Another Glenn (And His Jerky)

Well I start with a lean peice of beef, ussualy brisket, sometimes eye of round. I cut it in slices about a 1/4 of a inch thick, then trim all remaining fat off, and cut into strips about a inch wide and six inchs long. I place the meat in large Zip-lock type freezer bags. Then I marinate the meat over night in as soy/worchestershire/sugar/salt/habenaro liquid. Then I lay the meat out on my racks, being carfull not to allow the meat to rest in spots that have exsesive heat(like the outsid edges of my round water smoker grills). I currently use a water/gas/wood smoker with a adjustable flame level and tin foil log made of soaked wood chips. I sometimes use hickory and sometimes mesquite. I can fit about 8 lbs. of meat in my smoker, on about 8 racks all stacked on top of each other about a inch apart. I smoke/cook for about 8 hours, adding three new tin foil logs about every hour or hour and a half, when they stop smoking. The meat around the edges tends to get done faster, then the stuff in the middle, but I generaly seperate the well done stuff from the perfectly done stuff when I remove it all at once... I eat the well done stuff nearly imediately, and save the other stuff for later, or give some away... I find it keeps in zip lock bags in the fridge nearly indefintly or if your really concerned about it spoiling, it freezes extreemly well too. I have also dryed some out in a dehydrator and kept it un-refrigerated for more then a week and then ate it without any adverse effects.(but its too dry to taste really good). Hot pepper water.... I purchase habanaros periodicy at the store for about $2 a pound and I dry them in my dehydrator.(I may soon be trying to smoke some) I grind/crush the dryed habanaros and put them in bottles to use later. I have about 10 cups worth of them around now... I use about a 1/4 cup of dryed crushed habanaros in my hot peper water... I just boil them in the water and then strain out the rehydrated peper remnents because I dont want that stuff clinging to my jerky... Be extreemly carefull when making and using this hot pepper water... it can be very potent, and the steam from the boiling water can really be quite unforgiving to your lungs if you inhale a deep breath of it... You may even want to do this outdoors if you have housemates(I dont). Dont get any of this stuff near any sensitive areas of your body... Thats basicly my method for making what I generaly call HOT/Sweet Jerky. You could use crushed red pepper insted of habanaros... Everyone I have ever given my jerky too, loves it, some complain its a bit too hot, and sometime Id agree... Some say its a bit sweet( I might agree with that too sometimes) I rarely follow any real recipies, so most of my stuff comes out slightly differnt every time... Posted to bbq-digest V5 #007 From: "Glenn S. Wiltse" <iggy@merit.edu> Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 10:08:31 -0500 (EST)