Experiments with beef jerky - any ideas?

If anyone remembers, earlier in the year I got myself a decent dehydrator and started to experiment with beef jerky.

I have the texture okay - I got one of those jerky guns and use 93% lean meat, and it comes out fine.

What I want to do now is do different flavorings, but not the traditional jerky flavorings. Smoked, salt & pepper, teriyaki - those are all standard. I'm interested in seeing what works and would be different, and I'm inclined to move in a fruit direction - lime, apples, stuff like that.

My problem is that sometimes dehydrating intensifies the flavoring (particularly with sharper spices) and sometimes mutes the flavorings. Moisture-laden mixes create a texture that's not enjoyable. For instance, tonight I tried Tandoori paste for an Indian cuisine flavor, and the flavor wasn't quite what I wanted, but the texture went to hell. I tried shaving an apple the other day to mix in, only to find my wife used the burger meat for dinner (I was gone for the evening).

Any idea how I can get some fruit flavorings in a dry form? I could zest lime, but what about apple? I'm not sure that if I dehydrated apple, chopped it and mixed it in that I would get the flavor I want.

Open to any suggestions...

- Tab

I just use a little wine for marinading thinly sliced flank steak. Not sure what you mean by a jerky gun. Piccies?

so I should have a few lying around in the toolboxes.

It's only good for using ground beef (not steak strips). You pack it with the spiced beef, put on the top, squeeze it out. It comes out consistently, making it great for working with ground beef.

I'd like to try working with flank steak and doing actual strips, but I don't have the time or motivation to experiment with flank (which ain't cheap either); I'm happy with the consistency for now of the ground beef - it ends up looking like the processed jerky you get in the gas stations, but really the only processing is taking ground beef and shaping it.

I do 160 degrees for 3:30 hours, then let it sit a bit then confiscate it. If I have only added spices (no liquids) to 93/7 beef mix (meaning 93% fat free, as opposed to, say, 80% for burgers), then at those settings it usually comes out perfect in terms of shape, texture, and doneness.

The gun makes it easy to experiment with flavorings. Once a week or so I can quickly make up a batch, and I don't have to spend hours screwing around with flank steak. I like chewy "pure" steak, but I'm happy enough with this stuff if I can do it quickly, so that's what I work with for now.

"moisture-laden mixes" and have good texture. But you need to use roast or steak. Put it in the freezer until it starts to solidify. Slice it paper thin. Marinate in your mix. Dehydrate.

For some real variety experiment with using your marinade on different kind of meat.

I'm not a big meat eater, but I noticed at my last job that everybody's turkey jerky went first, followed by the venison jerky. Everybody's favorite around here was jerky seasoned with chipotle powder, hot and smoky.

Still, if I wanted to sweeten the jerky, I'd probably go the frozen juice route. Nothing else would give it enough of a fruit punch.

They do make powdered fruit juice mixes, but they're mostly chemicals.