think Morton(the salt guys) has some info on it.
I might consider using that stuff when I get the time to "cure" a venison ham like my great grandpa did but I will read up more to be sure its "needed"
Anyone out there make deer or elk hams? pm me w/ info plz

[Sundance]

Anyone out there make deer or elk hams? pm me w/ info plz

One of my hunting partners did a venison ham and turned
one into "dried beef". Both were fantastic. I was really
impressed with the dried leg/ham.

I'll track him down this weekend and pry the recipes from
his hands......

[Black Creek]

I'd love to learn more on the ham idea. It had occurred to me that it might be feasible but i hadnt ever really heard of any one doing it before.

for Dehydrating, if you rarely make jerky then use your oven. but your oven uses a lot of electricity. if you buy a dehydrator.... I like my Excalibur. not the cheapest option tho. I had one of those round ones before that. those work ok, but they have a few problems. you need to rotate the trays for even drying, all the trays are round and have a hole in the middle for air flow which makes it hard to fit very many strips of meat in, and then since the heating element is in the bottom and all the juices and marinade drip on it it becomes a burnt on crusted mess that is a real pain to clean off. I've been using my Excalibur for years. the only thing i'd do different now is to buy it off of ebay used instead of new because of the price.

[Monie]

Newly successful hunter here looking for tips and recipes that are tried and true. I am really interested in making some jerky. I also hope for product reviews on what electric grinders you might like or dislike. Lots of money could be spent on this. Thanks.

Congrats on your success, nursebee! The best bang for your buck, when it comes to grinders, is a Kitchenaid Mixer. Get the meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments. They work great!! I love any appliance that can pull double duty!