An Introduction to Jerky
Jerky is one of mankind's earliest approaches to preserving food, slicing up meat into tiny strips, saturating it in flavorful preservatives so that you can keep food weeks and even months beyond when it would otherwise spoil. All you need to make jerky is a way to dry meat at a low temperature, something to carve excess fat with and something salty to stop bacterial development. While you can make many different types of meat into jerky, beef is usually the most common meat for jerky due to how easy it is to acquire.
A Step-By-Step Guide on How to Make Beef Jerky
Considering how basic it is to make jerky, we have provided several different recipes in order to give you a better idea of just how many options and approaches you have.
Peppered Beef Jerky Recipe
Ingredients
- Roast, eye of round, 2 lbs, sliced thin and against its grain
- Cloves, garlic, 4, minced
- Sauce, soy, 1 cup
- Sauce, Worcestershire, 1/2 cup
- Sugar, brown, 1/2 cup
- Powder, onion, 2 tsp
- Pepper, red, flakes, 2 tsp
- Pepper, black, 2 tbsp
- Beer or beef stock, your choice, 1 cup
- Optional: 1 tsp of "instacure #1" aka pink salt aka "Prague Powder #1"
Instructions
- Add everything but the beef into a gallon-size resealable plastic bag. Seal it and shake until the brown sugar fully dissolves.
- Add the sliced beef to the marinade and toss it gently enough to coat all sides.
- Refrigerate anywhere from 8 to 24 hours. The trick to making great jerky is that longer you marinate it, the more flavor and saltiness will make its way into each bite.
- Remove the strips from the bag and transfer them to paper towels. Pat the meat dry.
- Preheat your smoker to 170°F. Transfer the strips to the grill grate and season them with some extra black pepper if you like.
- Smoke anywhere between 2-5 hours, depending on the thickness of your slices. Make frequent checks during the first hour to ensure even drying. The ideal texture is firm with a bit of pliability, nothing outright soft. If the jerky breaks when bent, it is overcooked.
- Store the jerky in a gallon-size bag while it is still warm, leaving only a small part of the band unzipped. All of the heat gets trapped inside the bag, steaming up the meat and keeping it moist.
- If you used the optional ingredient, your jerky will last for weeks without refrigeration. If you did not use the optional ingredient, the jerky will last several weeks with refrigeration.
Peppered Beef Jerky Recipe
Equipment
-
Smoker
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Roast, eye of round sliced thin and against its grain
- 4 Minced garlic cloves
- 1 cup Soy sauce
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar
- 2 tsp Onion powder
- 2 tsp Pepper, red, flakes
- 2 tbsp Black pepper
- 1 cup Beer or beef stock, your choice
- 1 tsp "instacure #1" aka pink salt aka "Prague Powder #1" (optional)
Instructions
-
Add everything but the beef into a gallon-size resealable plastic bag. Seal it and shake until the brown sugar fully dissolves.
-
Add the sliced beef to the marinade and toss it gently enough to coat all sides.
-
Refrigerate anywhere from 8 to 24 hours. The trick to making great jerky is that longer you marinate it, the more flavor and saltiness will make its way into each bite.
-
Remove the strips from the bag and transfer them to paper towels. Pat the meat dry.
-
Preheat your smoker to 170°F. Transfer the strips to the grill grate and season them with some extra black pepper if you like.
-
Smoke anywhere between 2-5 hours, depending on the thickness of your slices.
-
Make frequent checks during the first hour to ensure even drying. The ideal texture is firm with a bit of pliability, nothing outright soft. If the jerky breaks when bent, it is overcooked.
-
Store the jerky in a gallon-size bag while it is still warm, leaving only a small part of the band unzipped.
-
If you used the optional ingredient, your jerky will last for weeks without refrigeration. If you did not use the optional ingredient, the jerky will last several weeks with refrigeration.
Nutrition
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Basic Beef Jerky
Ingredients/Equipment
- Beefsteak, round, 2 lbs, cut into thin strips
- Sauce, soy, 1/4 cup
- Sauce, Worcestershire, 2 tbsp
- Liquid smoke, 2 tbsp
- Sugar, brown, 2 tbsp
- Salt, 2 tsp
- Pepper, black, ground, 1 tsp
- Meat tenderizer, 1 tsp
- Powder, garlic, 1 tsp
- Powder, onion, 1 tsp
- Paprika, 1 tsp
- Food dehydrator
Instructions
- Lay your stripped beef in the bottom of a bowl and douse it with all of the other ingredients. Move things around a bit so that all of the meat is evenly coated.
