Making Wild Meat Jerky: To Brine Or Not To Brine?
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
We’re Making Wild Meat Jerky: To Brine or not to Brine?
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
Two methods, one seasoning mix. I was curious to see how much the water in a brine diluted flavor, so mixed one spice combo and used it both as a dry rub and a mini-brine. Both versions were very good, though the brined meat was more tender and had plenty of flavor, the heat was less in-your-face than in the dry rub version. Husband John preferred the up-front heat of the dry rub, but I preferred the subtler richness of the brine. Both of us liked the increased tenderness of the brined meat.
One more thing? Despite having bought almost every gadget for cutting jerky evenly, the easiest method I’ve found is to start with frozen meat, let the surface thaw a bit (1/8th inch depth) and cut with a sharp, long-bladed knife. The little bit of thawing gives your knife some traction to start the cut, while the rest staying firmly frozen keeps the meat from squirming under the blade. Finally, a longer blade makes a cleaner cut. All of those things simplify cooking: uniformly thick slices make for evenly cooked jerky.
The complete dry rub version is below. Ingredients, preparation and cooking. To see how adding one cup of water changes the texture and flavor, start by drying the sliced venison with paper towels so it’s not drippy--and dilutes the brine’s flavor. Then mix the rest of the ingredients in a resealable plastic bag with 1 cup cold water, shake to dissolve the spices. Add the meat slices and mix them into the brine as well. Let sit 48-72 hours in the refrigerator, massaging the slices once or twice a day, to let the flavor reach all the surfaces.
From there, the cooking instructions are the same for both brined and dry-rubbed jerkies.
Dry Rub Tex-Mex Jerky
Ingredients
1 pound meat, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon non-iodized salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Preparation
1. No need to pat the sliced venison dry with paper towels for this version; the moisture on the surface will help spread the spices. Measure the spices into a small bowl--or a (clean) old spice bottle with a shaker top. Spread the meat out on a cutting board or dinner plate in a single layer, and sprinkle half the spice mix on top, then turn the meat slices and sprinkle the rest on the other side.
2. Stack the slices so the spices contact every surface, and drop the stack into a resealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and refrigerate 48 to 72 hours.
Cooking
Preheat the oven to 160°F. Arrange the meat strips on wire mesh grids over a foil-lined pan. Cook at 160°F for 3-4 hours, turn the oven off and 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.
Eileen has written about game care and cooking for Field & Stream, Successful Hunter and published more than a dozen books. This is just one of 101 jerky recipes from Stalking the Wild Jerky, $22 at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273.
