Beef Jerky - experiments and Recipe 2 (Dry Marinade)

Okay, so I had started to get enthused about making jerky and had a go at a modified version of the previous wet marinade - trying for a Moroccan spice styling (I literally referred to the Moroccan spice mix and used a lot of what was listed in rough, "that looks about right" type volumes).  It didn't come out too badly, but again, not enough salt in the mix.

I took these various samples with me to Borderwar and sharing them around at one time, received some good feedback as well as another recipe idea - Dry Marinading (thanks Blethyn).

Returning from Borderwar, I got B to sms his recipe / process and had a go.

"Cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, little bit of chilli flakes, get a fair amount of it and grind in a mortar and pestle.  Sprinkle half on a tray, lay your strips, sprinkle the rest and place a tray on top, weight with a couple of boring, think books for about 20 mins then dehydrate as normal."

So I had a go at this.  I used an old coffee scoop and used equal portions cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder, half a scoop of onion powder and half a scoop of chilli.

For trays I simply used some of the large plastic trays that meat comes in - a stable table on top of this (to distribute weight evenly) and then a whole pile of D&D hard cover books on top of this.

I gave it 30 mins and then dehydrated.

The Jerky came out pretty good - but I found that the spice was very unevenly spread - with some pieces having far too much stuck to them.  For future uses of this recipe I either dipped the pieces into the batter (like a fish & chippery dips into the batter), with a little shake to remove excess spice.  The most recent usage I flipped the pieces of meat around in a bag with the spice - this also worked well but was a little hit & miss initially in the amount of spice to use and the spread of spice on the meat.

This method is quite useful as it removes several hours from the time to dehydrate.  It also allows you to get underway shortly after you decide to make some Jerky - rather than having to wait overnight for a wet marinade.

Beef Jerky - Recipe 1 (wet marinade)

Okay - so the first recipe that I was given for Beef Jerky was as follows (from Kerry M):

"My favourite recipe for jerky: slice up 500-800g meat, add 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Mix together 1/3 cup of coriander seeds mostly ground up, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, add to meat, leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning, add 1/2 cup of cider vinegar and a cup of water to the meat, then pull the meat out and put it in the dehydrator, go to work, come home to jerky."
Further clarification regarding the 1/2 cup of cider vinegar and cup of water to the meat provided the following clarification: "It's just a bit of a rinse, so put it in, mix it round, then take the meat out bit by bit and lay it on the racks. I've tried not rinsing it before and you just get too many bits of coriander stuck between your teeth and it's a lot saltier."

So, I tried this recipe (but didn't have cider vinegar, so used a combination of white vinegar and malt vinegar).  Added garlic as well.

I did two lots - half without the wash and half with.  The washed was probably better but needed a little more salt (also the unwashed was my first go and the pieces of meat were not cut small enough).

Recipe works well and I will probably have another go along these lines shortly (adding more salt and possibly some Cumin as well).

Beef Jerky - introduction

Okay, so since 12th Night this year I've been playing with making Beef Jerky.  I had never realised that all that was required was a dehydrator.  Olfuss had acquired one from Aldi a week or 2 before 12th Night and mentioned making jerky with it.  When I realised that this piece of $40 equipment was all that I needed, I went looking at my local Aldi - they didn't stock it, but Olfuss was able to get one for me which I picked up at 12th Night.

I've now utilised a number of recipes from friends and then some of my own recipe modified from the basic ones.  Given my enthusiasm and the interest from others I thought it might be best to start documenting the details here (also helps me to have everything in one place).

I might try and blog each recipe separately with comments accordingly.