Here is my first shot at Minimalist Jerky. AK1 inspired this effort, though I did go a little beyond his suggestion; I added a dab of Garlic and onion powder.
Beyond that the size of the meat pieces are also different that "normal". When I had the butcher in the supermarket slice the steak to 3/8" thick across the grain his "by eye" estimate of 3/8" was more like a generous 1/2"+. So I figured, what the heck, when my ancestors in the primordial forests...steppes...plains, etc. took a deer, buffalo, woolly mammoth, giant sloth or stray steer from the white invaders I doubt they used a ruler to measure the meat strips they sliced up with their flint knives to salt, hang and dry in the smoke of their hunting campfires, tops of their teepes/yurts, etc. Sooo....I just sliced the beef hunks about an inch wide and marinated them.
Sorry about the pic quality, cell phone photo.
The "recipe" (it was really more of an idea) I used was:
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@ 1 lb of top round steak sliced cross grain @1/2" thick, cut into @ 1" wide strips 3"- 6" long
1/8 tsp - #1 cure (Hi-Country brand)
1/8 tsp - Adolphs tenderizer
1 Tbsp - Kosher salt
1/2 tsp - ground black pepper
1/2 tsp - Liquid smoke
1/8 tsp - ground garlic
1/4 tsp - onion powder [IMHO beef doesn't taste natural without onion and garlic.]
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I mixed these few ingredients up in @ 3 cups of hot water (180 deg +/-) enough to completely cover the meat.
Marinated the meat in the fridge from Saturday at 1700 to Monday at 1400 (about 45 hrs) to make sure the marinade had time to completely ozmosisofy into the thicker meat (yeah, the spell checker never saw that word before either) then put it into the dehydrator.
It's drying now.
In part this is a test of how powerful my dehydrator is.
Results Later.
Beyond that the size of the meat pieces are also different that "normal". When I had the butcher in the supermarket slice the steak to 3/8" thick across the grain his "by eye" estimate of 3/8" was more like a generous 1/2"+. So I figured, what the heck, when my ancestors in the primordial forests...steppes...plains, etc. took a deer, buffalo, woolly mammoth, giant sloth or stray steer from the white invaders I doubt they used a ruler to measure the meat strips they sliced up with their flint knives to salt, hang and dry in the smoke of their hunting campfires, tops of their teepes/yurts, etc. Sooo....I just sliced the beef hunks about an inch wide and marinated them.
Sorry about the pic quality, cell phone photo.
The "recipe" (it was really more of an idea) I used was:
------------
@ 1 lb of top round steak sliced cross grain @1/2" thick, cut into @ 1" wide strips 3"- 6" long
1/8 tsp - #1 cure (Hi-Country brand)
1/8 tsp - Adolphs tenderizer
1 Tbsp - Kosher salt
1/2 tsp - ground black pepper
1/2 tsp - Liquid smoke
1/8 tsp - ground garlic
1/4 tsp - onion powder [IMHO beef doesn't taste natural without onion and garlic.]
------
I mixed these few ingredients up in @ 3 cups of hot water (180 deg +/-) enough to completely cover the meat.
Marinated the meat in the fridge from Saturday at 1700 to Monday at 1400 (about 45 hrs) to make sure the marinade had time to completely ozmosisofy into the thicker meat (yeah, the spell checker never saw that word before either) then put it into the dehydrator.
It's drying now.
In part this is a test of how powerful my dehydrator is.
Results Later.
