Mike's Habanero Beef Jerky

[mikeschn]

I like this because the heat builds up slowly. When I share it they say, this is not hot, and then about 5 seconds later they say, oh there it is!

Mike...

Mike's Habanero Beef Jerky

Ingredients:
1 flank steak (about 1 1/2 pounds)
8 or 10 ounce bottle of apple juice
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground dry habanero pepper

optional: 4 tablespoons Franks Red Hot sauce instead of ground habanero pepper

Directions:
1. Freeze your meat for about half an hour prior to slicing. Then slice your meat with the grain into strips about 1/4" thick.

2. In a large bowl mix the apple juice, salt, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder. Add either 1/2 teaspoon of ground habanero or 4 tablespoons of Franks Red Hot sauce.

3. Toss the meat in the marinade and make sure your strips are coated well. Cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.

4. Set your smoker to 225°F. Lay out your strips of meat without the strips touching one another. The length of time it takes to dry it out really depends on you, but for me it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

This is the habanero pepper I grind up in the coffee grinder. Wonderful stuff, but be sure to wear gloves, and don't breath this stuff in, or get it in your eyes. I grind it up outside to keep the dust out of harms way!

 

[lrrowe]

Thanks Mike,
I will give it try on my relatively new pellet smoker. But I will try it with some of my vension.

 

[Bill n Robi]

I use brisket, chilled for thin slicing, a different recipe but cook for 8 hours in my Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker with hickory pellets at 120.

Mine if anyone interested:

Mr. Bill’s Famous Beef Jerky
Special Instructions:
Spray oven racks with non-stick spray to ease cleanup
For less sodium use low sodium soy sauce, use garlic powder instead of garlic salt
Fat in the meat turns rancid in a few weeks, trim as much fat as possible, use meat without marbling, eat quickly
Slightly freeze meat to make is easier to slice, also fat layer peals away easier if cold
Cut meat with the grain for chewy, across the grain for crumbly
Store in zip lock bag with paper towel to absorb moisture

Ingredients:

1 ¼ to 1 ½ pounds of brisket cut into 1/8 inch slices – remove all fat
1 tablespoon of hickory or mesquite smoke flavoring – depending on your desired outcome
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon onion powder or crush dried onion into powder
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon bourbon whiskey
Black Pepper to taste
Optional – a dash of hot sauce depends on desired outcome

Mix all ingredients except pepper
Place a Layer meat in flat pyrex or glass dish, pour some mix over meat and pepper to taste
Keep layering meat, mix, pepper until all is used
Cover and store in refrigerator overnight, mix after 4 hours, all liquid should be absorbed by morning

 

[mikeschn]

My, there's a lot of pellet smokers here! I like my Traeger, but I can't get as low as 120°. I think mine starts at 180°.

The beef brisket is an interesting idea. I've always used flank. How do they compare?

Bill & Bob, got any pics of your jerky?

Mike...

 

[lrrowe]

My, there's a lot of pellet smokers here! I like my Traeger, but I can't get as low as 120°. I think mine starts at 180°.

The beef brisket is an interesting idea. I've always used flank. How do they compare?

Bill & Bob, got any pics of your jerky?

Mike...

I don't bc this will be the first effort on this smoker and my previous attempts using ovens and dryers were not that great. I will try it very soon and post the results.

Bill, I too use a GMG smoker. A Davy Crockett with wifi. I am starting to learn how to use it and I expect I will want a larger one later.

 

[Bill n Robi]

The GMG Davy Crocket goes with us camping. The main reason for purchasing that one was the ability to cook by temperature, not just low/medium/high like the Taeger. Pellets have an advantage over charcoal, less mess but camping in California it is ok'd by the forest service. Two summers ago all fires, charcoal, open flame etc. were banned in the Sierras, we ate like royalty. Baked an applewood smoked birthday cake for our friend who met up with us.

I do have pictures of my beef jerky and will post them, got to get them off a storage drive. The main thing about beef jerky is the softer, prime cuts turn to dust, tougher is better and cross cut it if you want something that crumbles.

One of my "gathering" breakfasts is a cauliflower/broccoli quiche, one hour in the smoker.

Also one other tip for smokers. If you use a glass/ceramic plate/bowl - use a mr clean scrubber - they are awesome for removing smoke stains.

 

[mikeschn]

Hey Bill,

Good sounding recipe. Your fat should never turn rancid though. You should eat it all within a week of smoking it!!!

I'm a big fan of slicing with the grain!

Is the nutmeg and whiskey to give it a touch of sweetness, like I do with the apple juice?

I might have to try it your way this summer!

