Ive been making jerky for many years. Yesterday I picked up this jerky slicer
https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/game-winner®-meat-tenderizer-and-jerky-slicer#repChildCatid=3193005
I gotta tell you it’s night & day difference. I used to slice all the jerky by hand, which sucked.
My next move will probably be a vacuum marinator tumbler.
Nice! I usually partially freeze mine and slice it with a boning knife, and I don’t really have a problem but it is kind of tedious.
Any marinade favorites? Mine is pretty basic.
I have used many over the years. Usually use a dry rub but just tried a marinade of worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, cayenne, curing salt, pepper & garlic powder.
What’s the Makerspace price (and discount!) per pound for your next production run?
Claude’s brisket sauce. Also what I use for brisket. It is essentially liquid smoke with a healthy amount of spices so each piece of meat has a light sprinkling of spice on it. And I agree, partially freeze the meat first then use a mandolin at 2-3 mm to cut.
Donate at least $10-25 to the hackerspace committee then let me know what flavor type one wants and I’ll donate a pound of my next run.
Nice. I use a cutting board that has a lip around the outer perimeter 1/4 and 3/8” (opposite sides) higher than the cutting surface. Guides knife for uniformly thick slices easily and quickly. No need to freeze meat, though a light freeze makes things even more uniform.
When are Y’all doing a taste test along packaged jerky available to trade for monetary donations???
I don’t need a label that shows what’s in it(as long as no one is playing Jeffery Dahmer) or how it isn’t packaged for retail sale etc
Yes, a light freeze. Just enough to stiffen the meat so you can handle it easier.
Gotta say I have tried various methods over the years.
Including DIY contraption made of knife drawer to make thin slices.
Then this
https://www.cabelas.com/product/Hi-Mountain-Jerky-Board-and-Knife-Set/716760.uts
I have to say the newest rotary one is the quickest. In the matter of a about 40-45 seconds I had 2.5 lbs of meat sliced. Lol in fact my wife wanted to know when I was going to cut it, which I told her it was already cut.
Is the slice thickness adjustable or is it one or more fixed thicknesses?
They are set at about 3/16 or so. But since we are members of Makerspace, the spacers could be changed. 
I have and use something similar. It came with a thin knife and curing salt/flavoring rubs in a kit from Cabela’s. Works well with a minimum of prep and cleanup.
Looks like this one I found on Google:
Update: as I read further I see Tim linked to what I think is the exact one I have.
IMHO, if you include cleanup time, the board might still be faster than the more mechanized option unless you’re making lots of jerky.
The only weird part is getting used to cutting the slices from off the bottom of the chunk of meat.
I have not tried it in TX but in AL there is a push bell button for the butcher. When he comes out you just ask him to slice for you. At any grocery store.
We no longer have butchers at most grocery stores. We have people who wear white outfits and hand out stuff from a refrigerated case. If you ask anything remotely technical about a piece of meat you’ll stump them and you darn sure can’t ask them to slice jerky meat.
There was a grocery store where they were willing to slice meat on a deli-type slicer but that was 20 years ago and they’re long gone.
It really is much easier to handle that way.
So the agreement is firm meat is better for grip, control and overall end result satisfaction
Good to know!
You also need to use the right rub to ensure happy ending to your beef jerking endeavors. Also - I prefer to recruit a helper, but despite having my wife around I usually end up single-handed.
Oh my, I so just snorked coffee from my nose.
I have asked the meat department at either Kroger or Albertsons and they are fine to cut it the thickness I would like. I usually buy 10-20 pounds worth at a time.
