Making Deer Jerky

We have a little overnight expedition coming up this weekend with a small select group.

With these summertime temperatures and high humidity steaming our region, I figure the least amount of time necessary cooking over an open fire is a wise investment of time. Do some prepping. Keep it simple. Keep it fast.

Deer jerky is one of the food items that will accompany us on this hike and overnight on the Perdido River.

I’m not a fan of the commercially processed jerky that can be picked up at practically every corner store. I’m also not a fan of the packets of stuff that can be bought and used in making jerky at home. The stuff is packed full of ingredients that I can’t pronounce.

Commercially processed jerky, to my taste, doesn’t taste like meat. It tastes like all the stuff added to the meat.

I’m also not a fan of using purchased beef to make jerky.

Think about it.

Jerky is raw meat that has been dried at a slightly warm temperature. Being raw and dried means none of the nutritional value has been destroyed by high cooking temperatures that also destroys pathogens.

If I am going to eat raw meat it is going to be meat that I’ve killed and processed. Not something that was killed and processed by who knows who, who knows where, then hauled across the country to be handled again by who knows who at who knows where. I’m a little squirrelly about stuff like that and growing more squirrelly with the reoccurring outbreaks of serious foodborne illnesses … illnesses that can do you a lot worse than give you a bad case of the trots.

The particular cut of deer in the first picture comes from the hindquarter. There’s one of these on each hindquarter. It has a number of sections to it that are separated by layers of sinew. It’s a bit of careful work with a sharp blade to turn it into clean bite sized pieces for jerky but I have discovered this cut to be one of the most tender parts of a deer and well worth the time invested.

What do I use on the deer meat to season it?

Whatever happens to be handy in the house.

The marinade for this batch has only a few items in it … Dale’s Seasoning, Liquid Smoke, a little salt, a little black pepper, and a couple tablespoons of honey.

Enough of each to flavor the meat without disguising the taste of the meat.

I prefer to let my jerky marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours before loading it to the dehydrator. The step isn’t absolutely necessary. It’s just a personal preference after making my own jerky for a while.

I cut these bite sized pieces about 3/8ths of an inch thick. ¼ inch or thinner dehydrates faster if you are pressed for time. This batch … at this thickness … on our dehydrator … took better than 24 hours to finish.

There’s a lot of tasty woods goat nutrition in that jar that’s good “as is” or it can be added to the bush pot with a measure of dehydrated vegetables, rice, and whatever your preferential seasonings are to make a really fine stew.