Homemade Beef Jerky

This summer will see us travelling to a family wedding, and as is our custom, we will be going by car (well, by truck). The trip through the rockies is always beautiful and since Steve likes to leave super early, before the traffic on the TransCanada is nutso, it is enjoyable.

It is however, a reasonably long trip and so I thought I might make some preparations and do up some homemade beef jerky for snacks along the way. 

I haven’t made jerky for a long time and after doing it I am thinking to myself that I should remember to do it more often. It is really easy and relatively economical, as long as you don’t scarf down the whole batch! Very tempting…

I made two kinds, one with an Asian inspired flavour and the other a more traditional pepper jerky. 

Since we are travelling for a wedding, I’ve had weddings on my mind lately. Many newlyweds now ask for cash as gifts. Most couples live together for a least a while before they wed and they are wedding later in life, meaning that they don’t need as much start up stuff as we may have. I do understand but at the same time, I think it has some drawbacks. One of them is the appreciation and reminiscence, many years down the road, for something purchased especially for you, by a guest.

I have a few gifts that we got for our wedding that make me think back to that day so long ago each time I use them. This is especially true of the not so fancy and very practical gifts that I use every day, like our steak knives, my blue pyrex bowls, a basic white platter.

I was reminiscing about this while making my jerky – as one of our wedding gifts, over 25 years ago was a Rival meat slicer. It seemed like a bit of an oddity when we received it, but it has come in really handy more than a few times, and it is spectacular for making beef jerky or for thinly slicing a leftover roast for sandwiches. (This is one gift that I use infrequently and so have forgotten exactly who gave it to us, but whoever it was, thank you!)

Anyway, back to the jerky…

I purchased a two pack of eye of round roasts from Costco. These are lean roast with a prominent grain running their length. Cut lengthwise they are perfect for jerky, which takes advantage of this tougher cut to give you that signature hard chew that we all love in jerky. As far as roasts go, these are economical too.

I sliced up both roasts, divided them roughly into two batches and then threw together two marinades, soaking them in the fridge for about 24 hours.

I don’t have a dehydrator so once marinated they were laid out onto 4 cheap metal racks that I keep just for this purpose and then set into a low-as-you-can-go oven for a few hours. I happen to have a convection option on my gas oven so I set the temp at about 150°, put the fan on, and left the door open just a bit to keep it on the cool side.

The pans had to be rotated once or twice as the oven gets a bit hotter on the bottom, near the burners, than on the top. You want to dry the meat, not cook it so keeping the air moving and the temperature low is important.

Though many recipes state 4 or 5 hours (and some up to 10 hours!), my jerky is usually done in about 2-3 hours using this method. Economical AND quick – all set for the road.

Asian Beef Jerky

Prep Time: 1 day

Cook Time: 3 hours

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

A slightly sweet and salty beef jerky

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Ingredients

• 2 lb beef preferably eye of round, cut into very thin slices along its grain and trimmed of as much fat as possible
• 1.5 C tamari or soy sauce
• 1/3 C brown sugar lightly packed
• 2 Tbsp minced ginger
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp ground pepper
• Sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Cut meat into very thin slices along its grain. About 1/8" is perfect. If you don't have a slicer, cut the meat into long rectangular portions about 1" x 1" x overall length, to begin. Place them into the freezer just long enough to make them very cold, just under freezing. This will make slicing easier. Use a sharp slicing knife and take care!
2. If using a slicer, you may want to cut wider slices in half or into 1" strips
3. Mix everything but the sesame seeds in a medium sized pyrex bowl and whisk to dissolve sugar.
4. Place meat and marinade ingredients into the bowl or a ziplock bag, mixing well to get marinate to all sides of the meat.
5. Refrigerate for 24 hours
6. Place on cake racks or aluminum grill racks close but not touching each other.
7. Sprinkle with sesame seeds
8. Place into a dehydrator (check manufacturers recommendations) or into a 150° oven. You may need to keep the door open just a crack to keep the heat low enough.
9. Circulate the racks occasionally so as not to cook the meat, but rather to dry it out.
10. Check every hour until dry.
11. Remove from oven and let cool.

Recipe Notes

I suggest storing this jerky in the refrigerator as these have no nitrite to preserve them

Pepper Jerky

Prep Time: 1 day

Cook Time: 3 hours

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

A classic, smoky jerky with a pepper bite!

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Ingredients

• 2 - 2 1/2 lb eye of round sliced thin about 1/8 inch and trimmed of as much fat as possible
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp crushed red chile
• 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
• 1 C Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 C tamari
• 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. Cut meat into very thin slices along its grain. About 1/8" is perfect. If you don't have a slicer, cut the meat into long rectangular portions about 1" x 1" x overall length, to begin. Place them into the freezer just long enough to make them very cold, just under freezing. This will make slicing easier. Use a sharp slicing knife and take care!
2. If using a slicer, you may want to cut wider slices in half or into 1" strips
3. Mix garlic through sugar in a medium sized pyrex bowl and whisk to dissolve sugar.
4. Place meat and marinade ingredients into the bowl or a ziplock bag, mixing well to get marinate to all sides of the meat.
5. Refrigerate for 24 hours
6. Place on cake racks or aluminum grill racks close but not touching each other.
7. Sprinkle with additional coarse black pepper if desired
8. Place into a dehydrator (check manufacturers recommendations) or into a 150° oven. You may need to keep the door open just a crack to keep the heat low enough.
9. Circulate the racks occasionally so as not to cook the meat, but rather to dry it out.
10. Check every hour until dry.
11. Remove from oven and let cool.

Recipe Notes

I suggest storing this jerky in the refrigerator as these have no nitrite to preserve them