MIke...

I use brisket, chilled for thin slicing, a different recipe but cook for 8 hours in my Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker with hickory pellets at 120.

Mine if anyone interested:

Mr. Bill’s Famous Beef Jerky
Special Instructions:
Spray oven racks with non-stick spray to ease cleanup
For less sodium use low sodium soy sauce, use garlic powder instead of garlic salt
Fat in the meat turns rancid in a few weeks, trim as much fat as possible, use meat without marbling, eat quickly
Slightly freeze meat to make is easier to slice, also fat layer peals away easier if cold
Cut meat with the grain for chewy, across the grain for crumbly
Store in zip lock bag with paper towel to absorb moisture

 

[Bill n Robi]

Have not found my pictures yet. I was helping a friend make some a couple years back and was taking/sending pictures as I was making batch. We heading out for a 2 week trip next week, if I can't find them by then... I'll make another batch when we get back. Brisket was dirt cheap years ago, now with the BBQ revolution it has increased in price and they make it marbled. My only problem is after cutting, soaking and drying, I am tired of the smell and can't eat it for a week or two. But it never spoils in our house....

Drying in an oven works good, if you have a gas with a pilot light to finalize it overnight but sadly most newer ovens are electric start these days. I saw someone made a solar panel powered dryer that looked interesting, I'll try to find the web site again.

 

[lrrowe]

I bought almost all the ingredients and will make my version of Mike's recipe tomorrow.

 

[mikeschn]

Woo hoo! I'm making some tomorrow too!

I am doing 2 batches...

the Habanero batch just like the recipe calls for

and

a cumin batch. I am substituting 1 tablespoon of cumin for the 1/2 teaspoon of habanero.

If you like cumin, this should sound pretty good to you. It certainly made the house smell wonderful earlier when I made the marinade. (I ground up the cumin fresh!)

Mike...

 

[lrrowe]

Woo hoo! I'm making some tomorrow too!

I am doing 2 batches...

the Habanero batch just like the recipe calls for

and

a cumin batch. I am substituting 1 tablespoon of cumin for the 1/2 teaspoon of habanero.

If you like cumin, this should sound pretty good to you. It certainly made the house smell wonderful earlier when I made the marinade. (I ground up the cumin fresh!)

Mike...

I will give the cumin a try. I could not get the habanero.

 

[mikeschn]

There's many ways to add a touch of heat to your jerky!

Mike...

 

[lrrowe]

Woo hoo! I'm making some tomorrow too!

I am doing 2 batches...

the Habanero batch just like the recipe calls for

and

a cumin batch. I am substituting 1 tablespoon of cumin for the 1/2 teaspoon of habanero.

If you like cumin, this should sound pretty good to you. It certainly made the house smell wonderful earlier when I made the marinade. (I ground up the cumin fresh!)

Mike...

I will give the cumin a try. I could not get the habanero.

Going into the fridge shortly. Forgot it had to sit overnight.

 

[working on it]

There's many ways to add a touch of heat to your jerky!

Mike...

Here are some of my favorites (in addition to Mike's selection), and their Scoville heat ratings. I've tried some others, with ratings up in the stratosphere, but I prefer taste over pain!

 

[mikeschn]

First batch done!

Yes half of it has already been snitched away!!!

Btw, the fresh ground cumin is awesome!!!

Mike...

 

[mikeschn]

2nd batch done! Mmmm that has a bite!!!

Mike...

 

[lrrowe]

I must have added too much Worchestire Sauce or salt. Maybe I let the strips marinate too long. Will try again later with another batch.

 

[mikeschn]

What kind of salt do you use?

I use celtic sea salt. I wonder if there is a difference?

Mike...

Btw, the wife requested some more cumin jerky for tomorrow! So guess what I am doing later?

 

[Bill n Robi]

Searched thru 12 terabytes of drives, no luck on pictures.... Then while resetting the wife's old iPhone 3 to be our new truck 'ipod' I got thought, pulled my old POS 'refurbished' ATT iPhone 3 that never worked right out of the gun case as I had planned on using it as a target next week while camping. Low and behold, the text messages I was sending to someone on how to make it were there.

Resizing them and will post, did not have a finished product picture but it looks like what you buy in the stores, dry and chewy...

mb

 

[lrrowe]

I used regular salt. Will try it again without any salt. But it actually got better as the day progressed. My son and grandson liked it and took half home with them. The vension came out very well. So I will watch for sales. Oh, and BTW, I could not find a good flank steak when shopping so used a London Broil. Actually was cheaper. Could that make a difference?

And I do need to turn the heat (meaning make it hotter) up.