Foggy Mountain Meanderings: Spicy'n'Sweet Deer Jerky

As I said in the previous post "The weekend that wasn't", I made some great deer jerky, if I do say so myself. I've had a few family friends give me recipes and I've looked up a few on the internet, but over time I have changed it back and forth and created new ones. I personally like spicy things so my jerky is indicative of that, at least this one. It can be made without the things that spicy it up and it is still delicious, I promise. So here is a list of all the ingredients that you'll need and then a step by step process of how to make it. It's not really that hard, but hey, if I didn't also how to tell you how to make it, this would be an extremely short post.

Meat

2 Lbs. of Venison cut into strips

Wet Ingredients

1/3 C - A1 Steak Sauce
1/4 C - Soy Sauce
1/8 C - Teriyaki Sauce
1 Tb. - Liquid Smoke
1Tb. - Sriracha *
1 t - Franks Red Hot

Dry Ingredients

1 t - Paprika
1 t - Garlic Powder
1 t - Chili Powder*
1t - Ground Sage
1 t - Black Pepper
1.5 Tb. - Seasoned Salt
Sprinkle (or more if you enjoy the heat) of Crushed Red Pepper*

*These are the ingredients that make the jerky more spicy, they do not have to be added to the jerky.

Step 1: Kill the deer or acquire some venison. Have it cut into strips, I prefer to keep mine around 2"-4" long and 1/4"-1/2" thick.
Step 2: Make sure the venison is thawed and place it in a contain to be marinated.

Step 3: Add the wet ingredients (Noted Above) to the venison, make sure that all the venison is covered.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients (Noted Above) to the bowl, this is where it can get fun. Roll up your sleeves and dig in, make sure that all the strips of venison are covered. After this is done, you can sprinkle in the crushed red pepper.

Step 5: Seal the container and let the mixture marinated for 12 to 24 hours. I normally let it marinated for a minimum of 24 hours, but I make sure to mix it up at least once if not more in that time frame.

Freshly Mixed.

After 24 hours.

Step 6: After allowing the venison to marinade remove the strips from the marinade and put them directly onto the drying rack of the dehydrator.

Step 7: Turn on the Dehydrator and let it do its magic. The time for this can vary depending on the unit you are using. Mine can take anywhere from four to eight hours.