- Cover the bowl and transfer it to the refrigerator so the meat can marinate between 8 and 24 hours.
- Remove the meat from the bowl and slip it between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Hammer the strips down to 1/8" thickness.
- Spread out the meat on your dehydrator's tray and dry it at the highest setting until you have reached your ideal texture, going for at least 4 hours.
- Store in either an airtight container or resealable bags.
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Kitchen-Baked Kickin Beef Jerky
Ingredients
- Beef, 4 lbs of either London broil or flank steaks
- Pepper, black, 2 tsp
- Powder, chili, 2 tsp
- Powder, garlic, 2 tsp
- Powder, onion, 2 tsp
- Pepper, cayenne, 2 tsp+ (use more if you like heat)
- Sauce, Worcestershire, 1/2 cup
- Liquid smoke, 1 tsp
- Sauce, Frank's red hot, 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Trim all excess fat from the beef and cut it into 4" strips that are pounded down to 1/2" thickness.
- Add all ingredients to a bowl, mixing them well.
- Cover the bowl of marinating meat and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
- Line cookie sheets with foil and place the strips atop the sheets, making sure to never overlap pieces.
- Set your oven down to somewhere between 150 and 175°F, as low as it can go. And bake the strips for 6 hours, flipping them over at the 3 hour mark.
- The jerky will be finished when the meat is dried out.
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The Best Beef Jerky Recipe
Ingredients/Equipment
- Beef, flank steak, 2 lbs, sliced into 1/8" strips
- Sauce, soy, low-sodium, 1/2 cup
- Sauce, Worcestershire, 2 tbsp
- Pepper, black, coarsely-ground, 2 tsp
- Liquid smoke, 1 tsp
- Powder, onion, 1 tsp
- Salt, seasoned, 1 tsp
- Powder, garlic, 1/2 tsp
- Liquid smoke
- Food dehydrator or oven
Directions
- Slice your meat either with the grain, for chewy jerky, or against the grain, for tender jerky.
- Transfer the strips and all of the other ingredients into a large ziplock bag or mixing bowl.
- Seal the bag and toss it around until the steak has been evenly coated with all ingredients.
- Refrigerate anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours.
- If using a dehydrator: Lay the strips in a single layer of your dehydrator tray and cook the jerky until it is dried and firm with a bit of pliability.
If using an oven: Heat the oven to 175°F and move your racks to the upper- and lower-middle rows. Line two baking sheets with foil, followed by adding a wire cooling rack. Lay the strips out across a single rack and back until the jerky reaches the same texture as with the dehydrator, roughly 4 hours. Make sure to flip the beef over half-way through the process. - Remove the jerky from its vessel and move it to a sealed container. Leave it in the refrigerator for up to one month.
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Enterprising Beef Jerky Recipe
Ingredients/Equipment
- Beefsteak, flank, 1.5 to 2 lbs
- Sauce, Worcestershire, 2/3 cup
- Sauce, soy, 2/3 cup
- Honey, 1 tbsp
- Pepper, black, freshly ground, 2 tsp
- Powder, onion, 2 tsp
- Liquid smoke, 1 tsp
- Pepper, red, flakes, 1 tsp
- Box fan
- Filters, paper, air conditioner, 4
- Cords, bungee, 2
Directions
- Trim the steak of excess fat, place it in a resealable bag and move to the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
- Remove the steak from the freezer and thinly slice it with the grain to produce long strips.
- Add the strips and all other ingredients into a one-gallon resealable bag. Seal the bag and jostle the contents until the strips have been evenly coated. Return the bag, with all its contents inside, to the fridge for anywhere from 3 to 6 hours.
- Remove the strips from the marinade and pat them dry. Evenly place the strips onto 3 of the air filters, leaving them along the grooves and stacking each filter on top of the others.
- Use the bungee cords to strap the filters to the box fan.
- Stand the fan upright and turn it on at medium settings.
- Allow the fan to dry the meat between 8 and 12 hours.
- Once dried, store the jerky within an airtight vessel kept in a cool, dry area. It will last anywhere from 2 to 3 months.
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Save this recipe in your Cave Tools BBQ app or download other recipes from the community recipes exchange!
In Conclusion
As you can see, there really is not that much of a trick or secret technique to making jerky. Simply carve any excess fat, chop the meat slim and small for portability and quicker dehydration and blast it with a salty marinade filled with delicious flavors. The only thing to do after the prep work is dry out the strips with heat or a food dehydrator.
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