Last Chance For Jerky
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke, Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
It will be too hot to make jerky soon, so while we are still having our usual schizophrenic spring-to-summer transition, this is a good time to prep a batch of the tastiest of snacks. Choose a cool day, hopefully with rain, and grab a goose or covey of ducks from the freezer. (You know you’ve been avoiding them.) Hopefully, the ducks are dabblers, good tasting little beasties, but if not, the tabasco, cumin and chili powder in this recipe will help. It’s a ground meat jerky, which is perfect for game animals smaller than an antelope. Go ahead, ask why.
The trouble with making ducks and geese into jerky is that you don’t really have big chunks you can cut into uniform slices, not like an elk rump roast, for instance. Yes, you’ll get a few perfectly shaped strips for jerky, mostly from the geese, but then you’ll have pieces that are narrow, or thin tag ends, or ones that are thick on one end and thin on the other. So, the best you can do is separate thick from thin and arrange them on the cooking grid so you can easily remove the thinner slices earlier. It’s a lot of babysitting. And then there are the pieces that simply won’t work as jerky, in anyone’s imagination. So we’ll grind it up. And while you’re at it, don’t forget the thighs and drumsticks. There’s meat on those bones too, and you won’t embarrass the grinder.
PS: If you don’t have waterfowl in the freezer, feel free to use big game meat.
French’s Fried Onion Burger Jerky
For 1½ pounds ground meat
If the only thing you’re using French’s Crispy Fried Onions for is a green bean casserole, you’re missing out on an incredible jerky. Now, the egg yolks in this recipe do add fat, so freezer life will be a bit shorter--just as when you add beef fat to a jerky. But I know a lot of people who simply can’t make jerky fast enough. For most of us, jerky never makes it into the freezer, much less long enough to freezer-burn the fat.
Ingredients
1½ pounds ground goose or duck meat
2 tablespoons Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
2 eggs
2 cups French’s Crispy Fried Onions
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
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: cook a 1-inch ball of mix for 15-20 seconds in the microwave. (A coffee cup is the perfect holder, as the sides are high enough to contain the splatters--and mess.)
Cooking
1. Shape the jerky with a jerky gun and arrange the jerky strips on grids over foil-lined drip pans. Preheat the oven to 160°F and cook about 3-4 hours.
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.
Eileen Clarke was a game cook for Field & Stream for several years and has written many wild game cookbooks. Enter 43News (in the coupon box) at her website https://www.riflesandrecipes.com and save $5 on Stalking the Wild Jerky or one of her other cookbooks.
