# Smoking Elk Jerky with FAT



## HunterDavid (Sep 10, 2007)

Okay smokers..... I got my cow elk back last week and was excited to have about 54 lbs of ground meat to make jerky with. I had requested to not have any beef fat added to the ground meat since I wanted to try my new smoker at making jerky. Well, to my dismay, I picked up my meat and it all had fat added to it. Long story short, I still want to make jerky but am concerned about what a mess this will make in my smoker......and on smokingmeats.com I read that fat in jerky can sour the meat. Any of you experts have any suggestions for these two problems?

Thanks in advance!

HunterDavid


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Too bad about the fat. Jerky has no fat. What you have is sausage. Not a bad thing really.

Jerky is dry-cured not cooked, so if you did use your ground elk it would (should) never see a high enough temperature to make a mess in your smoker. I process ground meat jerky between 135° and 145° in a dehydrator.

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## HunterDavid (Sep 10, 2007)

Thank you Goob! I knew you would have the answer.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

HunterDavid said:


> Thank you Goob! I knew you would have the answer.


Yer welcome.

Like I always said "jerky and chocolate chip cookies should never have fat in them".....uh.....do you know what I'm trying to say? :smile:

If for some strange reason I can't process my elk, I'll have the butcher give me the scraps and then I can do whatever I want with them later. The leanest trimmings will be trimmed further and used for jerky and the less desirable cuts will be used for bottled meat, sausage or burger. Personally I'll use more of the big lean choice meaty muscles off the rump and shoulder than trimmings for ground jerky. The flanks and the brisket are ok for ground jerky too.

My guess is there's some elk fat mixed in with your ground meat. You're gonna have that. There's just not much money in cutting up wild game and no money in trimming 100% of the fat and sinew away from scraps.

Go over to the sausage thread. There's some easy recipes there; some that don't require casings or any fancy-dancy meat cutting or meat stuffing equipment. Make some sausage. Your new smoker will thank you for it.

Hey, congrats again on getting your elk.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Here's a pic of some antelope jerky meat:


No fat and only a minute amount of sinew. The meat is frosty. It doesn't get any better than this. 8)

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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

I'm with Goob, save the ground for making tacos or something. Take a big lean roast, cut it thin with the grain, and make your jerky from that.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Geeze, I thought this thread was dead.
uh.....maybe it is.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Bye bye Amelia. 

Who hates smoked meats anyways?! That’s pure blasphemy


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## one4fishing (Jul 2, 2015)

Thanks Bax. They’re getting pretty thick in here lately. 
Anybody looking for smoking ideas/inspiration should check out Goobs duck thread.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Ingrowdisback is Amelia Harris. Exact same post. 

Stop posting your malarkey here please


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