# Bland venison jerky :-( Thoughts?



## prairie hill (Jul 14, 2002)

Everything about this batch (I've made jerky many, many times and this is a first) is blah. I'm using up the last of our ground venison out of the freezer and was out of some ingredients and decided to try a Hi Mountain mix. 

The directions said you have to use more if the meat is ground, which I did. I left it refrigerated overnight, and assumed it would be fairly strong. But - nope. It's basically tasteless. 

I'm thinking rehydrating by soaking in brine, then dehydrating again... might that work? It's sure not appealing the way it is. 

Thanks for any help.


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## Pinetop Hunting (Aug 1, 2013)

Ground. That's the problem. Lol


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## bajiay (Apr 8, 2008)

We always ground our meat first. This happened to us once but we realized we didn't use enough seasoning. That batch went for dog treats. I don't know anything about the resoaking. Good luck!


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## prairie hill (Jul 14, 2002)

Since I'm not hearing any responding "BAD IDEA" comments, I'm re-brining and we'll see how it turns out.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Was the meat old or freezer burned? Ground meat rebrined may turn to mush . Watch and remove before it happens. May work to get wet so seasoning sticks to it better and then dehydrate again....James


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I can't tell you about rehydrating, but I've used the same mix, but I use sliced meat.. not ground.. But I still also use a little more than they call for using.. 

The other thing I do is smoke it REAL REAL slow and cold.. like 15 hours.. I've never had an issue with that mix being bland.. .OH, I also add a lot of fresh cracked pepper to it..


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## prairie hill (Jul 14, 2002)

James, I didn't think of it getting mushy. Thanks for mentioning that. After your comment, I think I'm going to use a shaker and dry spices/salt, and run back thru the dehydrator. 
I did soak it a small bit (not only is it lacking in the taste dept, but stuck terrible to my screens; I soaked the strips off in clean water) At least it'll be easy to coat. 
We'll see what happens. 
Thanks again, all.


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## doingitmyself (Jul 30, 2013)

jwal10 said:


> Was the meat old or freezer burned? Ground meat rebrined may turn to mush . Watch and remove before it happens. May work to get wet so seasoning sticks to it better and then dehydrate again....James


This would be my fix.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I don't keep ground meat of any kind long. Freeze large pieces and grind before use. Seems the ice crystals dry the meat and it losses flavor quickly....James


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## bajiay (Apr 8, 2008)

We always spray the screens with cooking spray first.


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