Grilling Notes - Beef Jerky Thursday - 14 January 2021

Sscottfitz

Well-known member
Messages
117
Location
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Grill(s) owned
  1. Trailblazer
  2. Bullseye
I will keep this story short, as it actually is one that covers about 30 years.......Before retiring to Arkansas we lived in the National Capital Region, in Northern Virginia. While in Virginia, I was a season ticket holder of Richmond International Raceway, yes, I am a life long NASCAR nut! So one of my old military buddies, was also one of my NASCAR buddies, and for over 20 years, he would bring a bag of homemade beef jerky for each race weekend. Every year, I would ask him what he used for flavor for his beef jerky, and every year he'd just mumble something to the effect of "whatever I found in the refrigerator"..... Being a pretty anal retentive engineer, I never understood his response......how in the hell could you mix something you are going to eat and NOT know what you mixed up? Fast forward to 14 January 2021, I NOW understand what Bill was saying.......I'm gonna give him a call this weekend as we haven't spoken since Deb and I returned to "The Natural State". Now back to the cook........I'll summarize it as a "learning experience".......and some of this was me still learning some nuances of low and slow smoking....

  • Grill Location: Hot Springs Village, AR.; 34 37 60.0N 92 54 55.4W - actually a pretty "reasonable" day for mid January, even in Arkansas....
  • Weather at time of Grill: Clear, Sunny, and maybe a little breezy, Temp ~50F, Humidity 58%
  • Total Grill Time: ~4 Hr. 19 Min (12:06 - 16:25 CST)
  • Total Event Time: ~33 Hrs, 39 Min Includes meat prep & cutting, mixing marinade, marinade period, smoking, etc. (13 Jan, 07:18 - 14 Jan, 16:57)
  • Grill Plates: No
  • Grill Mat: Yes
  • Temp Probes: N/A
  • Pellets Used: Rec Tec Ultimate Blend

  • Meat & Meat Prep
    • Meat: 1 ea. medium sized Flank Steak (experimenting with meat cuts on the Jerky front....)
    • Total Meat Prep Time: ~24 hrs, as mentioned above, will call this Marinade "Steve's Test #1", and although the ingredients were documented, the amounts were NOT!
      • Ketchup, Soy Sauce, Sesame Seed Teriyaki Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, & Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
    • Meat on the grill ~12:14 CST for ~4.2 hrs (16:24 CST ) at 200 F
    • Jerky them placed into a zip lock bag for cooling & storage

Misc Grill Observations - all times are CST
  • Grill Start to Target Temp: 57 F to 200 F ~8 min (12:06 - 12:14 CST)
    • Smoked for ~4 hrs, 10 min
  • Noted that the Jerky on the right side of the grill cooked a little faster, than the left side - I'm sure that has been documented before, but I just forgot. Note to self, when you flip the jerky, also flip flop the sides (rotating the grill mat 180 deg.....)

General Comments:

  • Actually not unhappy with my first effort at smoking beef jerky. Over cooked a couple of strips, but even they didn't taste TOO bad.
  • Definitely need to add some garlic powder to the marinade, and maybe just a little more spiciness or heat.
  • The Trailblazer did a great job on a pretty breezy day keeping the temp consistent.
  • I'll self assess this effort as a 3.5 out of 5
 

Attachments

  • Cutting Flank Steak 20210114.jpeg
    Cutting Flank Steak 20210114.jpeg
    2.1 MB · Views: 240
  • Jerkey Merinade Mix 20210114.jpeg
    Jerkey Merinade Mix 20210114.jpeg
    3.8 MB · Views: 86
  • Jerkey Ready for Smoking 20210114.jpeg
    Jerkey Ready for Smoking 20210114.jpeg
    5 MB · Views: 92
  • Smoking Jerky Start 20210114.jpeg
    Smoking Jerky Start 20210114.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 101
  • Removing Jerky from Trailblazer 20210114.jpeg
    Removing Jerky from Trailblazer 20210114.jpeg
    2.7 MB · Views: 91
  • Completed Jerky 20210116.jpeg
    Completed Jerky 20210116.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 91
Last edited:
Looks good
I use 3 stackable jerky racks from LEM and 1 bakers rack and can cook about 4 lbs at a time on the Trailblazer.
 
Looks good
I use 3 stackable jerky racks from LEM and 1 bakers rack and can cook about 4 lbs at a time on the Trailblazer.
Thanks, I actually have a rack, and just didn't use it, but had so much fun with this one, I'm going to do another next week. Probably forced to use another flank steak, but would like to find a Top Round or London Broil, but will probably have to venture out to one of our meat markets as our two grocers don't seem to be carrying those cuts lately. Also want to try a tweak to my "Marinade Adventures"...
 
Jerky racks are larger than the the bakers racks. Due to shape of the trailblazer you can fit 3 jerky racks and 1 bakers rack.
 

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