BJ on a KK (Beef Jerky)

[Firemonkey]

That is BEEF JERKY, what were you expecting

I had picked up a whole sirloin tip roast at the warehouse club, because I was really in the mood to try making some Baltimore style pit beef. But since I wasnt sure if my family would eat the pit beef, I didnt want to go all in with the whole roast. So I did my best Primeats imitation and butchered it up into smaller chunks, and cleaned out all the nasty parts inside of it. What remained were a couple of roasts, one for pit beef which I will cook today, one for either pastrami or pot roast, depending on if I get to it before I leave on Monday, a few pounds of big cubes for chili or stew, and a couple pounds of strips I cut for jerky.

In my quest for a good jerky marinade, I came across the recipe that Alton Brown used on his episode about jerky. It looked pretty close to what I was looking for, and had about 100 positive comments, so thats what I went with, with a couple of modifications. I'll post the recipe in the recipe section for those interested.

Alton brown made his jerky with a box fan and some furnace filters, which seems absurd to me since i have a perfectly good smoker on the back patio. My goal here was to dry the jerky at about 175* for as long as it took, and I also wanted to put some smoke on it. Holding 175 on a KK is no prob, but drying anything is counter intuitive to a KK, so I had to be creative this time. I needed lots of draft to dry the meat, but in typical circumstances that would result in lots of heat to go with it.

The KKEC charcoal is the perfect solution for this, since I could light only a couple of pieces and they would burn for a long time. In order to allow longer unattended heat, I needed a way to load more than a couple of pieces at once, and still have a controlled burn with full draft. Here is what i came up with:

 

That is a couple of pieces of grounding wire that I bent a few curves in the end of. I can insert these from the top, and with a litle bit of angle and rotation, pop them into place. This will let me stack a few pieces of KKEC on each rod, and as one burns away, they slide down and can be reloaded from the top during the cook.

I used a handful of lump to get everything going, and added a nice chunk of hickory for some smoke. I left the lower dial all the way open and the top hat 2 full turns open. I had only the main grate in place, and set my HD directly on the main grate, so I could easily reload the KKEC by lifting the hinged flap. The jerky was on some racks that are typically used for cooling cakes or cookies (multi-purposing these makes wives happy )

I let everything dry for about 6 hours and the results were nothing short of awesome. The rods worked great, and I was able to hold exactly the temperature I wanted despite the wide open drafts. The big variable in the process is going to be your ambient temperature, as I saw a 20* difference as the grill came out of the shadows into full sun. At 75* outside temp, I needed 3 pieces of KKEC to get to 170, and only 2 in the afternoon sun. So JDBower would likely need 8-10 rods to do this! I only burned 6 pieces of KKEC in 6 hours of drying

The grounding rods worked well, but if I were going to do this large scale, I might try using some threaded rods with washers and nuts to hold them upright on the grate. I suppose a hotplate in the bottom of the KK would do just as well, but this seemed more fun

Here are some pics of the process:
 

I did use the HD under the meat, I put it directly on the main grate after this pic was taken.

[primeats]

All I can say is--wow! Great results and even greater ingenuity. Sirloin tip is essentially what I use for my jerky every time. What you have created could be described as kippered beef, a little thicker cut and not as dry as jerky. I can see the cure has penetrated completely, and the smoke ring is clearly visible, even on such a small cut of beef. Can't say I've used A.B's. recipe before, but it looks great. A few years ago when the Atkin's diet was all the rage we created a sugar free jerky brine, using only Montreal steak seasoning and the proper amount of pink salt( sodium nitrite). I think my wife might think I've lost my mind if I tried to do this in my KK, only because we have a smokehouse in the shop. Now if I had the KK in my deer camp, that's a different story! Your method looks incredible, not sure if Dennis hisself would have ever thought of this application!

[Firemonkey]

The best part is something that unfortuantely cant be shared...THE SMELL! The marinade smell lingered in the house and the hickory wafting on the breeze all day added some serious "drinkability" to my Saturday afternoon brews while I lounged in the hammock

[primeats]

And I know from experience the flavor can't be beat,warm right off the rack!

[Firemonkey]

Well, yeah - only half of that load made it back into the house.

The neighbors and I nibbled all afternoon. I will definitely be doing this again on a larger scale!

