Anyone have a jerky recipe?

[Jimin]

I came across a good sale on flank steaks and I was thinking about trying my hand at making some homemade beef jerky. Does anyone have any good recipes for beef jerky?

[Ken]

Here? Seriously? We have thousands of them.

Let the battle begin!

[Ken]

Sweet Soy Marinade

2 cups Kikkoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 head of garlic - crushed
½ cup chopped white onions

[Ken]

Knob Creek Bourbon Marinade

2 cups Knob Creek Bourbon
⅔ cup Light Brown Sugar

[randyt]

Mine is similar to Ken's except I ditch the brown sugar and use a tablespoon of liquid smoke instead.

[intothenew]

I like it a thousand different ways. But one, that has stuck as a staple;

HPBooks, Inc. 1979 "How To Dry Foods"


Hawaiian Jerky

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 lb. lean meat, thinly sliced (3/16 to 1/4 inch thick)

Marinate 6 to 12 hours


It's just a wonderful change to the ordinary. A taste Mother Nature never intended. Those of the milder tongue enjoy it too.

[Rick]

Here's mine.

Beef Jerky
2 lbs. of flank steak
2/3 cup of soy sauce
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons of seasoning salt (recommendLawry's)
Slice flank steak diagonally with thegrain of the meat into very thin slices (If slightly frozen it slices moreeasily). Combine ingredients and marinate meat overnight or 12hours. Be sure all pieces are covered (coated) with marinade. Drainexcess marinade. Place meat on paper towels to soak up marinade. Meatshould be squeezed as dry as possible in paper towels. Place individualpieces of meat on rack in oven at 140 to 160 degrees for seven to 12 hours, oruntil meat is dry throughout. Leave oven door ajar (slightly open) duringthe drying process. Meat can also be hung in the oven by placing a woodentoothpick in each piece and strung from the rack. Store finished jerky inan airtight container. It keeps for several months....if you don't it eat it first.

[mountainmark]

I don't recall ever making beef jerky, but I do make venison jerky.

If I'm going all wild I'll use a simple sea salt, water, maple syrup brine. (sorry, I don't measure)

Otherwise I may add some brown sugar instead of maple and possibly some pepper. I brine the sliced meat until it has the "certain texture and color" I can't quite describe (I know, real helpful right? But brine time depends on salt, sugar brine ratios, and seeing that I don't measure....)

I then dry the slices and place in the smoker for 2 to 4 hours. (I usually use maple, apple, or black cherry) A little less time for the black cherry.

When done smoking I finish in the food dehydrator.

I like to jazz up different foods, but for some reason I really like my jerky simple. If it's salty, sweet, and smokey, I be happy :) Perhaps it is the strong flavor of the smoke etc. that causes me to avoid other complex flavor profiles IDK.

[sofasurfer]

Is it true that meat for jerky does not have to be cooked? You can make jerky with raw meat?

[sofasurfer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerky

[pete lynch]

Yep: raw meat is needed. I make some decent jerky from ground turkey. I call it turkey jerky. I also make it from ground venison.
I have used Hi Mountain and Nesco brand pre-made spice/cure mix.
I plan to try my homemade chili seasoning recipe when I figure up the amount of cure I need.

[aktrekker]

I've made turkey jerky. People loved it. I could never get any for myself.:)
I've wondered about using ground meat but I've never tried it. Does it hold together ok?

[sjj]

revised.....

[aflineman]

I have used the juice from pickled jalapeño peppers as a brine base. Gives the meat good spice, without being to hot.

[Rick]

Good post, sjj. That's why you need to heat the meat to 165F or above even if you are smoking it. Smoking just doesn't kill parasites.

[aktrekker]

Basically it says that bear meat is the one dangerous to humans. I've always considered bear to be like pork. You don't make pork jerky.
Nothing revolutionary in the article. I wonder if the booklet from Fish & Game has more info.
They do say "the bottom line is hunters in Alaska don’t actually have much to worry about."
Deer, elk, moose, caribou, fish should be fine for jerky. Natives have been eating jerky for thousands of years without a problem.
Heating to 165 cooks the meat. It will not last long after being cooked. That defeats the purpose of drying/smoking, which is to preserve the meat so it will last longer.

[natertot]

165 doesn't cook the meat, that is the temp that dries out (dehydrates) the meat.

[pete lynch]

165 doesn't cook the meat, that is the temp that dries out (dehydrates) the meat.

That was my understanding, as well.

[aktrekker]

Every recipe I've seen for jerky (or dehydrating anything) is no more than 120.
When cooking meat you try to get the internal temperature to at least 165. If you cook at 165 until the meat is at 165 you have cooked it.

