The secret to preparing this Smoked Hamburger Jerky Recipe lies in the marinade. A wet marinade for GB jerky doesn’t mean to add too much liquid per pound of GB.

If you use a jerky cannon or sausage stuffer to extrude the jerky, too much liquid will make the extruder “burp”. As a result, the strips will look distorted in shape, besides being really messy.

I go by 1/2 cup of liquid per pound of meat. For 5 lbs of meat, I would say 2 1/2 cups, added slowly, and pinch tested after 1 1/2 cups. What I mean by pinch tested is pinch off a hunk of the GB and see if it’s firm and tacky. If it’s squishy and gooey like there is too much liquid in it.

However, all is not lost if you added too much liquid. Just place the GB mix on a wire rack, place the rack on a cookie sheet and cover the top of the mix with clear wrap, then place in the fridge. The excess liquid will fall to the cookie sheet overnight. When taking the mix out, let it sit at room temp for about an hour. This will make it easier to extrude if you use a jerky cannon.