ELK JERKY

Amounts will depend on how much meat you have. Like my mother, I tend to shake, shake, shake, for my measurements. Amounts in parentheses are about what I used, maybe a little less, maybe a little more.

Add ingredients to a big bowl. 

1/4 cup canning salt 

Apple juice (4 - 6 cups)

A handful of brown sugar (1/2 cup)

Red pepper flakes (2 tsp)

Onion powder (1 tsp)

Garlic powder (1tsp)

Black pepper (1tsp)

Blackening Saskatchewan Traeger seasoning (1/2 tsp) 

Couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce (1/2 tsp)

Give the marinade a good whisk, add the jerky meat, put in the refrigerator for 24 hours. When I have smaller batches, I have also used a gallon Ziploc bag. Get creative with what you have!

Lay your strips on your dehydrator sheets and pat both sides dry with paper towel. I line all of my loaded sheets on the counter to air dry, and then put all the meat into the dehydrator at once.

Temperature and time may vary depending on the thickness of meat. Since my slices are cut really thin I use a temp of 155 and time is anywhere between 4 to 6 hours. 

When the meat is slightly leathery it can be pulled from the dehydrator. Pull from the sheet and put into a Ziploc bag, leaving the bag open so moisture doesn’t gather and so the meat can cool. (I always have a few pieces of thicker meat that take longer to dehydrate, and as they finish, I add them to the bag) 

Once all the meat is dehydrated, vacuum seal  into packages for hunting season snacks! Store in the fridge and eat within a couple months! Enjoy!