Not the rubbery, slimy store bought stuff, but the nice dry-yet-chewy homemade stuff. Now, when I lived in the great white north I had connections. My dad knew a 'jerky guy' that could hook a brother up with the goods. A medium baggie went for about $20 and was the food of the gods. I tended to get either hot or suicide, because I like it spicy
My parents knew I was jonesing pretty bad lately because I hadn't been home in a while. So they sent me over a care package containing 2 $20 bags of jerky and some grape koolaid (no 'grape' flavour in the UK!). Unfortunately it was confiscated by the border guards who undoubtedly enjoyed one of the tastiest Christmas' of their thieving lives while hooting in my general direction.
The letter that I got with my jerkyless koolaid package said that the confiscated goods contravened section blah-blah-blah by sending meat across boarders. The next paragraph said that I could challenge that if I wrote to them within 30 days. Hmmm, I thought, might be worth a challenge, it is dried and preserved meat after all... but the next paragraph after that said that as my goods were perishable, they had been instantly destroyed *cougheatencough*
I had been looking forward to that jerky for some time because my parents shipped it by boat and I had been waiting for 8 weeks. So I was pretty gutted to find that it wasn't in the box when it arrived
SO! I got a grip and decided to make my own jerky! I said to Sou that I wanted to get a dehydrator asap and make some jerky. Luckily, Sou had already been researching dehydrators because she wanted to make fruit leathers (fruit rollups), dried fruit, homemade spices, etc... She was literally trying to find a way to justify spending £200 on something that we didn't really need just that day. Well now we had a NEED... ok I had a need, I needed the jerky and I needed it bad.
This thread will be dedicated to getting me that hot beef injection I've been craving so bad...
First we bought the dehydrator. All of Sou's research paid off nicely, I didn't have to think, I could just buy - right up my alley that. We bought this beauty here:
It was a bit pricey here in the UK, but it's more reasonably priced in the US. Apparently it is the Cadillac of dehydrators. On top you can see the lemons Sou dehydrated earlier. It has 9 trays in total.
I scoured the web for a jerky recipe that was universally adored and settled on this one by Alton Brown in the end. Usually when I try a new recipe I just follow the recipe exactly, but I already knew I would prefer salty-hot to sweet jerky so I left out the honey and added 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper instead of the red pepper flakes.
Next was buying the ingredients. Most we had already or could get easily, but the one ingredient that made me wait ANOTHER couple of days was the liquid smoke. I was finally able to get some on e-bay and when it arrived I was on my way...
...So you now have an appliance that you could truthfully call a Jerkinator?
Also, please to send me Jerky whenever you have surplus. I love good beef jerky, and I miss not living in the Colonies any more where there is always a good supply.
Ok, I have the dehydrator and I have the ingredients for the marinade. Now it's time for the beef. All the websites suggest getting a lean cut as the fat doesn't keep as well and your jerky won't last as long before it goes rancid. Well, any jerky in my house isn't going to last anyway but I decided to follow the suggestion of flank steak and headed down to the local butcher
He had never heard of flank steak It turns out that the US and UK divide up the cow in a different way and label the bits differently. So I looked up where the flank steak comes from on the cow and what the British would call it. The closest thing is probably skirt steak here. So I headed back to the butcher ready to get some skirt steak
He didn't have any skirt steak I explained what I wanted it for and he suggested braising beef, which did indeed look very low in fat. I purchased some and proceeded to cut it into slices about 4-5mm thick.
Ok, so now I have my beef and my marinade.
I popped them both into an extra-large ziplock bag and mixed it together thoroughly.
I left that overnight for the flavours to sink in and this is what it looked like about 16 hours later.
The instructions say to pat dry any excess marinade and lay out on the dehydrator, here it is on a tray and all 5 trays my 2.5lbs of beef covered in the dehydrator.
Since there was 4 unused trays Sou did some apple leathers at the same time. She had puréed some apples in the fall that were given to her from a friend with an orchard, so we got the frozen purée out the night before and let it thaw out. You can get these flexible non-stick sheets for the dehydrator and Sou spread the purée over the sheets in thin layers. She had 2 different kinds of apple, one 'regular' apple (as in we don't know what it was ) and one Merton Knave that has a pink flesh. You can really see the difference between the two!
And now it's in the dehydrator! It will take about 4-5 hours in total for the jerky and about 6-8 hours for the leathers.
I have done this a few times already, so I have altered the recipe to my personal tastes. Here is the recipe that I used for this batch:
...So you now have an appliance that you could truthfully call a Jerkinator?
Also, please to send me Jerky whenever you have surplus. I love good beef jerky, and I miss not living in the Colonies any more where there is always a good supply.
How are you on the spice factor? This jerky is pretty spicy, but I would be willing to send you some if you don't mind that
Also, are you on the mainland? My memory is shite, but aren't you in Ireland actually? I don't want my jerky being confiscated again!
Jealous! I am going to have to get me one of those. Where did you find it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivisectus
I am pretty spice-resistant! And yeah I am in the republic of Ireland... do they not allow you to ship dried beef?
