The dogs ate rather well this last weekend. Between making beef jerky, making chili (I use cubed beef instead of ground beef) and making barbeque beef for dinner one night, they got plenty of trimmed off beef fat added to their regular meals.
Making your own beef jerky is easy with a dehydrator. And, if you are a jerky fanatic like I am, it is a great way to customize the jerky to your own tastes or even save some money.
The first step is to select a cut of meat. I usually get what is on sale, be it some sort of steak or roast. Sometimes to get the right cut, I have to buy at regular prices. The trick to making jerky, is not necessarily the kind of cut you get, but what the cut consists of. A cut with lots of fat is not good, unless the fat is concentrated in one area and not marbled thru the meat. See, fat doesn’t dehydrate and will cause the jerky to go rancid within 5-7 days.
Sometimes I will get round steaks. These cuts usually have any fat concentrated on the outside ring, with a couple of veins that go thru the meat. The veins are easy to cut out and a lot of the meat is preserved. Other times I will get a roast, which is a bit risky. Sometimes the roast will look like it has little fat on the inside, but in reality be riddle with it so there is little meat to be had. Some roasts are excellent for the purposes of jerky making after just cutting off the outside rind of fat.
This time I bought two roasts and used my ancient, cheapo (meaning everything is plastic except the blade – in fact one of the tabs broke off and I use a piece of scotch tape to hold one of the pieces in place) meat slicer to cut the roasts into slabs. Everyone tells me that you have to cut jerky meat extremely thinly, but I have found that thick slices dry as well in a dehydrator (and I like thick slices). After making slabs, I cut off the fat (and in the process, cut the fat into chunks small enough the dogs won’t choke themselves on them as they swallow them whole).
After de-fatting, comes the hand slicing. I don’t make the pieces any exact size or shape, although most pieces turn out vaguely rectangular or triangular. I try to keep any pieces from being over 2” x 1”. The dehydrator is round, so long strips just won’t fit well.
Next comes the fun part; the marinating of the meat. The main marinade is some sort of alcohol; brandy or whiskey. I just buy gallon bottles of whatever is cheapest. The alcohol seems to allow flavors to penetrate more deeply and makes up 1/2-3/4 of the liquid used. To the bourbon or whiskey, I add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. That combination is the base for the marinade. Depending on my mood, I will add liquid smoke, Tabasco Dijon
After stirring the liquids together, I add each slice of meat to the concoction separately. If the top of the meat pile sticks out of the liquid, I add more alcohol until all the meat is covered.
After covering the bowl with aluminum foil, I stick it in the fridge for 12-24 hours (24 hours is best). If possible, I stir the concoction at least once during the soad period. After marinating, I drain the meat in a colander then fill up the trays to the dehydrator.
Dehydration takes at least 24 hours. Between 8 and 12 hours, I rotate the trays so that the trays that were furthest from the heat source become the closest to the heat source. At the 24 hour point, I take out the pieces that are done, rotate the trays again (placing the middle trays closest to the heat source) and allow the rest to dry for 12-24 hours longer.
At some point, I want to experiment by pounding pureed jalapeno peppers into the meat. It won’t make true pemmican, but should be a nice variation.
Comments