Homemade Beef Jerky

My dehydrator that I bought from Amazon should be coming in today. I have ZERO experience dehydrating food but want to give it a go. Anybody have any personal recipes they like or tips and would be willing to share?


Here's what I bought.

$95 Presto 06301 Dehydro Digital Electric Food Dehydrator

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008H2OEKK/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8

 

I have one of those cheap nesco dehydrators. I use it for jerky. Turkey jerkey using the jerky shooter and ground turkey/spices. I also make beef jerky out of a london broil, or similar type of beef. I have done fruits but not very often. What are you wanting to do?

 

I'm wanting to give jerky a try for sure! Also interested in trying a few other things, maybe bananas, strawberries some fruit leather. I'm really open to giving anything a go just for some experience

 

if you do beef jerky make sure you marinate it a good three days before you start drying it. The turkey jerky is made with dry spices so it should be good to go as soon as you get it mixed real good.

 

Three days?!?! Dang I was hoping to get some made up tonight! Guess I will wait.... Thanks for the advice. Dehydrator just got delivered, I cannot wait!

 

Are there any marinade recipes you suggest? There are SO many online I don't know where to start. I would prefer something on the spicy side, but original flavor is fine too.

Thank you for your help!

 

I heard bottom round was good, I'll probably start with that

 

Brown Sugar
1/2 cup
Soy Sauce
1/2 cup
Worchesire
1/4 cup
Liquid Sm
2 TBS
Chilli pow
1 tsp
Garlic pow
1 tsp
Lemon pep
1 tsp
Hot sauce
???

This is my recipe. I normally double everything. The hot sauce is up to you. We prefer ours pretty hot so we go for the Habanero and it's up to you how much you want to use. We use quite a bit. Make sure you use good quality fresh spices ,not that old stuff that's been in your kitchen for 6 months. Marinate it in the fridge for 3 days and turn the meat over about once or twice a day. If you have the cheap nesco like I have then it should take about 6 hours to do. Turn your dial up to 160 F. I usually rotate my shelves a couple of times during th process. This sure beats the crap out of that jack links, or slim jim crap.

 

Thanks for the recipe! How many pounds of meat is this recipe for? When you say you double everything does that mean instead of 1/2 cup of brown sugar you use 1 full cup?

I like hot jerky! Would you say you use 1/2 cup of hot sauce (more, less)?

 

Thanks for the recipe! How many pounds of meat is this recipe for?
Maybe a couple of pounds

When you say you double everything does that mean instead of 1/2 cup of brown sugar you use 1 full cup?

yes
I like hot jerky! Would you say you use 1/2 cup of hot sauce (more, less)?

more a lot more you may want to start off with about a 16 oz bottle of petes then a couple 8 oz of the hot stuff. you'll just have to make it a few times to nail it down better.

 

Just try your own, you, and only you know what you like best. Just play with it, I'll get something that you'll like best. Top round is my fav. also I don't care for the ground type jerky. I bought a slicer and now do muscle jerky only.

 

ya the ground type jerky is a completely different animal than the "muscle" jerky. I have never heard it called muscle jerky before but that's ok.

 

I started the process of marinating 4 lbs of Bottom Round Roast last night. I had the guy at the meat department slice the meat at the #4 setting (about 1/4") against the grain, took it home and threw it in the freezer till it got a little more firm and frozen. After it firmed up I cut it into slices about 1" wide. I did two pounds according to coffeesnobs recipe (I didn't double it or add any hot sauce) and two more pounds from a recipe I found on YouTube for some spicy Jerky. Link Below.


I cannot wait for Friday morning to give it a try!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYzZO2Rl6uI

 

I've been making whole muscle dehydrated venison and beef jerky every year for 20+ years. I have a tip I think is going to make a huge difference in the quality of your dehydrated jerky:

Don't dry it 100% in the dehydrator, or it will become to rubbery/leathery without much flavor. Don't dry it 100% in the oven either or it will become to brittle.

Here is the key: Dehydrate the jerkey about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way in the dehydrator first (you just have to look at it and feel when it's at that point). It could take different amounts of time depending on how thick and what temp your drying. Then finish in the oven on very low with the door cracked open.

Use whatever marinade you want. I usually let mine soak for 2 full days before I begin drying, and then try to finish up the last batch without leaving it marinated longer than 3 full days.

Next put the jerkey on pizza pans coated in aluminum foil for easy clean up, and finish in the oven around 175 with the door cracked open (I just put a towel in the corner to crack it). When done you should see very small amounts of liquid on the foil, and the texture should be perfect jerkey texture if you bend it. Flip the pieces in both the dehydrator and oven while your doing it.

If your getting a large amount of liquid on the pizza pan after drying in the oven, you didn't dry it in the dehydrator long enough.

If your getting no liquid at all on the pizza pan, you probably dried it to long in the dehydrator.

Using both the dehydrator and oven, will speed up your drying process. But more importantly it will make the texture of the finished product superior to using either one by itself, and the oven at the end will bring out the flavor of the marinade in the meat. Allow to cool, the jerkey gets even better after it sets up for a while (maybe 12+) hours in a container with an open lid until it cools down.

Hope this helps! One year I was making a large amount of jerky with the dehydrator when the power went out more than half way through and we had to finish a batch in a gas oven on low with the door open. I'll never do it any other way again, unless I'm using the smoker.

 

I may try that but I don't really see a whole lot of temperature difference between the dehydrator and oven to make much difference. My jerky is pretty tasty just using the nesco but I think next time I will try your method. I usually take mine out when the inside turns a little white when you bend it.

 

Try it out sometime and report back to this thread, I'm totally confident you won't be disappointed!

I don't think it has anything to do with temp differences, or you could just simply change the temp at the end on the dehydrator. Finishing in the oven just does something to the texture to make it perfect (if you do it the whole way in the oven it will get to crispy/brittle though), and also enhances the marinated flavor big time in the jerky.

 

Next time I make jerky I will give it a try. With your 20+ years of experience any recipes you wouldn't mind passing over to a rookie?

 

I agree, I fail to see see how it could matter, warm dry air, is warm dry air. And I also agree, mine is plenty tasty.

 

I ment to ask earlier, how long do you usually cook the Jerky for at that temperature?

 

My assumption is the oven must be cooking it slightly, because of the lack of air flow. Either way when you dry something in a dehydrator or oven at the same temp, the flavors and textures are way different. Try it out, if you don't believe me. The dehydrator makes food have a more rubbery or leather texture, but the oven makes stuff more crispy.

The perfect jerky texture in my opinion should break when it's bent in half right before it's bent all the way. If it doesn't break at all, then it's to rubbery/leathery. If it breaks right away by just bending it a little bit then it's to crispy. You can make good kitchen jerky using either one individually, that people will eat up in no time. I just think the quality is unmatched and that much better when using both methods together. All of my friends who make venison jerky every year have switched to the dehydrator/oven method also, so I'm not the only one who thinks this.