Making Beef Jerky

[Shann]

My son and I like beef jerky and I wanted to try making it for "fun"

Does anyone know how to make it without a smoker or dehydrator? I'd like to just try it in the oven, if that's possible. recipes, cuts of meat?, etc

Thanks as always.

 

[DaddyDett]

There was a recipe for an oven cooked beef jerky in Merle Ellis' book,
Cutting Up in the Kitchen.

Flank steak, salt, teriyaki or soy sauce, is about all I remember, and the book is long lost.

I treat myself once a year or so to New Braunfels Smoke House's
Peppered Beef Jerky, yummmmmmm!

http://http://www.nbsmokehouse.com/index.asp

At first glance, it seems pretty pricey, but when I did some calcutatin' against grocery/7-11 price per pound, it's actually less expensive.

DaddyDett

 

[oupa]

http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/s/articles/jerky1.htm

 

[Kevin the grey]

O:K: lean meat with the least amount of fat marbling it . under 1:4 inch and really 1;8th is best . lemon pepper to taste 1;2 half cup soya sauce 1;2 cup terriaki sauce (I use less) garlic powder 1;4 cup red wine . (if you can get a wine meant for game it is better) soak refrigerated for 12 to 24 hours stirring and seperating the slices of meat about every three hours . Clean middle rack of oven . Clean it very well as your meat is going right on it . Put one of those big aluminum drip trays in bottom of oven . (make sure it does not touch element ! Poof ! L:O:L ) Hang thin strips of meat over one bar of rackso it hangs more or less evenly down . Be sure you keep meat over drip tray . keep oven at 140 degrees F keep oven door slightly ajar . check every couple of hours . When meat will bend slightly and then break without bending more you are done . Make sure it is pretty cool . before packaging in baggies or you will get condensation . Cool dry dark storage . Depending upon recipe it will keep well for six months . I make a pound at a time and it lasts about a month . You can use reduced salt soya sauce . While better for you it will reduce storage time . This is not an issue with me as mine disappears way too quick to go bad . Good for tournaments , wild game potlucks , rendesvous and black powder shoots and getting rid of finicky eaters ! L:O:L

B:T:W: a dehydrator works better if you can afford the extra cash . I use it for drying my mint for mint tea as well .

 

[45-70]

I use thicker meat, nearly an inch thick and partially freeze it. I slice in into slices no more than 1/4 inch thick (being partially frozen helps stiffen the meat for slicing).

I marinate overnight in a brew of worchester sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, and sometimes something else, a big mixing bowl works well.

Something else can be Teriyaki sauce (in which case I don't use the worchester sauce and limit the soy), Hot sauce (my favorite being Tabasco), garlic (yummy, and the wife's favorite), etc.

If you take whole cloves of garlic, clean and slice them, put them in the brew for a night, and then strain them out, before you add the meat you can smash and dehydrate them seperately for a great broth starter.... It's really good on chicken oriental style, or to flavor your water for rice...

 

[FallingKnife]

Alton Brown uses flank steak and a very similar marinade: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_31151,00.html but his drying process is a bit different. He uses furnace filters as "trays" and a box fan to keep air moving across the strips of meat. The theory is that you don't want hot air (which would cook) but dry air that's moving to dry the meat out.

 

[Bill Marsh]

Beef Jerky?

Is that like beef strokinoff? I can't quite get the proper spelling...:jerkit:

Sorry about that.

 

[Kevin the grey]

Bill if that one was jerky it would be too old to eat ! ! L:O:L
I do not think that using the furnace filters is a good idea . Even if all the materials in the filters used are considered safe and are of a food grade quality they are certainly not manufactured in a factory that utilises ther kind of hygene necessary for the processing of food . Any manufacturing oils ,presevatives , anti mold agents and or anything you or I haven,t thought of are just not a good idea .
This is just a personal observation and you can take it for what its worth . I had this discussion on another forum and I just don,t think it is worth the risk . If I am wrong nothing happens . If the person who suggests using furnace filters is wrong then you may be feeding meat contaminated with who knows what to your children .

 

[FallingKnife]

... If I am wrong nothing happens .

The furnace-filters-on-a-box-fan thing is not my technique, and I've never tried it, so I won't defend it. However, I do like your risk / consequence analysis.

One thing that's worried me is that I'm in a fairly humid climate and I'm not sure how effective the box fan or even a dehydrator would be.

 

[Kevin the grey]

They have fan forced dehydrators that will do an adequate job unless it is actualy raining on them . The oven would work well . I personally find it a wasteful method . It is not wasteful in one respect . If you learn a new skill you have made yourself more valuable .
It is easy for me to gainsay the furnace filter method . I am however an individual who scores fairly high in sequential logic . (I put two and two and x together and most often come up with a valid response .) I don,t give myself airs about it as every strength is a weakness .
Jerky is great and as long as we realise it is a highly concentrated low fibre food . (Some would say no fibre . I have personally eaten horse steaks that had to have had a tennis racket somewhere in their bloodline ! ) L:O:L

 

[Yvsa]

Barb uses a dehydrator that the girls got us and makes jerky year around.:thumbup: The high humidity in the summer here doesn't affect it and our dehydrator doesn't have a fan.
Barbie uses Soy sauce, Smoke flavoring, Brown sugar, Worchestershire sauce and usually the hot Asian pepper sauce.

