Beef Jerky

[Ash]

On my lunch break the other day I stopped at Wal-Mart.  It's only a half-mile from my work and it's convenient.  And I get an hour for lunch so it helps me kill time.

While there I picked up a bag of beef jerky.
Damn I love this stuff!    



I love to eat it but it's crazy expensive.  It's always nice to treat yourself to a bag every now and then.
Occasionally, you'll run into a family member who shot a deer and you'll be treated to a pound or more of delicious deer jerky.  My uncle Jerry hooks me up with a bunch of it every year.

How about you?
Do you like jerky?  Got a favorite kind?

[Jack]

I love jerky, but rarely buy it because the price always makes me laugh.  There's just something about a nice hunk of meat that's so hard and tough that you can chew on it for a good long time    I kind of like the teriyaki stuff, but really any flavor will do just fine.

[ghouck]

I'm going to buy a food dehydrator this weekend and one of the things I plan on doing with it is make jerky. An old Army buddy of mine visited last month and gave me a bunch of jerky he made. 10x as good as any I've ever bought in the store. Here's the recipe he gave me:

The recipe for the jerky is as follows.
 
First you need about a 3 to 5 lbs eye of round roast.
 
Then slice the roast the long way with the grain of the meat into thin strips. If you don't have a slicer to do this then you can sometimes get the people in the meat department to slice it for you.( The thinner the better.)
 
I have sliced it with a knife but then it takes a long time and is not very consistent in thickness.
Leave the lip or the fat attached when slicing.( it adds to the flavor)
 
You then take 1 bottle of soy sauce,1 bottle of Worcestershire sauce,1/2 bottle of liquid smoke and the important ingredient brown sugar which once you mix all of the above ingredients and add the brown sugar to taste the more the sweeter.
 
To add a different flavor we have also added teriyaki to it you don't have to but it is pretty good as well.
 
Pour the brine over the sliced meat and mix thoroughly let set in the fridge and mix every couple of hours.
 
We have let it sit for up to 2 days before putting in the dehydrator but one day is usually good.
 
If there is some brine left you can use it again as long it is refrigerated.

[CheezeFlixz]

I'm going to buy a food dehydrator this weekend and one of the things I plan on doing with it is make jerky. An old Army buddy of mine visited last month and gave me a bunch of jerky he made. 10x as good as any I've ever bought in the store. Here's the recipe he gave me:

The recipe for the jerky is as follows.
 
First you need about a 3 to 5 lbs eye of round roast.
 
Then slice the roast the long way with the grain of the meat into thin strips. If you don't have a slicer to do this then you can sometimes get the people in the meat department to slice it for you.( The thinner the better.)
 
I have sliced it with a knife but then it takes a long time and is not very consistent in thickness.
Leave the lip or the fat attached when slicing.( it adds to the flavor)
 
You then take 1 bottle of soy sauce,1 bottle of Worcestershire sauce,1/2 bottle of liquid smoke and the important ingredient brown sugar which once you mix all of the above ingredients and add the brown sugar to taste the more the sweeter.
 
To add a different flavor we have also added teriyaki to it you don't have to but it is pretty good as well.
 
Pour the brine over the sliced meat and mix thoroughly let set in the fridge and mix every couple of hours.
 
We have let it sit for up to 2 days before putting in the dehydrator but one day is usually good.
 
If there is some brine left you can use it again as long it is refrigerated.

To get cleaner, thinner slices even with a knife, pop the meat in the freezer for a while. Don't freeze it solid just long enough to firm up the meat.

I make a lot of jerky, from many kinds of meat, I'm about out and time time to make more.

I either dehydrate it or cook it in a smoker, for jerky I use a 55 gallon drum, and wire coat hangers bent out. Place them across the top, drape the meat over the wires and put the hot coals from a fire in the bottom (threw a hole cut out near the bottom) Put a metal lid on top, a metal garbage can lid works fine. smoke it until dry.  I smoke mine with hickory or fruit woods of which I have plenty of both.

[Patient7]

The closest I've had is Slim Jims, which are good, but I just KNOW I'd love beef jerky. 

[ghouck]

Slim Jims? Those things have enough MSG in them to kill an elephant. I stay away from that crap, it doesn't work well for me. .

[Mr. DS]

I've been getting into the Jack Links tender cuts which are awesome. The stuff is so expensive for what you get though.  I've been meaning to do my own jerky in the food dehydrator but haven't quite gotten around to it yet. 

[ghouck]

I just put my first patch in the dehydrator. I followed my friend's recipe, except I didn't have enough brine so I added some Wasabiaki sauce to it. I'll let you know how it turns out, however long that takes.

[ghouck]

Lessons learned:

1) Check it often, and I don't mean just look at it. Rip a chunk off and test it.
2) Fresh jerky just out of the dehydrator is NOT indicative of how good it turned out. A day in the 'frige does wonders for it.
3) If you over-dry your jerky, UNDER dry the next batch and store them together, seems to equil them out
4) If you over-dried your LAST batch, store it with a couple of slices of bread.
5) Don't skimp on the brown sugar.


I'm going to try drying some fruit, I'll let you know how THAT turns out. .

[Psycho Circus]

I've never had beef jerky    can't find it anywhere in this godforsaken hell-hole!

[ghouck]

Where is that? There are recipes all over the 'net that tell you how to make it in a regular oven.

[Trevor]

On my lunch break the other day I stopped at Wal-Mart.  It's only a half-mile from my work and it's convenient.  And I get an hour for lunch so it helps me kill time.

While there I picked up a bag of beef jerky.
Damn I love this stuff!    



I love to eat it but it's crazy expensive.  It's always nice to treat yourself to a bag every now and then.
Occasionally, you'll run into a family member who shot a deer and you'll be treated to a pound or more of delicious deer jerky.  My uncle Jerry hooks me up with a bunch of it every year.

How about you?
Do you like jerky?  Got a favorite kind?

The South African version of jerky, known as biltong, is always called, along with rusks and coffee, as the food that stood up to the British during the Anglo Boer War 1899 ~ 1902. 

[Psycho Circus]

Where is that? There are recipes all over the 'net that tell you how to make it in a regular oven.

In england, I can't be bothered doing it myself though, that's the thing