My first attempt

I haven't posted anything the past few days because our son C, daughter in-law K and grandson L were here.

Last month while on vacation at my sister's my brother C spent a day with me showing me how he made Beef Jerky. While at my sisters, I talked to son C about buying a dehydrator to use in making Beef Jerky. So he spent some time on eBay looking for a dehydrator. When he spotted one we both thought would serve our purposes we joined in the bidding and when all was said and done we were the owners of a dehydrator.

Last week Tuesday P and I went to the store and I looked at the price of meat. I decided to buy a Bottom Round, it being the least expensive. I didn't want to spend a lot on the meat in case I ruined the entire batch of Jerky. Brother C had used a Teriyaki Beef Jerky marinate that I had liked so I used that marinate. Saturday morning, I started slicing the meat into thin strips. I managed to get about one fourth of the meat sliced before I became too tired to continue. So wife P and daughter K finished slicing the meat. I was going to start marinating the meat that evening but plans changed and C,K and L would not be coming until Sunday. So into the refrigerator the sliced meat went and I waited until Sunday evening to marinate it.

Monday morning after breakfast we started dehydrating C's venison. He used two different marinates and had decided not to smoke his jerky. Because he wasn't going to smoke his jerky it would have to be in the dehydrator longer. Every couple of hours C would go out the patio doors and bring the dehydrator in so we could check the progress of the drying. We would move the trays around to insure an even drying of all the venison.

After lunch we started the new grill and prepared a Hickory wood chip packet. We found out we only had enough room on the grill to smoke half of my jerky at a time. We also discovered that we shouldn't place any meat over the burner and the wood packet. The meat placed there burnt to a crisp. I found out that I had put too much meat in each plastic bag and hadn't massaged the marinating meat enough, because not all the meat had marinated. One other thing I forgot that my brother C had done was to turn the meat while it was smoking and to move it around on the grill to ensure even smoking.

However, I am very pleased with the results of my first attempt at making Beef Jerky. I did find out this isn't something I can do myself. It is too much work to do while in a wheelchair. It is a two-day process and the final smoking and dehydrating is more involved then I can handle myself. This however is not a problem because son C took the dehydrator home with him in order to dehydrate fruit and tomatoes. Son J is taking two college courses this summer and doesn't have time to help me and he lives two hours away. So in August when P and I go to visit C, K, and L I will take the dehydrator home. By that time son J will be finished with his summer classes and said he would like to help make another batch of Jerky.