Jerky
High Ridge Teriyaki
Teriyaki Style Jerky
High Ridge Teriyaki is a jerky made from lean wild game or lean beef. Smoke at 145-165°F (63-74°C) and finish at an internal 152°F (67°C) held 1 min, before drying. Exact amounts scale to any batch weight in the DeepWoodz Smokehouse app for iPhone and Android.
Pineapple juice is doing more than adding sweetness — the enzyme in it tenderizes, which matters on lean wild game that otherwise dries into leather. Ginger and sesame oil keep it from reading as just sugar. Do not stretch the marinade past the time given or the texture turns mealy.
- Internal temp
- 152°F (67°C) held 1 min, before drying
- Smoker temp
- 145-165°F (63-74°C)
What goes in it
- Cure #1
- Brown Sugar
- Ginger
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Coarse Black Pepper
- Soy Sauce
- Pineapple Juice
- Sesame Oil
- Rice Vinegar
- Water
Amounts are calculated for your batch weight in the app — including the cure, which is held at a fixed, food-safe rate.
The meat
Lean Wild Game · Lean Beef
Bear or wild hog: take it to 160°F and hold 3 minutes. Freezing, smoking and curing do not kill trichinella — only heat does.
How it's made
- Slice meat 1/4" thick against the grain.
- Mix dry seasonings with soy sauce, pineapple juice, water, sesame oil, and rice vinegar into a marinade. It should be enough liquid to fully coat every strip - about 3 cups for a 5 lb batch. The sesame oil is what makes it taste like real teriyaki — don't leave it out.
- Marinate strips for 12-24 hours in the fridge, turning once.
- Pat dry and arrange on smoker racks.
- Dry at 160°F for 1 hour.
- Reduce to 145°F with light smoke for 3-5 hours.
- The sugar content means these can darken fast — watch the color.
- Done when strips bend and crack without snapping.
- Dehydrator method: Skip the smoke — dehydrate the strips at 160°F for 4-8 hours until they bend and crack but do not break. If your dehydrator can not reach 160°F, finish the strips in a 275°F oven for about 10 minutes to reach a food-safe 160°F internal temperature (165°F if using poultry).
Wood
Cherry · Apple
Safety
- Trim all visible fat before slicing
- Heat to 152°F internal and hold it a full minute before drying — 152°F only counts as a kill step with the hold
- Run humidity during that heat step. Dry heat alone is not a kill step — a dried surface makes bacteria far harder to kill
- Store finished jerky in airtight containers
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