Jerky For The Rest Of Us: Fresh Jalapeño & Curry Jerky
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Jerky for the Rest of Us: Fresh Jalapeño & Curry Jerky
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
I love jerky just as much as the next guy. But I also like variety. Gotta admit, though I’m not fond of that liquid smoke stuff in most store-bought jerky, nor the price of said store-bought, and as I get older, I admit I’m not nearly as fond of jerky made from strips of meat. (My dentist already frowns on my opening shelled pistachios with my teeth….) So how many reasons does that make? Several, I’m sure, for why I decided to make my own jerky, and make it from both strips and ground meat, and make it with lots and lots of different flavors. A hundred and one, to be exact.
it shouldn’t be hard. (Pun intended.) As careful as you are, your slices may not be all the same thickness. Make it with ground meat and those jerky guns keep it all the same thickness, so it all gets done in exactly the same time. Plus a ground meat jerky recipe lets us use birds like geese and ducks for these tasty tidbits. (Do sliced jerky with birds, and you’d only get a few jerky-sized slices and they’d be of uneven thickness. A ‘recipe’ for overcooked jerky. Grinding is the simple answer.)
One note of caution: the hottest part of the jalapeno 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. Either way, use rubber gloves to handle the peppers so you don’t end up with an eye-full.
Fresh Jalapeño & Curry Jerky
1 pound any ground red meat, including big game and waterfowl or dark upland birds
Ingredients
15 ounces ground meat
1 ounce ground beef fat (about 2 tablespoons, 6%)
2 tablespoons minced Jalapeño pepper (about 1 medium-sized pepper)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 good-sized cloves)
2 teaspoons curry powder
1½ teaspoon 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: cook a 1-inch ball of mix for 15-20 seconds in the microwave.
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. 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.
Stalking the Wild Jerky has 101 differently flavored jerkies, both sliced and ground, and recipes for red meat (deer, antelope, elk, moose), white meat (wild pigs, turkey) and that other red meat (waterfowl and sage and sharptail grouse). It’s available at Riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273. $5 off when you enter MT43 in the coupon box.
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PhotoCredit: Eileen Clarke
Image 1 Caption: Shaping with a jerky gun
Photo Credit: Eileen Clarke
