Use enough Jerky Gun

[Bushcraft]

I had some gift certificates saved up - from in-laws that have long since given up on trying to find hunting and fishing Christmas gifts for me, that I thought I'd better redeem before the issuing store established an expiration policy, or went out of business.

KevinB, The Sausage Maestro, has created something of a monster and I immediately zeroed in on the meat processing aisle. While ogling all the different smokers, grinder attachments, spices, sausage casings, etc., I happened upon a Jerky Gun, which works on essentially the same principles as a caulking gun, and, humoring myself, I decided to take a closer look at what first appeared to be a gimmick.

Basically, any ground meat (actually, ground anything) that has been seasoned is loaded into the tube and then extruded onto dehydrator drying racks or baking sheets. It also comes with a variety of extrusion attachments that also allow one to make pepperoni type snacks or fruit leather.

Intrigued, I cashed in my gift certficates for the Jerky Gun and an assortment of spices and casings. Having brought it home and used it this past weekend on part of a deer, all I can say is that this contraption is a fantastic time saver!

Gone are the days and countless hours spent trying to reduce the more sinewy cuts of venison meat into nearly identical strips so that they'll all dry at the approximately the same rate. This effortlessly pumps out perfectly consistent strips of ground/seasoned/mixed flesh. The time and temperature variably and constant checking required with the old method of cooking/smoking/drying has been vanquished, forever.

Aside from the time savings, the real beauty of this method is that one can quickly determine if more or less or different spices need to be ground into the mix (by performing a quick test cook/dry in the oven), thereby making certain that all the time and effort expended on scouting/hiking/hauling/driving/etc. aren't wasted, to a certain degree, with a sub-par finished product.

I'll admit to kinda relishing the occasional bit of sinew that takes a little time for the molars to work on when consuming old-school venison jerky strips, but I'll happily abandon that particular aspect for the speed and efficiency of reducing game meat to incredibly tasty "jerky" with this newfound Meat-Caulker.

(credit to Jason for the tongue in cheek name)

[evanhill]

This post is sorely lacking without a photograph of the blunderbuss in question.

[Bushcraft]

Say hello to my little friend!

[Scoutin' Wyo]

Wow Allen, packing heat in the kitchen (I aint talking about the jerk-gun)? Are you afraid of the neighbors bustin down the doors after they get a waft of air from the dehydrator???


How's the clean up on that contraption? I hope it breaks down enough to simplify the process.

[Bushcraft]

You've got to have something handy to fight your way to the bigger stuff.

The tube comes off and cleanup is a breeze with a little soap and hot water. It is almost impossible for anything to get into the mechanism. The kit comes with a large plastic brush for the tube and a smaller brush for the attachments.

Without cure you've got to run them through enough heat for a long enough period of time to kill any bugs that might be present. I made two batches simultaneously - one started in the oven and the other started in the dehydrator. I switched the nearly finished products when they got close to the consistency I desired. The product that started in the oven retained a better color once fully dehydrated.

I'm looking forward to making/smoking some Landjaeger here in a bit. KevinB made some a while back and it is quite possibly the most addictingly delicious stuff going. Time consuming with a bit of a learning curve to get it right. But the final product is well worth the effort.

[Jim S]

I have one of these as well. Try it with Pheasent or wild turkey meat and Apple seasoning. The result is great.

[Wanderlustr]

A real handy gun - make jerky with on the weekends and chink log homes with it during the week.....

[Bart Little]

Is there any other seasoning than Nesco for making the jerky gun jerky? It isnt awful but does have almost a baloney flavor to me I don't get with old fashion sliced up meat jerky.

[Bushcraft]

Is there any other seasoning...

Sure. The possibilities are endless. That's the beauty of seasoning your own meat...if you don't like the recipe and/or end result, you can change it to better suit your tastebuds.

I used HiCountry Garlic Pepper for the base spice: http://www.hicountry.com/spices-jerk...ic-pepper.html

Pretty decent. I subsequently added a little heat and will add smoke future batches.