Bulgogi Venison Jerky
Marinated deer roast dried into a sweet-salty, sesame-flecked trail snack.
- calories
- 150
- weight
- 1.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 25 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 40 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison roast | 3 lb | trim every scrap of fat and silverskin |
|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce | 1 cup | |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Asian pear | 1, grated | the enzymes tenderize; a regular pear works |
| Sesame oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic | 6 cloves, minced | |
| Fresh ginger | 1 tbsp, grated | |
| Green onions | 4, sliced thin | |
| Lime juice | from 2 limes | |
| Sesame seeds | 2 tbsp | hold back a spoonful for sprinkling |
| Red pepper flakes | 1 tbsp | hold back a pinch for sprinkling |
| Insta Cure No. 1 | 1 tsp | measure it exactly; more is not safer |
| Kosher salt | 1 tbsp | stirred in last, after the cure |
Method
- At home: stir soy sauce, brown sugar, grated pear, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, green onion, lime juice, most of the sesame seeds, most of the pepper flakes, and the cure together in a nonreactive bowl. Add the kosher salt last.
- Partly freeze the roast so it firms up, then slice it 1/4 inch thick. With the grain for chew, across it for a jerky that snaps.
- Pound each slice thin with a mallet. Thin and even is what makes it dry at the same rate.
- Fold the meat into the marinade until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours, turning once.
- Lift the slices out, blot them, and lay them on dehydrator trays without overlap. Sprinkle the reserved sesame seeds and pepper flakes over the top.
- Dry at 160°F for 8 to 10 hours. It is done when a strip bends and cracks but does not break in half.
- Cool completely on the counter before bagging. Warm jerky sweats and warm jerky molds.
Venison is almost pure lean muscle, which is exactly what jerky wants. Fat is what turns homemade jerky rancid in a pack, and a deer roast barely has any. The bulgogi marinade solves the other half of the problem: soy and sugar season deep into a thin slice, and the grated pear carries enzymes that break down connective tissue so the finished strip chews instead of fighting back.
The cure is not optional if this is going to ride around in a warm pack for a week. Insta Cure No. 1 is nitrite, and it is what keeps a low-temperature dry from being a slow incubator. Measure it by the teaspoon, never by eye. Sprinkling the sesame and pepper flakes on right before drying keeps them on the surface, where you taste them, rather than dissolved into the marinade you pour off.
Packing
Bag it once it is fully cool, in daily portions. A silica pack or a folded paper towel in the bag absorbs whatever moisture is left. Cured and properly dried, it holds for weeks out of the fridge; keep it out of the sun in your pack lid.
Variations
- Swap in beef eye of round if you have no venison. Same cut logic: lean, uniform, no fat.
- Gochujang, a tablespoon in the marinade, pushes it toward heat and thickens the glaze.
- An oven at its lowest setting with the door cracked and the meat on racks does the same job in about the same time.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/korean-bbq-deer-jerky