Homemade Jerky Anyone? You won’t find this flavor in the convenience store!
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Homemade Jerky Anyone? You won’t find this flavor in the convenience store!
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
Latin cooking isn’t the only place you find hot peppers. They’re very common in Indian cooking--and many other locales in Southeast Asia. So pairing curry with jalapeño is a natural, and very tasty combo. One note of caution: the hottest part of the pepper is the seeds and white membrane inside. If you love heat, chop them into the jerky mix. If you’re looking for dynamic flavor but not fire, trim them off before mincing--and use rubber gloves to handle the peppers so you don’t end up with an eye-full--or worse--of capsicum. Either way this is a jerky that will hide a fair amount of gamy flavor and, since the meat’s ground, makes good use of tougher meat.
Fresh Jalapeño & Curry Jerky
For 1 pound ground red meat, venison, bear or waterfowl
Ingredients
15 ounces ground red meat
1 ounce ground beef fat (about 2 tablespoons, 6% fat)
2 tablespoons minced Jalapeño pepper (about 1 medium sized pepper)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 good-sized cloves)
2 teaspoons ground curry powder
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preparation
Mix the ingredients together well, and place in a tightly sealed plastic bag or storage container. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator to let the flavor develop. To taste: drop a 1-inch ball of mix in a microwave-safe coffee mug and cook for 15-20 seconds on high in the microwave.
Cooking
1. Shape the jerky with a jerky gun and arrange the jerky strips on metal grids over foil-lined drip pans. Preheat the oven to 160°F* and cook about 3-4 hours. When cooked, some fat will rise to the top in wet drops. You can wipe it off with paper toweling, or just leave it alone.
2. Let the jerky cool and air dry in the turned-off oven or on the counter, for 6-8 hours, then store in resealable plastic bags. You can store your jerky in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, or in the freezer up to 3 months.
*Please check your oven to make sure it will operate at 160°F; my 24-year-old oven does it easily, but some newer ones don’t go that low. So check with an oven thermometer and reduce the cooking time if necessary. If your oven only goes as low as 220°F, cut cooking time by 1/3; to 180°F only 10 to 15 minutes less.
Eileen Clarke’s wild game jerky cookbook, Stalking the Wild Jerky, has 101 different flavored recipes, in both sliced and ground meats. (Ground meat jerky is much easier to chew as well as being a convenient way to use waterfowl leg meat.) Available at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273 or at Common Sense and Reading Leaves bookstores and the Goose Bay Handblown Glass shop.
Eileen Clarke
https://www.riflesandrecipes.com
406-521-0273
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Eileen Clarke
Image 1 Caption: Homemade Jerky
Photo Credits: Eileen Clarke
