Tasty Goose Jerky

Being a carnivore, I love me some jerky. Straight up beef jerky from the grocery store is good but wild game is simply fantastic. I got a taste for deer and goose jerky a few years back. A friend of mine was making up batches for friends, who provided him with meat, and part of the deal was that he always walked away with plenty to snack on. He was gracious enough to give me some, from time to time, and I’ve loved it ever since.

This year I’ve successfully taken a few geese and I told myself that my third was destined to become tasty jerky. Last weekend I was lucky enough to shoot another goose. Rather than ask my friend to whip me up some jerky, I decided to learn to make it on my own.

I turned to Facebook and was pointed to an Alton Brown recipe for beef jerky. I took the recipe and used it as a guide to get started.

My first order of business was to thoroughly clean and cut my meat. I used two breasts, cut into quarter-inch strips. I trimmed them down in length then tossed them in a bag to marinate. The recipe called for eight to twelve hours but the timeline didn’t work out. I wound up marinating the meat for roughly twenty hours.

Once removed from the marinade, I patted the meat dry and used toothpicks to hang the meat from my oven rack. I set a low rack, lined with aluminum foil, to catch any drippings. I set my oven as low as it would go (170 degrees) and allowed the meat to dry out.

The Goose Destined for Jerky

Goose Breast Fresh out of the Marinade

3 Hours in the Oven

6 Hours in the Oven

9 Hours in the Oven – Ready for Packing

I was a bit worried about over-marinating the meat but the samples I’ve had have been great. I need to tweak the marinade a bit but I’m pretty sure any other geese I come home with will be turning into more jerky.