This is not the Jerky you are looking for...

I love Jerky.  I am always having to defend it when I make it.  Like smuggling droids across the barren wastes, baggies of the stuff move with me - hidden in plain sight and upon inquiry from roving patrols known as friends and family all I can say is "This is not the jerky you are looking for"...somehow it never works though.  Drat.

One day my wife sent me a link to an Eatocracy article on CNN for Beef Jerky.  She knows I love the stuff and I love making everything and had been talking about pulling out my old dehydrator from college and using it again.  Boy howdy - I've gone nuts since I tried out the basic recipe in the article:
Eatocracy - Not all jerky is not created equal.

If you are wondering if making your own jerky is for you or if it's worth the effort I have a few questions for you:

1. Do you feel like you're getting ripped off when you buy that $4-6 bag of beef jerky that contains only half a pound or less of product?
2. Do you find that the jerky out there is too bland, to overdone with seasonings or just too salty?
3. Do you want to make 2x-3x that amount of jerky for roughly the same price as the overpriced bag? 
4. Do you have ~20 minutes of active time free and are patient enough to let something do the work for you while it soaks in the fridge or sits in a dehydrator or low temperature oven for hours on end as you do whatever you please? (Playing video games, shop, enjoy a cold one with a book - you get the idea).

If you answered "YES" to any of these and can't stop drooling at the thought of good beef jerky - then please, read on my dear friend.

Lets start with the key ingredient - the meat: 
You want something lean, like a London Broil, and as Jennifer Wolfe's father says - it seems to go on sale the most.  Case in point - I was in my local Food Lion the other day and saw that the London broils were "Buy one Get one".  So for $10, I walked out with 2x ~2.5-3 pound London broil cuts.   I used sirloin steak the first time I made jerky as it was what I had available.  It worked - but you have to work on trimming the fat, which can go rancid with time, even after dehydration.

You can also use meats like turkey breast or venison for your jerky.  I have not attempted it yet, but I will.  From what I've read - with turkey or other poultry variants, you'll have to cook the breast to safe serving temps first. Then season, marinade and then dehydrate.  So - a couple extra steps, but then you get something a little lighter and it's still a savings compared to what Turkey Jerky can go for.

Next - the flavor components:
While the cut of meat is your main ingredient and certainly the one that will make up most of the mouth feel of your jerky as you sit there contemplating all that is good in life on a sunny afternoon while watching your dogs play outdoors or as you take a break during a nice hike - the seasonings and marinade components will play a large role as well.

Here is the recipe Eatocracy published (from Joseph Cavalluzzi) for a 1 pound cut of meat:

Teriyaki Jerky

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (coarse)
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper (coarse)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

All of our flavor components. Sweet, savory, spicy and salty.  It's gonna be so good (and it was).

It's ready for marinade.

Obviously - if you have a larger cut of meat (like I did) - double or triple the components as needed. In my case I roughly doubled the components.  I sliced up my London broil into roughly 1/4" strips and layered strips of meat and marinade in a bowl until all the marinade and beef were in the pool together.  

Everyone in the pool!

At this point, cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to hang out for at least 6 hours, I usually do it at night and get to taking it out and placing it in the dehydrator the next morning or afternoon.  

One note - make sure you pull the bowl out of the fridge at least once and mix the beef and marinade up to ensure even exposure throughout the layers of meat. (Yum!)

But what if I want to change the flavors up?

Do it.  Have fun with it.  For my most recent batch of this jerky - I used whole peppercorns and a dried chipotle that had been ground up in my mortar and pestle.  To this I also added garlic powder (I was inspired by my on-going bacon adventure.)  The result - jerky with a neat heat from the peppercorns, some aromatics from the garlic and a nice warmth on the back end from the chipotle.  It was good.  It lasted all of 72 hours in my house - and I only ate a few pieces of it! 

Chipotle and peppercorns being worked by hand.

Okay - I've got strips of meat soaked in this amazing marinade.  Now what?

It's time to dehydrate!  The dehydrator I have is a cheap Sunbeam that I purchased from Wally World in college.  It works.  It does not have any kind of a temperature controller.  So - the temperature is constant, which means I compensate by adjusting the time.  I typically place the strips of beef in the dehydrator overnight - about 9 hours or so and check them in the morning.  If they're not quite to the point of cracking but not breaking when I get up - I add a basic lamp timer to the mix and let it run for approximately 2-3 more hours.  So far this has worked for me.  You may need less time for a smaller amount of beef, or more if you go crazy and make a ton of it! (Which I may just do pretty soon)

After you've fully dried your jerky and have let it cool - bag it up. Since the lamp timer turns the dehydrator off sometime while I'm at work it is nice and cool and ready for bagging when I get home.  Oh yeah- if you haven't already - sample your product!  You will realize right away how much better it tastes!  Not too salty, not too bland, just the way you want it.  If you experimented with new flavor components - expect some new experiences!  Such as when I added the chipotle and rough cracked peppercorns.

Okay - so, it took me all of 20-30 minutes of actual active time to make my jerky.  The rest of the time was patiently (or not) waiting for the jerky to marinate and then dry.  It is seriously easy and tastes great.  My Father-In-Law is still going on about the latest batch being the best he's tasted in a long time (Tasted is one way to put it!). Not that I mind, I made it to share!   The only thing that is not easy - making it last longer than a few days.  Expect jerky Sith, ninjas, ne-er do wells and even cute begging dogs to try and snag this at every turn (seriously my two dogs won't leave me alone when I pull this stuff out).  It is up you to maintain vigilance!

My most recent (and probably main one from here on out):

**For a one pound cut of London Broil

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (coarse)
• 1 teaspoon rough cracked pepper corns 
• Mortar and pestle works well, as does a ziploc and a heavy pan or rolling pin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 of a dried chipotle pepper 
• You can grind this up with a mortar and pestle, a ziploc bag or a spice mill if you have one.
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 ounces Mirin (optional)

For the cut that is pictured earlier, I used approximately 3/4 cups of soy sauce, an ounce of Mirin (Sweetened Sake for cooking), a tablespoon of pepper corns and about a tablespoon of dried garlic powder.  I also upped the kosher salt by a factor of 3.  The brown sugar worked out to about 1/3 cup.  This was a roughly 2.5 pound cut of meat.

Tips:

• Partially freezing your London Broil prior to slicing is very handy.  It helps firm up the meat so you can evenly cut it without risking your fingers as you attempt to cut strips.
• Cut your strips with the grain of the meat.  Going across the grain creates jerky pieces that can fall apart and easily get pieces stuck between your teeth.
• Either hoard this stuff or make more than you think you'll need.  You'll be amazed how quick it can "disappear". 
• Play with the marinade components, especially the items like the pepper, garlic, etc.  
• Try using this marinade for grilled beef strips, I keep meaning to grab a few pieces when I'm done marinating and throw them on the grill to enjoy - but knowing what else they can be like always stops me.
• If you do not have a dehydrator - you can dry the jerky in an oven set to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-7 hours or until "leathery".  You want the jerky to bend and crack but not snap in half if you take a piece and fold it in half.