PapaSop I’m sure that went by pretty quick. The sleepless nights don’t seem too long ago for us either. It’s very cool watching them grow up together.

mattboccabella I’ve always made jerky on my Traeger so the lowest temp I steadily run is 180 degrees. With both ground and whole jerky, it seems like you can flip/rotate the screens during the cook cycle to keep as uniform as possible. I’ve always pulled based on color/texture. You’ll start to see color change and be consistent throughout each piece. I’m making a batch a ground beef jerky for a friend later today and will try to take a few pictures.

mattboccabella With the batch I made this weekend, I took Jonathon 's advice and folded over a piece of jerky and took temperature readings to determine doneness. I pulled at 160 and they came out perfect.

I’ve never had luck running my Traeger on the smoke setting. It always wanted to burn itself out and throw a LER code. I did recently upgrade to a unit with supersmoke and the new D2 controller. It seems to run much better @165. I ran at this temp for the first couple hours of the smoke. Pictures are below.

mattboccabella

MCURRAN

Jonathon Thanks for the reply! I’m thinking this is going to replace my bandera offset that I’ve been using. Managing the temperate vertically in that unit is tough. In my last batch, I had 15 degree differences from the top of the stick to the bottom. They turned out okay, some really good, but some overcooked. I like the smoke flavor from the offset, but I’ll sacrifice that for a more uniform product out of the PK100.

I agree. I like to make as much whole muscle jerky as possible but with 3 yr old twin boys, I don’t like handing them a piece of that. I’m sure they’d chew it up, but I feel better with a ground meat piece. They can clean up a quart bag pretty quick. I’m with you both on the hi mountain. I’ve made that a time or two myself.

I’ve seen that the team at Walton’s has noted on some jerky seasonings (Bloody Mary for example), that it works well with ground/formed jerky. I’m curious how maybe a willie’s snack stick would be for ground jerky? Any house favorites from Walton’s?

MCURRAN

MCURRAN

mattboccabella With the batch I made this weekend, I took Jonathon 's advice and folded over a piece of jerky and took temperature readings to determine doneness. I pulled at 160 and they came out perfect.

I’ve never had luck running my Traeger on the smoke setting. It always wanted to burn itself out and throw a LER code. I did recently upgrade to a unit with supersmoke and the new D2 controller. It seems to run much better @165. I ran at this temp for the first couple hours of the smoke. Pictures are below.

MCURRAN

MCURRAN

MCURRAN

mattboccabella

lkrfletcher Do you mix your own seasoning or go with a store bought kit?

PapaSop I’m sure that went by pretty quick. The sleepless nights don’t seem too long ago for us either. It’s very cool watching them grow up together.

mattboccabella I’ve always made jerky on my Traeger so the lowest temp I steadily run is 180 degrees. With both ground and whole jerky, it seems like you can flip/rotate the screens during the cook cycle to keep as uniform as possible. I’ve always pulled based on color/texture. You’ll start to see color change and be consistent throughout each piece. I’m making a batch a ground beef jerky for a friend later today and will try to take a few pictures.

I agree. I like to make as much whole muscle jerky as possible but with 3 yr old twin boys, I don’t like handing them a piece of that. I’m sure they’d chew it up, but I feel better with a ground meat piece. They can clean up a quart bag pretty quick. I’m with you both on the hi mountain. I’ve made that a time or two myself.

I’ve seen that the team at Walton’s has noted on some jerky seasonings (Bloody Mary for example), that it works well with ground/formed jerky. I’m curious how maybe a willie’s snack stick would be for ground jerky? Any house favorites from Walton’s?

Hey All-Over the years, I’ve made quite a bit of Ground/Formed Jerky using 80/20 venison/pork fat. It turns out pretty good and it’s easy for younger kids to enjoy. I’ve used a few different recipes over the years including Hank Shaw’s Pemmican and most recently a Jerky/Snack Stick seasoning blend from a Sausage Shop in Missouri that I picked up when traveling. Just curious if anyone has any favorites for ground/formed jerky? I typically grind whole cuts twice to mix seasoning (Course grind-add seasoning-Fine grind- refrigerate overnight-smoke in Traeger). No meat stabilizer added or protein extraction through Mixing.

Thanks!

Jonathon Thanks for the reply! I’m thinking this is going to replace my bandera offset that I’ve been using. Managing the temperate vertically in that unit is tough. In my last batch, I had 15 degree differences from the top of the stick to the bottom. They turned out okay, some really good, but some overcooked. I like the smoke flavor from the offset, but I’ll sacrifice that for a more uniform product out of the PK100.