Does anyone out there have a tried-and-true recipe for homemade jerky?
What ingredients and method have you found to be the best?
Whether you make turkey jerky, deer jerky or any other kind, I’d love to hear from you for a future Front Burner column.
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On the Fridge Magnet blog, food writer Lindsey Nair writes about home cooking, local restaurants, entertaining and more. Here, you will also find links to restaurant reviews and our weekly food column, Front Burner. Please also check out our database of Southwest Virginia restaurants resturant user reviews and our recipe database.
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Lindsey, I have a great recipe for a wet jerky marinade that I developed from a BBQ sauce recipe. I add the marinade to whatever meat I’m using (beef or venison) in 1 gal. ziplock bags, turning/squishing it around several times a day in the fridge for 2 days, then make the jerky in the dehydrator. I have folks lined up when I make it. I can email it to you if you are interested.
I like Alton Brown’s method. I tried a food dehydrator but it seemed to take much longer and smelled up the house.
Making jerky is easy, just time consuming if you want it right. And you don’t have to use those expensive jerky mixes, there are plenty of spices already in your pantry. You also don’t need an expensive dehydrator that will make your jerky taste like paper.
While many will use the lessor cuts of meat off a deer (hocks, front shoulder, etc.), the best will come from brisket and slices right off a roast.
1. Have the meat in the freezer, slightly frozen. You can cut semi-frozen meat much thinner than when it’s warm.
2. Slice size or shape is not that important, as long as it is not too thick, keep it at 1/8″ or so.
3. Once sliced, put all the meat in a glass pan and treat it with meat tenderizer. Now get creative…add some sage, steak sauce, Lawry’s seasoning salt, any kind of marinade (mesquite is good), a little liquid smoke, chile powder if you like, a little lemon juice, italian dressing, etc. Basically try what you like and let it marinate in the mix you’ve made for at least 8 hours.
4. Now for the fun part, and this is great if you have a gaggle of “helper” kids at home. Get a box of toothpics. Set up your oven so you have one or two racks evenly spaced. Put some tinfoil on the bottom of the oven. Pick up each piece of the marinated jerky and put a toothpick through one end, then hang it on the rack. Fill up the rack from rear to front, spacing out the jerky so it isn’t touching.
5. Turn the oven on it’s absolutely lowest setting. Prop the door open slightly and let the jerky cure over a period of 24 – 48 hours. It’s okay to close and turn the oven off, if you have to leave for example, just start it up again when you get back. You don’t want to cook the jerky just slowly dry it out with a nice very low heat.
You’ll find you (& the kids) will be dipping in the oven frequently to “test” the product. The first pieces will be wonderfully soft and tender. The longer you leave it in, the crispier it becomes…You can actually store the jerky for a time, hanging in the oven (assuming you don’t need it for a Thanksgiving Turkey !!!). Remove toothpick before eating!!!!
Experiment with you own marinades and spices and jerk as much meat as your fingers will allow!!! Enjoy.
The Big Boo – a Biker and Virginia Deer Hunter.
Julie, yes, I would love to have your jerky recipe. You can e-mail it to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.
Amanda, I have not seen Alton Brown make jerky. What method does he use?
Big Boo, I really appreciate all the details. Cutting meat from a partially frozen state and using toothpicks to hang the jerky in the oven are particularly clever tips.
I’m planning on using this information in my column next week. Would appreciate your real names and hometowns. You can email those to me at the address above. Thanks.
Alton’s method is a little unorthodox -
He uses clean, new, furnace filters – insert meat into the slats, then stack another clean new filter on top. Use rubber bands to hold them together. Use bungee cords to attach them to the output side of a standard box fan and prop the whole thing in an open window (blowing out of course). It keeps the smell out of your house and doesn’t use up the oven.