I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a fan of beef jerky since sometime just after the earth’s crust cooled a few years back.
My own first jerky experiment happened when I was just a shy lad of 14, the recipe hacked out of an ancient woodcraft book I checked out of the library in Amarillo, and was, by remembrance dulled by the (most often favorable) haze of time, all but inedible.
I don’t remember the details, but it was basically a cheap cut of flank steak, hand-sliced too thick, and simply brined without much else added for flavor. Dried in the oven until salt-crusted and shriveled, my friends and I choked a piece or two down on a hike in Palo Duro Canyon and ceremoniously used the remainder to start a small campfire later that evening to sacrifice marshmallows over.
Thankfully there are a host of great jerky and spice artisans around these days producing some of the finest jerky and jerky cure and spice sets you can imagine, even if some of it challenges the spot price of silver per ounce.
Every die hard jerky fan I’ve known at some point in their life will give home prepared jerky a go, and most of us have a handful of favorite recipes, meats, and techniques up our sleeves to satisfy the urge when it strikes.
We’ve been fans of Hi Mountain Seasonings products for years, reaching out for several of their sausage spice packs at first, and later using their rubs and specialty seasonings for both game and conventional proteins. I’ve always found their spices mixes to be particularly well balanced, always fresh, and accompanied by great suggestions to create top-notched results at home.
When Hi Mountain reached out recently and offered samples of their new jerky line and jerky cures and seasonings to share, we jumped at the chance, given their long-standing track record of fresh, tasty, reliable products, great service, and they’re located in Wyoming to boot.
Their jerky we’ve tried this past week was excellent, with just the right tooth, very well balanced spices (without being too salty), and without any extra carbs (sugar is often added in shocking amounts to commercial jerkies).
That said, this week we’re giving away a Jerky Lovers Bundle of Hi Mountain goods – packages of their Original and Mesquite flavored jerkies and their Original and Hickory Blend Jerky Cure and Seasoning kits (each will cure up to 15 pounds of meat) – that’s four separate items in the bundle.
If that’s making your mouth water just thinking about it, and you or a buddy consider yourselves jerky ninjas (or not, their kits are a piece of cake to use), fire an email here with Hi Mountain Jerky in the subject line, and we’ll draw and mail this bundle out on Friday, 25 May.
