Homemade venison jerky is great for the whole family
Game enthusiasts often enjoy homemade venison jerky. It’s a great way to preserve your game in a delicious way with the flavor of a venison jerky relish or marinade.
Wild game is not treated in the same way as meat sold commercially. The curing process, which uses salt and a venison jerky mix that involves salt curing, is an essential step that must be done right. This will ensure the proper flavor, tenderness, and shelf life of the deer jerky.
Making venison jerky from scratch
Making venison jerky is easy, once you know what you’re doing. Experienced hunters will generally use an injection cure for large sections of meat. Use the proper ratio of water, salt, and curing salt, working from the inside out.
For our purposes, we’ll assume you’re using a round roast-sized cut of meat. In this way, we can use a wet or dry cure, in the form of deer jerky or dressing. Always use the amount recommended for your curing salt.
If you’re buying your venison from a butcher, chances are it’s already cured. They may even be willing to cut it into 1/8″ strips, which will save you time and effort. Otherwise, partially freeze the meat before slicing thinly with a sharp knife.
We recommend cutting against the grain. This will cut the muscle fibers open and make the venison jerky much more tender and absorb the flavors.
Venison Jerky Recipe
We like to keep our venison jerky recipes very simple, however you can certainly experiment on your own. Ours is an example of a template that uses few ingredients, but is tasty and enjoyable.
You can also sweeten it with brown sugar, molasses, or honey. Citrus ingredients like wine, beer, pineapple juice, and apple cider vinegar will tenderize the meat and add unique flavors.
- 2 pounds. venison (boneless)
- ½ cup teriyaki or soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a Venison Jerky Marinade. Combine the marinade and sliced beef in a sealed container, such as a freezer bag, and marinate in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.
Set your venison jerky dehydrator at 160 degrees F. Place the raw venison jerky strips on dehydrator trays and dry for about 6 hours.
Drying times change, based on preference. Venison jerky should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, and you can certainly dry it out longer. Reduced humidity will allow for longer storage times as bacteria will have less chance to grow.
Once you’re done, let your homemade venison jerky chill for about 30 minutes. They will store in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks to a month. Remember that if you keep them in the freezer, they will last you at least a few months, but the flavor can suffer for it.
Secrets for seasoning venison jerky
A ground venison jerky recipe will work well with a dry seasoning or seasoning. It’s possible to take our Venison Jerky Marinade, or any kind of sauce, and turn it into a Venison Jerky Mix, from scratch!
All you need is a food dryer. Simply pour the sauce into the solid variety of dehydrating trays up to 1/8″ thick and dehydrate at 135 degrees F. Once dried into solid chunks, you can seal them in bags and then shred when ready to reduce oxidation.
HAS dehydrator for jerky it is versatile and will help you preserve your meat with total enjoyment!