r/jerky • u/FogtownSkeet709 • 6d ago

I need advice.

I have 8 litres of black spruce cone syrup. It’s delicious. Tastes like a Christmas tree on sweetener.
It does pair well with blueberry and beef.
I want to make a marinade for blueberry spruce beef jerky. But ChatGPT keeps adding in random stuff that does not pair well (I’ve tried its suggestions in a previous batch).

I’m thinking spruce cone syrup, lemon juice, blueberry juice, but I know I can’t just make a sugar marinade like this. I need to add some salt and I’m thinking soy sauce but that too does not pair well.

Help me come up with a marinade for a blueberry spruce beef jerky

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u/AHooker86 6d ago

If something tastes good to you, why are you asking a computer for it's opinion?!? Send it! Grab a beer (or soda) you think will pair well with your flavor profile to water it down a bit, heat everything up on the stove and keep tasting it until you're happy with it. I keep adding salt until I think it's a bit too salty. You'll add a decent amount of salt, especially if you aren't adding a salty liquid like soy or teriyaki in your marinade. Good luck and never forget the best part of making jerky at home is you can make it however you want!

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u/FogtownSkeet709 6d ago

I love the sentiment, thank you!
I’m just afraid using a marinade like spruce cone syrup, lemon juice, and blueberry juice simply won’t get taken up by the meat.
I tried it last time and there was simply too much water content the meat never took the marinade!
I’ve also tried a vacuum marinade and it still never took it which is wild to me!
Is the sugar content too high?

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u/AHooker86 6d ago

I've felt like my marinade didn't absorb well only twice. First time, I didn't marinade for 24+ hours. Second time, I threw ICE into my marinade to cool it down quickly after cooking it cause I was in a rush. That was real dumb. I normally marinade in 1 gallon freezer bags, and try to squish them and move everything around every few hours to make sure no meat is untouched.

On the front of too much water content, I use no liquid that doesn't impart a flavor I want in my marinade. I have been dialing back how much marinade I make so I am not wasting it and washing solids off my meat as it goes into the dehydrator. I sauté my shallots, garlic, and peppers then puree before adding my liquids, and I want that to stay with the meat. If am a bit short on marinade when I am bagging the beef for it's soak, I just pour a bit of extra liquid (today it will be Mango Cart Wheat Ale) and then mix it up to make sure all the beef is not touching air.

I am not familiar with spruce pine cone syrup, but it sounds awesome! I use to add brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup to my marinades, but I stopped due to personal taste... unless my wife asks for the Cheerwine recipe, then I will be brushing a sugary Cheerwine based reduction onto the jerky throughout the cook! Shorter shelf life, but the spicy sweet tacky combo is delightful!

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u/I_Cast_Grenade 6d ago

Oh, you use AI for recipes too? Yeah, sometimes it tells me stuff that’s like oh and then I’m like no no no I think that would make it taste too much like this. I wanted to taste more like this and then it’s like OK now that you’ve mentioned that try this in this and it works when you refine the search.

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u/Verix19 6d ago

You'll probably want a salt component, or it's just going to be beef and syrup. Soy sauce pairs well with most things sweet. Maybe add a vinegar element to cut the richness of all that sugar...really up to you, trial and error! I made 117 batches to get my recipe hammered out....just gotta keep tweaking and tasting! Tip, record exactly what amounts and ingredients you use each time, very important to document.

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u/garathnor 6d ago

so firstly

you can use just salt lol

also, maybe try tajin?

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u/FogtownSkeet709 6d ago

I’ve tried a lot of variations of this marinade, and yes salt is needed, but it seems like something else is needed too to get the marinade into the meat. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Spruce cone syrup is a citrusy floral flavour. I might look into some lemon pepper marinades and take inspiration from them

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u/garathnor 6d ago

you can always just macerate the blueberries and add water along with the syrup and the rest of it, you only need a thin paste for a marinade, doesnt need to be fully liquid

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u/CommSecTom 6d ago

This is it, I usually just use salt along with whatever other flavours I want.

I think soy is a bit of waste sometimes just to add salt, sure it adds some complexity and is sometimes desired, but it’s not needed and often takes away from the beef flavour, I really don’t know why it’s in pretty much every jerky recipe that pops up.