Actually the recipe is....
4 oz Original Liquid Smoke.
15 ounce Soy Sauce.
1 cup Brown Sugar.
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce.
Hot Asian Pepper Sauce to taste.
and...
4 pounds rump roast sliced 1/8" thick with all fat removed.
Marinate it for at least 1/2 to 1 hour according to how salty you like it.

The Asian Pepper Sauce is "Sambal Oelek"
"fresh ground chili paste."
Or you can use the crushed red pepper like you use on Pizza.:thumbup:

I have to eat the jerky that hasn't been marinated as long because of the salt content but the next time Barbie makes it I'm going to get her to make some for me with the AlsoSalt to see how it works.

 

[Kevin the grey]

All the salt for is a preservative . If you are going to eat it within a month you could go salt free . If you really hot peppered it up that is almost as good as salt . Sugar is also a preservative in a high concentration . Then there are the health considerations that lots of sugar causes . If you like your jerky dry then really that is a great preservative as well . It is the cleanliness of your operation and the way we package it that tells the tale . I have an elcheapo vacum sealer . I use low salt soya sauce and lemon black pepper along with other ingredients that are more flavor than preservative . I never used smoke , either liquid or fresh . I imagine that does a nice job of preserving all by itself .Vacum packed , cool dark place and its good for a month . Its good for a month even without the vacum packing . I only make a pound at a time . It doesn,t last more than a month . .

 

[TexasNativeDRJH]

Thanks for the complete recipe Yvsa- i could live the rest of my life solely on beef jerky. The storebought stuff is terrible. Everytime I pass through Austin I stop at the smokehouses to get a few pounds of the fresh stuff, but now most of them only have vacuum packed stuff that tastes awful. I have been meaning to learn how to make it myself but I always forget. Thank you all for the suggestions. Y'all should see my jaw muscles that connect at my temples when I'm chewing the stuff-great workout

 

[Yvsa]

Its good for a month even without the vacum packing . I only make a pound at a time . It doesn,t last more than a month . .

Barbie keeps our's in a clean glass 1/2 gallon or gallon jar with a tight fitting lid.
The 4 pounds Barbie makes at a time lasts us quite a while, lots longer than a month, and hasn't gone rancid yet.
I think it's the liquid smoke that helps with the preservation too.
And actually I forget about it if it is kept outta sight for any length of time. I figure that if I haven't seen it then we're out.

Really winter time is the best time for really doing cold smoking to preserve meat here in Oklahoma as the damned black smoker gets to
200* here in the summer without a fire. :grumpy:
However we can't smoke or even grill right now with the burn ban still on.
At least not with a proper charcoal or wet wood smoker and grill. It's permitted if you have a propane unit.:barf:

 

[Kevin the grey]

One of my state side buddies has a smoker that channels the smoke through a pipe in the ground and up into a gutted fidge ! I guess its another cold smoking method . I have never used the liquid smoke . Is it tasty .

My red wine recipe has had people fighting over the baggy of jerky ! I think the wine adds a flavor that makes it stand out from other jerkys .

 

[Aardvark]

Kevin, what is "a wine meant for game"?

 

[Kevin the grey]

Kevin, what is "a wine meant for game"?

I,m gonna be contrary here and tell you a wine that would be terrible for game first . George de Bouef , Beaujolais (SP) I was going on a wine and cheese style pic-nic with a young lady in an apple orchard . A few types of light tasting cheese some mild crackers and several types of fresh fruit . Sipping this delicate wine and a few tasty crackers with cheese topped off with truly ripe strawberries . I personally don,t think this wine would stand on its own all the time . The fruit compimented it as well as its complimenting the fruit . I actually ended up dipping some of the strawberries in the wine . Now I know some might be aghast at such an affront to a delicate wine . The two tastes were so intertwined and in tune as to be indistiguishable . Kind of like you were tasting a strawberry so juicy that all the juice that was in it could never have been contained in such a small vessel .

O:K: , O:K: On to the show . Say you had meat of a robust nature . In this instance we will suppose it is an older buck . You would need a wine that wouldn,t get lost in the taste of the meat . The delicate wine from the pic-nic just wouldn,t cut it . Not only would it not compliment the cut it would be barely noticeable .

Take a wine called "Gato Negro" (black cat ) from Chile . This is a robust full bodied fruity wine that is not too dry . Its made from blackberries as well as grapes so is not too sweet yet it has a slightly sweet strong fruitiness that wouldn,t get lost climbing the rockies . As the table wine for a game dinner or as part of a marinade in any red meat it has few equals . There is another wine from France that has a slightly rougher character . It is made from the same grapes as "Gato Negro" or at least has some of the same origins . The name escapes me . I,ll be going down to the commision soon for a bottle of wine and will enquire as to the French ones name .( It might be "Pinot Noir " don,t quote me on it . The :Noir" or black may be the link between the two wines . The Chilean wine really wins hands down except in one respect . It does not keep . Not even to the next day . The delightful blackberry fruitiness begins to suffer within even a few hours . I will drink it the next day . It is not the same wine at all . It has transformed itself into an ordinairy table wine . It also happens to not be too expensive . Long story short . Any red wine of a robust nature of a better quality than ordinairy will suffice .

 

[Aardvark]

Ok, think I've got it. Thanks.

 

[Yvsa]

Ok, think I've got it. Thanks.

Always hard to beat a hearty robust Burgundy for beef and game IMO, but everyone's taste in wine is different ainnit?

 

[Kevin the grey]

I must confess to only liking what I like . I,m not the most adventurous when it comes to wines though that is slowly changing . I,ll have to try a burgundy . Is there a winemaker you reccomend .