We bought it online at UKJuicers.com. Viv, if you love quality jerky, you have to get one and make it yourself. Not only does it taste incredible, but it's fun, it's easy and you can use the dehydrator for other things too.
I don't know about sending dried beef to Ireland, I only know that the stuff my parents sent from Canada was confiscated. PM your address and I'll send you some anyway and we'll see what happens
The different trays don't infect each other with flavor? I'd be scared to make fruit leather and jerky at the same time.
we were worried about that too. We tried the dried lemons with jerky first because we weren't going to eat them anyway. They didn't smell of jerky at all, not even a whiff. So then we did some leathers and there is no flavour infecting at all. Sou's tastebuds and smellbuds are extremely sensitive and it passes her test.
Speaking of smells, that liquid smoke is some of the best smelling stuff in the world. Sou's a veggie, but she thinks that marinade smells delicious. It is really powerful stuff, but a tablespoon mixed into the other ingredients is just right and smells wonderful.
Is there such a thing as veggie jerky? The only non-veggie item in the marinade is the Worcestershire sauce. You could easily just leave that out and marinate, say, zucchini strips. Vegetables have far more water to lose than beef, I'm sure, but even if they ended up more chips than jerky she'd still get to enjoy the flava.
Ah yes that was my next question - where do you order your liquid smoke? It is one of those things that are hard to find here in the brit gastro-cultural zone. (yes, I am aiming for a google first)
Is there such a thing as veggie jerky? The only non-veggie item in the marinade is the Worcestershire sauce. You could easily just leave that out and marinate, say, zucchini strips. Vegetables have far more water to lose than beef, I'm sure, but even if they ended up more chips than jerky she'd still get to enjoy the flava.
You can make tofu-jerky supposedly, we're thinking of trying that.
Never thought of making it from vegetables... they would be like veggie-chips, but probably be quite tasty. I'll Sou about it
Ah yes that was my next question - where do you order your liquid smoke? It is one of those things that are hard to find here in the brit gastro-cultural zone. (yes, I am aiming for a google first)
Edit: the fail is upon me! Not even close.
You can get Stubbs liquid smoke from Amazon, but they don't seem to have Colgin liquid smoke anymore. I'm sure that's where I got mine from, but I can't find it there now...
When reading around people seemed to say that nothing beat Colgin's and it is excellent. If I can't get any Colgin's for a decent price I might try the Stubbs.
You can get it on e-bay though I might check Amazon.com and see if they will deliver here, because the delivery charges on the ebay ones are pretty hefty.
You can make tofu-jerky supposedly, we're thinking of trying that.
I bet it'll be delicious. It reminds me of this pan-seared tofu dish I swear by. It's basically a conveyance for the marinade.
Quote:
Never thought of making it from vegetables... they would be like veggie-chips, but probably be quite tasty.
Oh for sure. Think of how great marinated veggies are in an antipasto, like zucchini, roasted red peppers, mushrooms (as long as you start off with a huge portobello cap because those little buttons will shrink to nothing). They're delicious when they're hydrated and the flavor would be even more concentrated once the water is gone.
And here is my big bag of jerky - it's MINE YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!
I've had a few pieces already But I'll let it sit for about 24hrs now in the air-tight bag. The thinnest pieces are crispy dry and the thickest pieces are just a touch... not moist, but not quite 100% dry either. Letting it sit for 24hrs means the moisture evens out and everything should be perfect
It's worth it vm, if you're a jerky lover I don't think you'll regret it.
You can even make it in the oven, there are loads of recipes and guides online that will give you instructions, but basically you just set your oven on the lowest temperature it has and let it go for about 6 hours. You'll have to turn it over half way if you're laying it out on trays. If you're lowest setting is 200C I think you would want to have the door of the oven open a crack.
The leathers are done and they are sooooo tasty. These are just apple purée, no added sugar at all and yet they are so sweet. We're gobbling them up so fast I barely got some pictures done! In fact when I tried them I said to Sou "these are no jerky, but they're fantastic!" and she said "we'll you're STUFFING them like they're jerky!"
Here are the leathers on the trays, you may notice one already has a large piece missing
And here is one bit rolled up so you can see the thickness:
I honestly think any kid would LOVE these in their lunch and they're just pure apple. We need to make a batch of 9 trays though....
If you're looking for something to do with the leathers, I have an old recipe for fruit sushi. You mix the rice with coconut milk instead of vinegar and roll it in fruit leather with fresh fruits. I've only tried that version once because it's hard to find sheets of fruit leather around here. I use the variant that has you put the rice in a pan with a coconut custard on top and then cut it in bars and put fruit on top. It's from an old magazine, but I could find it and post the details if you're interested.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
Slip me the hot beef injection
I tended to get either hot or suicide, because I like it spicy
to that jerky for some time because my parents shipped it by boat and I had been waiting for 8 weeks. 
So I was pretty gutted to find that it wasn't in the box when it arrived 
but I decided to follow the suggestion of 
But I'll let it sit for about 24hrs now in the air-tight bag. The thinnest pieces are crispy dry and the thickest pieces are just a touch... not moist, but not quite 100% dry either. Letting it sit for 24hrs means the moisture evens out and everything should be perfect 
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