Beef Jerky?

I was considering playing around with making some jerky and wondered if folks here had some favorite tips/recipes to share. I had a co-worker recently who brought some in that he soaked, then smoked and it was phenomenal! It got me interested in making my own.

(and yes, I am totally open to all kinds of meat, including deer, as I expect some gifting of hunters who use our land in the near future... YUM!)

I always use a basic mix of soy sauce, brown sugar, salt/pepper & liquid smoke. From there I'll add misc ingredients (spices, pineapple nectar, etc) from time to time to change it up.

1 lg bottle of soy sauce
1 small bottle liqiud smoke
1 lb brown sugar
dash salt/pepper


I soak it for at least 36 hours. Dehydrate on the lowest settings, frequently alternating which rack is closest to the heat source.

i'd swap out that liquid smoke with 3-4 shots of your favorite whiskey

My marinade is basically the same as tallymonster's except I add a few cloves of garlic and it all goes in the food processor. I mostly use flank steak or english roast for my meat.

Bedlam, make sure you dry the venison at 170*F if you are at all concerned about the way it was dressed or are the animal it came from is/was questionable.

talleymonster said:

1 lg bottle of soy sauce
1 small bottle liqiud smoke
1 lb brown sugar
dash salt/pepper

Click to expand...

I use only 1/2 that much sugar, use fresh ground pepper to taste. Also for a change up, I'll add a bottle of Teriyaki sauce to that!

the whiskey sounds good as hell though.

And make sure to cut every last scrap of fat from that steak!

Deer jerky is awesome. That said...consider fresh ground pepper (from a grinder) with either a pepper mix or white pepper. Don't wait too long for the jerky to dehydrate, it will dry out a little more after your done (not much). Really any cheap meat will do good for jerky, not too fatty and not too lean.

If you can actually smoke it, do so. Liquid smoke works for dehaydrated, but nothing beats real smoked jerky.

I have a recipe around here somewhere, but I usually wing it with brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, soy and Worcestershire, black pepper and tobasco. Smoke cold at 100F with hickory, or other nut/fruit wood.

I always leave a few of the fatty pieces. They soak up soo much flavor and taste great.

buy london broil when it's on sale - freeze until it's just a little solid and slice thin...

soak in soy, garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, brown sugar, and a little lime juice...

The main ingredient in most recipes is soy sauce and then add any kind of spice that you feel may add some flavor. Be sure to let the meat soak overnight. Some people just dip the meat and then dry it. I think soaking it gets the flavor deep into the meat and it actally starts drying the meat as the salt starts to displace moisture in the meat.

One recipe I concocted years ago didnt use any soy sauce. I just used pineapple juice and Lawrys seasoned salt.

I go crazy with my dehydrator around this time of year. HWMBO's employer gives them huge boxes of enormous red delicious apples (I'm not too fond of that type, but they're free!) right before thanksgiving every year, so I dehydrate them. They're super good. And, it heats the house.

I'm going to try jerky this year, I've never made it before!

I personally don't use any soy sauce in mine. i like to make a sweet and spicy. i do not measure anything just mix it till it taste right.

salt
pepper
garlic powder
cyanne pepper
honey
wistershire sauce
tabassco sauce
hickorey liquid smoke
and apple juice.


soak for strips of london broil in mix for 24 hours and then dehydrate

I've used that basic Soy recipe too. I also like to stab the strips repeatedly with a fork to let the sauce stick better. You get more flavor that way.

I also tend to dry mine out completely so that it lasts longer. Moist is awesum if you are going to eat it right away, but if you want it to keep on the shelf, you need lots of salt or dry it out!

Have you seen the Good Eats 2 parter on jerky making?

[youtube]aJfuVl0BBlA[/youtube]

[youtube]NUu9goMp7EI[/youtube]

i saw the one where he used a box fan and air filters to make it. are we talking the same episode?

forget the soak overnite, I use my vacuum sealer. Put the meat in a dish, add the marinade and then put it in a large seal a meal bag and seal the whole dish. I use a rectangle 13x9 or the like. When vac sealing, it opens the pours (SP?) in the meat and lets the marinade in. You would not believe how fast and easy this is...can be done from start to finish and starting to smoke,cook,dehydrate in less than 20 minutes. This is a real time saver.