Meat Processing Classes

Here’s a thought for you smokers and meat processors.

I take people fishing… they pay for my knowledge and I show them a great day on the water.

So have you avid meat processors ever thought about teaching people to make their own meats? You could line up a small group of people at a time and show them how to make their meat of choice. People could sign up for anything off of a list showing what you offer? The customers would need to provide their own wild game to mix in if that’s what they wanted. Otherwise they could just buy the pork or beef straight through you.

peperoni, ground jerky, straight cut jerky, snack sticks, sausage, summer sausage and so on!

Would this be a viable business for someone with vast meat processing knowledge? I’m pretty sure I’d sign up for something.

I just figured trial and error gets expensive. I made some straight cut jerky and it was ok at best. I would think people would love to make their own meats if they could take the guess work out of the process? Afternoon of sipping beer, sampling other meat items, learn how to make some good eats and take some home. To me it sounds like something many would pay for??

@t52s Tom Sawvell or any of you other guys always posting on this topic… let me know where I can sign up!

Sounds fun, but a lot of people do their own to save money.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

Sounds fun, but a lot of people do their own to save money.

That’s the whole point to save money. I would pay to learn how to do it the “right” way so I could save money the rest of my life doing it on my own… sorry if I didn’t make that point real clear.

The nephew that hunts with me did a how to class a couple years ago in the metro. There are classes available. There are lots of considerations that would make doing something like this hard to consider. If you do it at home you have insurance issues and space considerations. As much as it would be a fun thing to do I haven’t got the room nor do I want to open our home up to people I don’t know. Renting a space is an option but then one would still have to look into insurance and the short term rent might be a big bite too.

I’ll give the nephew a call tonight to see if he can recall how he got connected to the classes he took.

YouTube. There’s also a ton of threads on various outdoor forums on this subject. It’s really not very hard. Getting the equipment is probably the biggest hurdle.

ajw wrote:

YouTube. There’s also a ton of threads on various outdoor forums on this subject. It’s really not very hard. Getting the equipment is probably the biggest hurdle.

Thanks for the response, I am aware of YouTube but for example…

I really want to make meat market quality straight cut venison jerky and I can’t seem to find the right way to do that. A co worker 15 years ago made some amazing smoked/chewy jerky and when I asked him if he could tell me how to do it… he said, “sorry nope”.

Every homemade jerky I’ve tasted since is too dry, no flavor or worse yet tastes bad. The best you can hope for is jerky that tastes “pretty good”. I’d love to learn how to do things great if I’m going to spend the time.

12 years ago or so I offered a sausage making and smoking techniques class through a commity ed program at the local school district. Adults are much more of a pain in the bass to teach then kids! I did it a few times and it went pretty good- no actual processing went on, just educational and some samples. The logistics of actually processing multiple people’s meats at home that day are impossible, even with top notch equipement. There’s just too many variations/steps to different recipes. If you are charging- it better be in a commercial kitchen too. Not many are aware of the amount of work just keeping your equipment clean and the amount of time some steps take during the process of mixing spices, stuffing, etc. I usually process between 10-15 deer for a few guys each fall, some of which come back at a later date to process into product. They pay for supplies, help make it, and bring it home. Through friends/family and word of mouth I have also had several father/son duos come with thier deer in hopes of learning the skills themselves by doing it with my supervision and instruction, some set up a tripod and video tape so they can do it themselves the next year.

The Northhouse up in Grand Marais

https://northhouse.org/courses/smokin-sausage

https://northhouse.org/search/results/766d7e99ed41dd6378789f87f592a369

Joe Scegura wrote:

I really want to make meat market quality straight cut venison jerky and I can’t seem to find the right way to do that. A co worker 15 years ago made some amazing smoked/chewy jerky and when I asked him if he could tell me how to do it… he said, “sorry nope”.