[Winnie]

akt, it is my understanding that the dehydrating temp for Jerky should be 140 degrees, you then 'cook' your jerky after dehydrating as an added safety precaution to kill any lingering pathogens, or you can preheat the Jerky in it's marinade. See here.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/dry/jerky.html

I rarely make jerky as it generally only lasts 24hrs and has never made it into storage. I can't afford a habit like that!:ohmy:

I have often wondered if sun drying would have a disinfecting effect, but UK has very few days dry enough to try.

[aktrekker]

Most dehydrators run between 120-140 degrees. At temperatures as low as 145F the meat cooks. Cooked meat only lasts 3-4 days when refrigerated, no more than 4 hours at room temperature before it is unsafe.
http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

Natives dried the meat in the sun. No cooking. Early pioneers did the same. Dried meat will last for months at room temperature as long as it is kept dry. Solar methods of drying, even with fancy setups that collect solar energy over large areas, max out at about 120F.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/ai407e18.htm

I imagine that "cooking" dried meat won't actually cook it. Moisture is required for normal cooking. Once dried the meat shouldn't be transformed the same way it would if fresh.
But since jerky has been made for centuries using only the sun for drying, I tend to think that will be enough. Of course salting speeds it up (and adds flavor). Smoking keeps insects away (and adds flavor). But if higher temperatures were required I think our ancestors wouldn't have survived and we wouldn't be discussing this right now.

[natertot]

Every recipe I've seen for jerky (or dehydrating anything) is no more than 120.
When cooking meat you try to get the internal temperature to at least 165. If you cook at 165 until the meat is at 165 you have cooked it.

That is interesting, The lowest temp my stove goes to is 200 and that is called "warm". I really don't see how 165 would be cooking, per my stove......

[pete lynch]

I make my jerky at my dehydrator's highest setting as it tells me in the instruction manual. That is a temp of 160 degs. I have kept jerky made from it for a month ( I hid some) with no ill effects.

[Rick]

It's really hard to look back at Native Americans or early settlers and subscribe to what they did. Remember that we only know about those that were successful. Those that died of food poisoning don't seem to get much press. Sort of like Mountain Men. Those that died right off aren't well known.

[aktrekker]

When you make jerky in an oven you are supposed to leave the door cracked to let the moisture escape. The temperature will never reach 200.
Most hot water heaters are set to 140. Turn on the water all the way to hot. Stick your hand in it. You won't keep it there long because it will burn you. If you could leave it there long enough it would cook your hand.
I suppose it's possible that at lower temperatures it will dry before it cooks. At least in a dehydrator with a fan blowing the moisture out.

I guess this is one of those "many ways to do something" moments. I've been making jerky for about 15 years and I've always done it the way I learned - 120-130 with a fan. That was in the instructions that came with the dehydrator and several books I read. Nobody has ever gotten sick from my jerky.

[Rick]

Oh, well sick, sure. But how many died? See, dead is kinda permanent. Did you count those? And that guy that said it was the flu? He was just being nice. He didn't want to hurt your feelings.

[aktrekker]

I don't count the 2 that died. They had it coming.:p

You only need 150 for 1 minute to kill all active bacteria. But cysts will survive. Even boiling temps don't guarantee it's safe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/bending-the-rules-on-bacteria-and-food-safety.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Just sayin :smartass:

[Rick]

Well, if they had it coming then you don't have to count them. It's the ones that were accidents you have to tally in.

[hunter63]

Y'all seem to have this covered....but just a couple of comments.
My favorite was supposed to be a Old Native American.........don't know how old.... as it talks about Morton Season-all, and liquid smoke?

I supposed some folks consider 1988 a long time ago, and before they were born.....but well just saying.

One thing it does state that I haven't seen mentioned was step one.

"Get your self a deer"...or "Get your self a cow"...or whatever..... but you need meat.

[sjj]

revised....

[Highhawk1948]

I can remember my Father making it when I was a kid. We lived in cold country then and he would wait for winter. He cut the meat in thin strips, put them in boiling water for about a minute. Then salt and peppered them. Hung them on a thin rope between two trees so that they received full sun all day long. He covered it with a sheet of clear plastic and left it there for two weeks. We would fill a pocket with it when we went camping, rabbit hunting, or fishing. Sometimes we would fry it, put it on a rock at the fire and eat it warm, or put it in beans or a stew. Best I have ever had. And still today I do not like all of the "flavored" jerky. Can't remember how we kept it though, maybe in glass jars, but it lasted a long time, at least till we ate it up and had to make more.

Had to edit, just read Rick's post. There was 3 of us that eat this and we never got sick.

[Rick]

Good post, sjj. Handling raw meat without thorough washing of hands can be just as bad as under cooked meat.

Highhawk: You don't suppose that parboiling and salting had any beneficial effects on parasites and disease do you?

[Highhawk1948]

I guess that was it. I know it was the best jerky I ever had. Can not make it here in Florida.