After experimenting for the past year with making beef jerky, this is the recipe that my family likes the best. It reminds me a lot of the stuff we used to get when I was a kid. The butcher that took care of our cows when it was time, also made jerky in the smoke house he had in back of the butcher shop. I loved that jerky.
A few tips and tricks
Ingredients
A nice, thin slice
Brine ingredients, minus the broth
On dehydrator, ready to go ….. 6 hours to wait
Coming along nicely
This is what they look like when they are done
That might last 5 days if I’m lucky
A few tips and tricks
- Meat - You want something very lean. I use round roast (top, bottom, eye are all good), but you could use flank steak, skirt steak, sirloin tip as well.
- Trimming - get all the intermuscular fat and silver skin trimmed off. If there are any seams with fat in them in the cut, you want those out, too.
- Slicing - Nice and thin, across the grain. I use my slicer and get as close to 1/8†as I can. Go across the grain unless you like your jerky really chewy, in which case you can slice with the grain. But it will be CHEWY.
- To smoke or not - I don’t smoke and I do use liquid smoke (I know, I know). But it tastes good. You can also smoke at 175F (no hotter or you will cook, not dehydrate). If you’re going to smoke the jerky, omit the liquid smoke.
- Storage - your jerky will last up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. I just stick it in gallon ziplock bags, squeeze the air out, and put it in the fridge. I imagine you could freeze and save for later, but I’ve never actually had a bag worth of jerky that lasted more than 4-5 days, max.
- I am giving the recipe for 1 lb of beef. Scale accordingly :-)
- Dehydrating - You can use an oven set to 175F, a smoker set up to run at 175F, or a dehydrator. I have this dehydrator, it works well.
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean beef - Round, Flank, Skirt, Sirloin Tip all work well
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt (not iodized)
- 1 1/2 tsp fine ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp Prague Powder #1
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke (I use Wright’s Hickory) (omit this if you are going to smoke the jerky)
- Trim the meat well. We do not want any silver skin or intermuscular fat at all. Nor any seams between muscles in the cut of meat
- Slice the meat, across the grain, as close to 1/8†slices as possible.
- Mix all of the brine ingredients together in a medium size mixing bowl.
- Put the meat in the bowl and mix together well by hand. You want every slice well coated with brine.
- Put the meat in a gallon ziplock bag, pour the brine liquid in, squeeze all the air out and seal.
- Put in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. I prefer overnight to give the meat more opportunity to absorb the various brine components to the greatest extent possible.
- When ready, with about 6 hours of time to spare, set up your dehydrator, oven, or smoker to dehydrate the meat. An oven at 175F works well (although gas ovens will not dehydrate well. The gas introduces a lot of moisture as it burns). A smoker kept around 175F will also work well. Or just spend the few bucks and get the dehydrator already.
- Lay out all of the meat flat in the dehydrator. Don’t overlap the meat. No need to rinse it very much, just pull out of the brine, pat dry with paper towels and then into the oven/dehydrator/smoker.
- The meat will need 5-6 hours to become jerky. Longer if the slices are thicker.
- Beef jerky is done a piece of the jerky bends in half, cracks on the bend line, but doesn’t break. It will feel like jerky, as well. Until it is done, it will feel a bit spongy to the touch, not that dry, rough feel of jerky.
- That’s it!
A nice, thin slice
Brine ingredients, minus the broth
On dehydrator, ready to go ….. 6 hours to wait
Coming along nicely
This is what they look like when they are done
That might last 5 days if I’m lucky
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