Sheridan County Jerky Recipe

This venison jerky recipe was developed, after much trial and error, with a bunch of my old hunting buddies.

Back in the day, a motley group of us got together and built a meat processing kitchen in one of our garages. Every fall after deer hunting season, we would gather and have a communal sausage making and jerky drying session (or sessions).

It took us a while to come up with a recipe that everyone could agree on, but after a couple of years we produced a winner.

This is a whole muscle jerky. Make sure the meat is very well trimmed of all fat, cut with the grain, and no more than 1/4 inch thick.

We used a commercial sized smoker to dry our jerky, but you can use the method of your preference.

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Recipe

5 to 6 lbs of lean venison, sliced into 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick strips

3 tablespoons kosher salt

3 tablespoons fine ground black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons Lawry's seasoning salt

3 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground cayenne

1 teaspoon prague powder #1 or Instacure #1

2 tablespoons liquid smoke (omit if you are adding natural smoke in the meat smoker)

1 cup cold water

1 cup worcestershire sauce (any brand)

3 cups rice wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients except the meat in a large non-reactive pot.
Heat the marinade to just below boiling, remove it from the heat and let it come back to room temperature or below (you can speed this up by using refrigeration).
Pour the cooled marinade over the prepared strips of meat and let stand (covered) in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
Remove your jerky from the marinade, drain it well, and dry it by your favorite method.