So here is my ground meat rabbit jerky procedure.

 I harvest four rabbits at a time. This is all the fridge room I am allowed by my wife. It is also a good number to work with, enough to make the effort worthwhile, but not so much that I dread the process.

I take the trimmings, belly meat, and sometimes bone out the hind quarters for my rabbit jerky. Usually I set all of the trimmings aside, bag them and then freeze then until I have  several pounds.

Usually two harvest cycles, eight rabbits, yields enough rabbit meat to be worth my time. This is only when using the trimmings. When I debone an entire rabbit, two rabbits makes plenty for a batch of jerky, or trimmings from three, and a single rabbit deboned. I try for batches as close to one pound increments as possible, since I use Hi Mountain spices (You DID read my review on them, right?), and their directions call for one pound increments.

Now for a bit of a ramble about spices and using cure, or sodium nitrite.

I prefer the off-the-shelf spices, as they contain both spices as well as cure to make a uniform product that is proven. I’ve tried many home recipes for jerky, and many of them are pretty good, but I get a quality product every time with Hi Mountain, so I like to use them.

When making jerky and I have more time, or more meat, I will sometimes use a home recipe, but I always include LEM cure, unless I know the jerky will be eaten immediately (usually not a problem). 

LEM cure is a mixture of salt and sodium nitrite (6.25%), and should be used to control botulism and add color and flavor to your smoked or cooked sausage. The conditions created during the low temperature cooking of sausages and jerky are ideal for the promotion of botulism. This cure will not kill salmonella or E-coli bacteria. These bacteria are eliminated by proper cooking temperatures. The use of this cure in meat and fish is strictly regulated by the FDA. Follow directions to the letter. DO NOT use more than directed. Normal use is a scant 1/4 teaspoon per pound of meat, 1 oz. to 25 lbs. of meat or 4 oz. per 100 lbs. of meat.

A single package goes along way. This is NOT used when using a Hi Mountain product, since they already contain sodium nitrite. This is the reasons I don’t worry much about the USDA guidelines above regarding botulism.

Sorry about that spice/cure ramble. Food safety IS an important issue. What good is harvesting and eating your own food if it kills you?

 

Once you have the rabbit meat trimmings, its time to grind them. We own a KitchenAid stand mixer and a grinder attachment for it. It’s not a beastly grinder like my dad made when we were kids that was able to grind broom handles and bones without slowing down (I’ve seen it do both). However, for small batches, the KitchenAid combo we have works fine.

I grind on a coarse setting, however a finer grind will give a more uniform end product. A second pass through the grinder will also help achieve this.

 

In order to add in the proper amount of spices and cure, the meat needs to be weighed. I found that this batch was just under four pounds, so I deboned a front leg o put me right on to the four pound mark.

 

 

Now with your rabbit meat ground up, it is time to add the spices. In my case, I was using Hi Mountains Hickory Blend Jerky Kit. Following the directions, I sprinkled small amounts of the spices and cure over the ground meat, them mixed it in, repeating until all of the spices and cure were incorporated. I then mixed it all for another couple minutes, just to be sure to get an even mix. The meat and spice mixture was then put into the fridge for four hours.

 

 

After waiting four hours, I pulled the meat out to start converting it into strips with the jerky gun.

 

 

 

 

Unscrew the handle, spoon in the meat until the barrel is full, then reassemble.

 

 

 

 

Extrude the meat into long thin strips by squeezing the handle, much like a caulk gun.

 

 

 

 

 

Continue until the tray is full. Then place the tray in the dehydrator on the highest setting for 8-12 hours. Longer times make for crunchier jerky. I usually set it up to run overnight.

 

 

After the drying time is up, taste test a piece. If it is too moist for your tastes, simply dry it an hour or so more, then retest. I suggest patting down any excess oil from the jerky while it is warm. Even the leanest of meats will develop a sheen of grease. Paper towels work very well at removing this.

 

 

Once I’m happy with the texture of the rabbit jerky, I use kitchen shears to cut it to manageable lengths. Usually this means cutting them in half so that they will fit into my vacuum bags for storage. On the typical 2-4 pound batch I am lucky to get a single package hidden in the back of the freezer before it is all traded away, eaten by me, or simply “mysteriously” vanishes.

 

 

Packaging is simply a matter of placing the appropriate number of sticks into a vacuum bag or mason jar and vacuum sealing the container. I usually opt for 8-12 pieces per package – enough to get a good taste, but not so much that you get bored. Leave them wanting more, I say….

 

I know I always do…

Here is my video breakdown of the process:

 

Peace,
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