Fact: I love meat. Yea I said it.
Fact: Meat has a slight portability issue.
Solution: Beef Jerky
Better Solution: Homemade Beef Jerky.
The ingredients:
- Soy Sauce (1/3 cup)
- Worcestershire sauce (1/2 cup)
- Liquid Smoke (Just a few drops)
- Black Pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
- Onion Powder (1/2 Tbsp)
- Garlic Powder (1/ Tbsp)
- Cola (1/4 cup, Optional)
- MEAT! (1 to 2 lbs.)
Before you begin, there are a few different ways to dry your Jerky, I used a dehydrator, you can use an oven, or even a box fan and air duct filters. I chose the dehydrator for the simple reason is that we were in the middle of a heat wave and it did not seem like a fun idea to have my oven battle my air conditioning for control over my house.
This one specifically
Choosing your steak. Fat does not preserve well choose a steak with light marbling, and when you do come across a bit of fat trim it out. Drying Beef Jerky was originally a way to keep meat from spoiling. Leaving in fat will not add as much flavor as it will just set you up for failure. I don't tolerate failure. At least not when it comes to my Beef Jerky. (If you haven't noticed it yet Beef Jerky will be capitalized in every instance to emphasize its greatness)
Lets get to the meat. This is a pretty simple technique
- Cut your desired steak into thin strips, I go about an inch wide and 1/4 inch thick. Different sizes will dry at different rates, so try to be uniform.
- Into a bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk them together. Here's the optional cola part. If your looking for a slightly more mild/sweet flavor. Coke or Pepsi will grant your meaty wish. About 1/4 cup
- Marinade in a Ziploc bag for 3-6 hours, unless you used cola then the acidity of the cola will turn you meat into a mushy mush thing.
- Dry your meat, use a paper towel to damp dry the excess marinade, the meat itself has absorbed all it will by now and wet meat will only take longer to dry
- This is the final stage in which normal everyday meat finishes its beautiful metamorphosis into Beef Jerky (see capitalized)
Stove: Put your stove on its lowest setting (probably warm) and hang the steak strips from the rack with tooth picks and tin foil underneath to catch all the drippings. This should take about 10 hours
Dehydrator: This particular batch took me about 4 hours, check your user manual for more details, different models dry at different speeds
Fan: As this is Alton Brown's Method we can use his suggestion of 8 to 12 hours
Pro tip: Your Jerky will continue to dry slightly after its freed from the confines or your drying apparatus. Remove it just before optimal dryness is achieved.
And there you have it, you just birthed a masculine haunch of Beef Jerky. Look at it, its goddamn glorious.
My favorite uses for Jerky are as followed; movie snack, driving snack, zombie Apocalypse survival snack, breakfast, lunch, second dinner, hiking treat, and as an aphrodisiac.If you like this article or any other article, or want to suggest a recipe or anything else you can reach us at Itsbestservedhot@gmail.com All feedback is welcome.