Joe….if you want some great jerky, trim all the fat off your venison ‘s larger chunks and cut the meat a minimum of 1/4″ thick. 3/8″ is even better. Then dry cure it. Don’t brine or wet cure it. You just have to cook all that extra moisture out of the meat. Leave it in the lug covered for at least 24 hours after mixing in the cure and seasonings, 2 days even better if you can keep the lug in a cold garage or even locked in a spare vehicle left outside.

Then smoke but go easy on the smoking times and temps. Smoke can get over-bearing if you try to get the meat cooked down to the chewiness you want. I give my jerky about 4 hours of relatively low heat smoke, then it goes right to that oven set at 190 with the door cracked about 1/2″. I keep the jerky tossed around during checks and as pieces get to where I want them I take them out and put them in a cake pan until all or it is done the way I want it.

My jerky chews without any crunch and it doesn’t remind me of the inside of a fire pit. It has nice smoke flavor but not ugly strong.

That class is a great idea.
I’m not a great teacher otherwise I might pass my knowledge. If I were more of a people person I would go for it.

I’m someone who’s just learning still and I think it’s way to much work to do for more than family. I had a smoker built this year. Our hunting party bought a grinder & we are planning to make our own venison sausage in the coming months. Really shouldn’t be that difficult . We plan to have help from an older guy with experience but we want to do all the work so we can going forward

Deleted wrote:

I’m someone who’s just learning still and I think it’s way to much work to do for more than family. I had a smoker built this year. Our hunting party bought a grinder & we are planning to make our own venison sausage in the coming months. Really shouldn’t be that difficult . We plan to have help from an older guy with experience but we want to do all the work so we can going forward

Good luck. It’s really not that difficult. No experience necessary.:???:

Joe, the problem with all us garage guys doing a class on processing venison or any meat is the regulations.

There is liability involved with this and you have to have the right group to trust.

I think the liability is the big deal. We do all our own meat.

The butchering and processing places that take in meat will turn in people like us garage guys that would charge or do meat for others. Been there and seen it.

Joe Scegura wrote:

I really want to make meat market quality straight cut venison jerky and I can’t seem to find the right way to do that. A co worker 15 years ago made some amazing smoked/chewy jerky and when I asked him if he could tell me how to do it… he said, “sorry nope”.

Try this recipe. I made it for the first time last year with the last few cuts of a buddies deer and it was excellent. I was a jerky making virgin too, only one batch! This year I saved half of my deer for just this recipe alone. They recommend “index finger” sized cuts, but I noticed the ones a bit bigger than that turned out better. I used the fleet farm jerky and curing mix. Loved crack black pepper but the maple bacon mix was a little too sweet for my liking.
https://gundigest.com/more/how-to/stop-looking-best-venison-jerky-recipe – if the link isn’t working, its from a gun digest article. Google should find it.

As for your original question, I would love to learn how to make my own sausage and sticks but I’m not sure I would pay somebody else to teach me. I’d either use youtube or hope to meet someone down the road that would be willing to teach me. The meat processers do such a great job so I’m in no immediate rush to learn.

https://www.meatprocessingproducts.com/71200.html

Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas

This book is essential for new starters and veterans in the world of sausage making and curing. Literally, It can save your life keeping you on track of the correct way of doing things.

Riverruns brings to light a real issue here as far as liability with meat handling. This is more than anything why I only make my own stuff.

1hl&sinker….I started with Rytek Kutas’ book in the mid-1970’s. I still have it along with tons of hand written notes and recipes that were tweeked. Tons of information is in the book that should be a read everyone thinking about making sausage and jerky should do just so the understand what might be lurking and how to recognize those little qwuirks. Excellent book.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Riverruns brings to light a real issue here as far as liability with meat handling. This is more than anything why I only make my own stuff.

I guess I assumed if someone was going to make a business out of this there would be hoops to jump through. Just like I need insurance and all of the gear to be legal on the water to guide. I believe people already offer cooking classes all over?

The classes were just something I thought many would enjoy but it will take the right person to offer the classes. Maybe that person already has a meat market and could sell the pork and beef trimmings as well as seasonings? Just like any business, it won’t be for everyone.

