Even though we are duck hunters, we do like deer jerky. Fortunately we have friends that provide us with fresh deer meat from off our own farm. This year, Daniel and I were given the backstrap from a young buck. The backstap is the muscle on each side of the backbone. The tenderness of the meat makes it great for jerky.
The first thing we do is cut off the silver skin (connective tissue) from the meat as well as trimming off any fat. We then cut it into one quarter inch strips. It is important to cup across the grain of the meat. Next, we soak the meat in Dale's steak sauce and sometimes add extra black and red pepper. Different seasonings can be added to suite your individual taste. We just prefer Dale's, a produce made in Birmingham, AL and distributed widely across the South. We marinade it for at least two hours and may soak it overnight.
We use an American Harvest Snackmaster Dehyrator 2400 that we have had for many years. It has an adjustable thermostat. The deer jerky is dried at a temperature of 145 degrees for about six hours. Any longer and the meat will be too crisp for our taste. We like ours chewier. (We also use the dehydrator to dry fruit in the summer.) To store the jerky, we put it in quart baggies and freeze. Usually there isn't enough left to freeze as it is such a great snack to take hunting. You can also use this same method to prepare beef jerky.
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