Duck or Goose Jerky Recipe - How to Make Duck Jerky (2024)

FAQs

How long does it take to dehydrate goose jerky? ›

If you're using a dehydrator, dehydrate the goose meat for either one hour at 160F, two hours at 140F, or three hours at 130F. If you're using a smoker, pellet grill, or oven, shoot for 160F for four hours. If you like your jerky more brittle, you could cook it for another hour or two at 130F.

Tips for making great goose (or other game meat) jerky

Cut the strips into consistent thickness to ensure they dry evenly — aim for slices between ⅛- and ¼-inch thick. Reserve any good-looking trim, ends and non-uniform slices for grinding or making chorizo!

Drain off the marinade and place the strips in a single layer on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 160°F (71°C) for 6 to 8 hours When done, the jerky should just bend but not snap.

The jerky should bend and eventually break, but not snap off. If you're unable to break the jerky into two pieces, and it's still rubbery, that means it needs more time. If the jerky snaps into two pieces with bending, it's most likely over-dried. Pro Tip: Finished jerky should be like a green tree branch.

By rotating those trays, you ensure that each piece of meat gets a chance to shine and become perfectly dried jerky. So, my fellow jerky enthusiasts, keep an eye on that ventilation, rotate those trays enthusiastically, and let your dehydrator work its magic.

A litre of cold water mixed with ¼ cup of coarse salt and¼ cup of brown sugar makes the perfect waterfowl brine. Soak duck and goose meat in the brine for 8 to 12 hours, and you'll see the difference in color. Much of the blood stored in the meat is drawn out by the brine.

Consistent thickness is the name of the game when it comes to jerky slicing. Slicing your jerky evenly will ensure that each piece cooks and dries at the same rate. This prevents over-drying and under-drying. We recommend slicing meat for jerky at a thickness between 1/8" and 1/4" with the perfect thickness at 3/16”.

Thick-cut duck breast with a mildly sweet flavor complimented by a bit of black pepper.

Dehydrating beef jerky for too long can lead to over-drying. While this may not pose as immediate a health risk as undercooking, the implications for your taste buds are dire. Over-dehydrated jerky loses its chewy and palatable texture.

How do you dry a duck quickly? ›

Open the pores of the duck's skin by directing hot air all over it from a hand-held hair dryer. Blow dry each duck for about 8 minutes and wipe off the fat as it is released. Place each duck, breast side up, on the rack of a roasting pan. Roast the ducks in a 450-degree oven for 1/2 hour.

How long did you let it cure for? Recommended curing time is 24 hours for stripped meat and 12 hours for ground meat. Letting it cure too long will make it too salty as well. If done correctly, you can cut the cure down by ½ tsp per pound of meat.

When making beef jerky, adding vinegar to the mix helps tenderize the meat. The acidic properties of vinegar work to weaken the meat's collagen tissue, making it less tough. Collagen is what gives meat its structure, but it's also responsible for making it chewy.

The short answer is that your jerky is so tough because it's too dehydrated. For some people, this is a great thing and the tougher the jerky, the better! But maybe toughness isn't what you (or your teeth) want in a jerky.

Some commercial producers may use a 'cure' consisting of sodium nitrite to extend the life of their jerky. Some benefits of using nitrite as part of the curing process are: prevents spores of C. botulinum from germinating.

Dehydrating beef jerky in a dehydrator. Dehydrate the meat for anywhere between 3 and 6 hours. The drying time ranges due to several factors: ambient temperature and humidity, thickness of the meat, marbling of the meat, and the cut of meat to name a few.

Products with a vertical orientation may dry faster because free water runs off the surface, rather than accumulating on a horizontal surface. This is especially important during high-humidity pasteurization processes that many jerky manufacturers are now using.

Generally speaking, the marination process for beef jerky should take anywhere between 6 hours to an entire day. However, the sweet spot for most recipes seems to fluctuate somewhere between 16 and 18 hours total.

Remove Excess Moisture

To decrease drying time, pat jerky strips, fruits, and veggies dry with a paper towel, or use a pretreatment process or product. Be mindful of how much liquid you add to your jerky marinade.