[Firemonkey]

All I can say is--wow! Great results and even greater ingenuity. Sirloin tip is essentially what I use for my jerky every time. What you have created could be described as kippered beef' date=' a little thicker cut and not as dry as jerky. I can see the cure has penetrated completely, and the smoke ring is clearly visible, even on such a small cut of beef. Can't say I've used A.B's. recipe before, but it looks great. A few years ago when the Atkin's diet was all the rage we created a sugar free jerky brine, using only Montreal steak seasoning and the proper amount of pink salt( sodium nitrite). I think my wife might think I've lost my mind if I tried to do this in my KK, only because we have a smokehouse in the shop. Now if I had the KK in my deer camp, that's a different story! Your method looks incredible, not sure if Dennis hisself would have ever thought of this application![/quote']

This was a small batch, and I knew it wasnt going to be around long, so there is no tenderquick or other added nitrate in the mix. Here is what I marinated in:

2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey (maybe 2 T, I dont measure )

2-3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon dried chipotle flakes

Soaked for 12 hours in a ziploc before drying. The original recipe called for liquid smoke, I scoffed at that

BTW, this setup would also be awesome for cold smoking other items like cheeses, as it was no problem getting good smoke while the grill was still under 100 degrees. If you were doing softer cheeses, I bet a cold (like frozen overnight) HD would ensure the heat never reached the cheese.

[johnnyboy]

FM, I didn't see the main grate or any meat hangers.

Did you use the main grate, or hang the meat some how?

Thanks.

[Firemonkey]

You need some more coffee this morning, JB. Its there, check the pictures again.

[johnnyboy]

What the heck!!! Now I see it....... go figure; all the other pics were there but the rack!! Really!!

Made you look though!! Ha!!

[Firemonkey]

Jerky redux Since the trial run for jerky was successful, I decided to try again on a larger scale.  The technique was the same, but this time I used a 6-7# eye of round roast. I had to use twice as much marinade, and a few more racks to get it all on the grill. I used some small S/S condiment cups on each cookie rack to hold a disposable pizza screen.

 

This was a big batch and it was more than enough to share. DJ got some in the mail, since he likes to do his jerky in the oven without smoke. He didn't like the smoked flavor, so I guess he will still be doing it in his oven Thats okay though, I tried the eye of round on his suggestion and found it a little *too* tough, even for jerky. The sirloin tip was much more to my liking. 

 

I also took a bag along on my trip to snack on during long flights or in the airport. Majestik and I had dinner and a few beers while I was in San Diego, and I gave him the rest of the bag I had. He must have liked it because he ate most of  it for desert on his drive home

 

Cherry wood this time:

The big stack:

This ought to last a while:

[Conodo12]

And here I have been making my jerky in a dehydrator...

You've got me motivated FM - I'll be trying your technique in the next several weeks! Now where did I put that ground wire?....

[johnnyboy]

Got me motivated too!!! That pile looks damn good!!!

[Majestik]

Re: Jerky redux

He must have liked it because he ate most of it for desert on his drive home

It was delicious, thanks! Smokey and spicy, the way I like it.

Last awhile? Not at my house.

[DennisLinkletter]

Re:

Sirloin tip is essentially what I use for my jerky every time.

Sirloin tip is what they call Tri Tips here.. same or is it the last bit of Sirloin down right above the Tri Tip?

[primeats]

Re: BJ on a KK (Beef Jerky)

it's the cut just underneath the tri-tip, also called the knuckle, of all things!You can use almost anything that is lean, like round steak.

[Firemonkey]

Re: BJ on a KK (Beef Jerky)

On this side of the world, we can get the whole cut for about $2/lb. It makes a great roast after you trim down what you want for jerky or stew meat:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3277&p=30309

[slu]

Re: BJ on a KK (Beef Jerky)

These posts have been great. Is there any reason why this method couldn't be used to smoke fish? Also, with respect to the ECC charcoal due to arrive, does it have a hole in the center?

[TheNakedWhiz]

Re: BJ on a KK (Beef Jerky)

Essentially you can do any low temp smoking by burning a few pieces of lump or briquettes or EC. You regulate the temp by using different amounts of charcoal. When I do cheese, I use 5 briquettes in a large BGE and the temp stays below 90 for the most part (on a cool day, of course).

[Parrothead72]

This is great and thanks very much for the education. Gonna try some this weekend. Any sense for the racks you used? I have a 23" KK and have been trying to find stackable racks that will fit the shape of the main grate.....happy to do the jerky more in the dome on the elevator grate if that increases the smoke flavor, too....would be a smaller rack though.