Northwest Fishing Reports

When I was in grade school I had a little Chief smoker. Used to make beef jerky and sell it to my friends at school for extra $$. I just went with the recipe that came with the smoker.

Went to a Mexican friend's house for dinner the other night and had Corta Bistec which is basically thin sliced beef spiced and BBQed. It is the perfect cut for making jerky and he said you can get it at Cash & Carry. So now I want to make a bunch of beef jerky to take fishing with me.

Anybody have a good recipe that does not include soy sauce?

I like a little salt and a lot of different dried peppers and chilies (sometimes a little meat tenderizer too). Just coat the outside, let it sit in the fridge overnight then into the smoker or dehydrator. Low and slow.... I never do "recipes", just do it. It always seems to turn out. A buddy of mine used to swear by a chili paste, I don’t know where it came from but it was some of the hottest stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth, not for the faint of heart.

I never brine when making jerky, why pump in water just to dry it out.....

Bodofish wrote:I like a little salt and a lot of different dried peppers and chilies (sometimes a little meat tenderizer too). Just coat the outside, let it sit in the fridge overnight then into the smoker or dehydrator. Low and slow.... I never do "recipes", just do it. It always seems to turn out. A buddy of mine used to swear by a chili paste, I don’t know where it came from but it was some of the hottest stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth, not for the faint of heart.

I never brine when making jerky, why pump in water just to dry it out.....

I'll give it a try. Hmmm We use Lan Chi Chili Paste - great stuff! Got introduced to it at Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon..
I also have a bunch of powdered chipotle that might be good.

When you say "low and Slow" - I smoke my fish at about 160, same for the jerky?

What ever the Big/Little Chief does. It's what I've always used except I did use the oven once and my buddy always used the oven in his Mo in Law appt. Draped right over the racks and you just turn it on for a minute or two to put a little heat in. Mine took a little over a day to do and I'm still hearing about it 15 years later......


PS I know a lot of people just use a food dehydrator..... spose you could smoke it a bit first.