Making Beef Jerky

Written by Gary Miniss aka Celt_Ginger Sunday, 13 September 2009 15:50

Jerky is simply dried meat that has usually been marinated in some spices, though is can be as simple as adding salt and pepper to it. Some meat, like Beef and Venison are ideal for making jerky while others like lamb and pork are not so good as they have too high a fat content. Fat in jerky doesn’t work well as the fat will go rancid.

I started off with topside of beef:

I trimmed off any fat that was on the beef

I then split the joint of meat into two parts as the topside had a seam running through it.

I then began to slice the beef into thin slices.

Here is the beef all sliced.

I marinade the beef in my own recipe spice mix. I use:

• Tabasco sauce
• Soy sauce
• Worchester sauce
• Balsamic vinegar
• Crushed peppercorns
• Crushed juniper berries
• Salt
• Sugar

Mix the lot together in a bowl and add the sliced meat, mixing thoroughly until the meat is all covered in the marinade.

Leave for 24 hours for the flavour of the marinade to penetrate the meat. Then take the meat and skewer each piece onto a cocktail stick.

Here are all the slices of beef ready for drying

Using an electric fan oven, place the oven shelf at its top most runner

 

Hang the slices of meat from the bars of the oven shelf using the cocktail sticks.

Set the oven temp to a very low setting, about 40 degrees and leave the oven door open a tiny bit.

Leave the oven running at this low temperature with the fan running for aprox 8 to 10 hours. The jerky should then be ready, though it may take a little longer. Remove the cocktail sticks and it’s ready to eat. Being dried, it will also keep for a long time.