Jerky
While
most of the world is speeding toward the future trying to find new ways to do
things, bigger, better, and faster some us of are looking to the past to
develop the staple of days gone by – Jerky.
I can’t help but think that the ole Cowboys of the wild west, or the
Native American Indians who taught them the process must be thinking “the
people in the future are strange, they
take a nice juicy piece of meat and dry it when they can eat it fresh!”
What
is Jerky? Jerky is simply strips of lean
meat, cured, smoked and flavored into a chewy, mouth watering, strip of dried
meat. It can be made from beef, turkey, venison, moose, elk, antelope, bear,
rabbit or just about any other meat.
NOTE:
I have never made jerky from pork and don’t recommend it. I’m more than leery
about potential problems with raw pork so I will not use it for jerky or any
other meat products that are not cooked.
When
making jerky use only lean meats because the fat in meat goes bad quickly and
will cause your jerky to spoil a lot faster than meat with no fat. When using
beef, I recommend using the leaner cuts. Wild game meats are usually lean but
still trim off all of the fat and membrane that you can as you cut up
the meat. Some meats are tougher than
others but hey this is jerky!
Sliced Beef Jerky
you could use:
Top Round (probably the best cut)
Eye of the round
Bottom Round
Flank Steak
Brisket (well trimmed)
Sirloin Tip
Sirloin
top butt
When making jerky you will loose about 3/4 of the weight from
water loss. So for about 2 pounds of
meat you’ll get about 1/2 pound of jerky
when your done, so don’t be surprised by the shrinkage.
Once you have your meat chill it until stiff (not frozen)
in the freezer. This will make it easier to trim or slice. Once the meat is trimmed
slice the meat across the grain into 1/4"inch thick. If you cut it
with the grain you will have a lot of very tasty dental floss!
Mix ingredients
for marinate in a bowl and let
stand while you are cutting the meat. Then place meat into the bowl of
marinade, secure lid and let stand about 30 minutes. Shake bowl and turn bowl
every few minutes to cover all pieces equally. Drain in sieve or colander.
Place on trays and dehydrate.
Basic Marinate
This is a basic marinate. I like to use a combination of
soy sauce and brown sugar sweetened to taste. Add crushed red pepper, chili
pepper, cayenne pepper, or jalapeno pepper if you like it hot. You can add
garlic powder, onion powder, Cajun spice or any spices you like - to taste. Mix the ingredients together and taste it.
This is what your jerky will taste like once dried so taste your marinate
before you use it.
5 lbs. thinly Sliced meat
2 tablespoons Morton's Tender Quick
salt
1/2 lb
brown sugar
3 cups soy sauce
Spices of your choosing
½1 cup liquid smoke (if you don’t
have a smoker)
Marinate the meat for 20 to 30 minutes. Thicker cuts of
meat will need to marinate a lot longer. It is important that the meat is
marinated completely. The meat will turn brown when it has absorbed the
marinate. The meat can sit in the marinate overnight if you wish.
Drying Meat
My oven has very
low settings so I do jerky in the oven by lining my racks with aluminum foil
and laying the meat on the foil. Cook at 150 ºF for the first 30 minutes turn
the strips over then continue cooking at 170ºF for another 2 hours and 30
minutes. Turn the strips at least twice and pat with a dry paper towels to
remove any moisture you see. Melted fats will look like shiny spots wipe it
off!
Place one layer of meat on each rack or tray. If you like
slightly thicker slices, then increase the drying time accordingly. Store in
clean jars with tight lid, plastic Ziploc bags or vacuum seal if you plan to
keep it for more than a week.
