How to make beef jerky

I've always wanted to know how to make beef jerky, so this year I went out and bought myself a new food dehydrator. After trying a couple of different recipes and methods, I've settled on this one. Its a classic beef jerky flavor, and I usually make half of it spicy and half milder. Beef Jerky is great to take on a hike or camping, its light and doesn't take much room, and is a good source of nutrition, and it tastes great. Another benefit of learning how to make beef jerky and other dehydrated food is that it will not easily spoil and does not require refrigeration.

The first step to making beef jerky or any other meat jerky obviously is selecting the cut of meat. I usually use a nice lean bottom round roast, but london broil works well too. You want a piece of meat that doesn't have much fat in it, the leaner the better. Start by cutting the meat into one inch thick "Steaks". Then cut each one into strips no more than 1/8 inch thick. Try to cut all the strips the same thickness so they will cure in the dehydrator equally.

step 1: cut beef into strips 1 inch wide 1/8 thick

Next, you'll need to prepare your marinade, everybody has different tastes so mix it up the way you like it, add your own ingredients and experiment. The important thing to remember here is to give the marinade time to do its job, I always leave it on the meat overnight.

step 2: Make the marinade

1 tsp black pepper
1 tblspn honey
2 tsp Onion powder
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp cajun spice
1 tsp worcestershire seasoning

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, give it a stir, and pour it over the meat. I use a bowl and cover with saran wrap, but its pretty handy to use a big ziploc bag for this also. Let the meat marinate for 12-18 hours

Step 3: Pour marinade onto meat

Step 4: Cover and refrigerate overnight

After you have your meat well marinated, remove it from the refrigerator and lay it out to pat dry the access moisture from the meat. Lay down a layer of wax paper, and a double layer of paper towels. Take the meat out one piece at a time and lay it out on the paper towl. take another paper towel and blot the top side. You dont have to worry about getting it really dried off, but it makes cleanup a little easier if you dont have the meat dripping with sauce when you put it into your dehydrator.

drained jerky
step 5: Drain and dry.

beef jerky preparation
Lay out on paper towel

If you like extra hot and spicy jerky, now is a good time to add some more red pepper flakes or ground black peppercorns to some of the meat. Just rub on as much as you think you can handle. Also take the time at this point to cut out any lines of fat or grissle that remain in the meat, you dont want any fat in your jerky if you can avoid it. Place the meat on the dehydrator racks, spaced apart so that its not touching the piece next to it.

Step 6: Place meat in dehydtrator

All thats left to do now is stack the trays in your dehydrator and let it run until the jerky is nicely dried. This time will vary from one model of dehydrator to the next I'm sure. In the "Aroma Dehydrator" that I use (which I think cost me about $50 bucks at Wal-mart) It takes about 16-18 hours. If you get some pieces a little too thick, you might have to put them back on for another 4 or 5 hours to finish them up.

Knowing how to make beef jerky and how to dehydrate food can be a great way to supplement your survival or emergency food supply. Obviously its also just a great snack to have around any time. Dehydrated beef jerky, Venison jerky, fruits and vegetables will last a long time, and taste great.

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