Thanks a ton for the replies and I will be trying these jerky recipes for sure!! I invested in a good slicer and just needed some more info! I appreciate it!

Joe,

Check this out:

Classes

Joe, making good jerky out of whole meat is actually pretty easy.

The key is to be consistent and trim off ALL fat.

Without a doubt I would recommend you buy a manual jerky slicer. They are a huge time saver and produce consistent cuts. I’ve had one for a decade and have sliced hundreds of pounds. It’s still as sharp as the day I bought it.

Mine is the Cabela’s stainless steel model, but there are others out there as well.

I like the pepper or garlic pepper commercial mixes out there. I usually make 15 pound batches at a crack, using the backstraps, top, bottom, and eye of round.

I always add some more spices and a little salt in addition to the 15lb ratio.

As mentioned, don’t over-smoke it. A couple handfuls of chips over a 4 hour period at 160-180 is all you need. I rotate my racks every hour or two to get a more consistent product.

After four hours you can keep rotating racks in the smoker until dry enough, or bring it inside and finish it in the oven or dehydrator.

My last step is to put the hot jerky into gallon or two gallon bags in the frdige. They will still be emitting moisture, and that moisture equalizes while in the bag, rehydrating the drier outsides.

The best product is after it sits in the fridge for a couple days.

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjl6s7lwonfAhWUW4YKHTH_DJAYABAVGgJ2dQ&ae=1&sig=AOD64_2sS-LUhxYtGY0cK5iQZZ80Xr1Ecw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjf5cflwonfAhUQpFkKHUV2BgEQwg96BAgREBA&adurl=https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Tenderizer-07-3101-W-Construction-Stainless/dp/B00307RV7A/ref%3Dasc_df_B00307RV7A/%3Ftag%3Dhyprod-20%26linkCode%3Ddf0%26hvadid%3D167142021489%26hvpos%3D1o3%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D17965242435859927047%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvqmt%3D%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D9019524%26hvtargid%3Dpla-275649619598%26psc%3D1

Just thought I’d chime in with a little simple info for the jerky guys. High mountain seasoning is really good for making jerky imo. Their original flavor is my favorite. Simple to make, and not expensive.

B-man wrote:

Joe, making good jerky out of whole meat is actually pretty easy.

The key is to be consistent and trim off ALL fat.

Without a doubt I would recommend you buy a manual jerky slicer. They are a huge time saver and produce consistent cuts. I’ve had one for a decade and have sliced hundreds of pounds. It’s still as sharp as the day I bought it.

Mine is the Cabela’s stainless steel model, but there are others out there as well.

I like the pepper or garlic pepper commercial mixes out there. I usually make 15 pound batches at a crack, using the backstraps, top, bottom, and eye of round.

I always add some more spices and a little salt in addition to the 15lb ratio.

As mentioned, don’t over-smoke it. A couple handfuls of chips over a 4 hour period at 160-180 is all you need. I rotate my racks every hour or two to get a more consistent product.

After four hours you can keep rotating racks in the smoker until dry enough, or bring it inside and finish it in the oven or dehydrator.

My last step is to put the hot jerky into gallon or two gallon bags in the frdige. They will still be emitting moisture, and that moisture equalizes while in the bag, rehydrating the drier outsides.

The best product is after it sits in the fridge for a couple days.

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjl6s7lwonfAhWUW4YKHTH_DJAYABAVGgJ2dQ&ae=1&sig=AOD64_2sS-LUhxYtGY0cK5iQZZ80Xr1Ecw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjf5cflwonfAhUQpFkKHUV2BgEQwg96BAgREBA&adurl=https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Tenderizer-07-3101-W-Construction-Stainless/dp/B00307RV7A/ref%3Dasc_df_B00307RV7A/%3Ftag%3Dhyprod-20%26linkCode%3Ddf0%26hvadid%3D167142021489%26hvpos%3D1o3%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D17965242435859927047%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvqmt%3D%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D9019524%26hvtargid%3Dpla-275649619598%26psc%3D1

This is very good information. Thanks for posting. It’s spot on for jerky. You explained it well.