Beef Jerky

October 5th, 2011  |  Favorites, Moo, Other, Side Dishes  |  1 Comment

I know that I am not alone.  I mean really, who doesn't love beef jerky???

I cannot believe how easy and over-the-top delicious it is to make at home.  I cannot believe that I have not been making it at home for the last 20 years.  Seriously.   I made two pounds worth two days ago.  Its all gone and I just hit the market for an additional four pounds.  Everyone I let have a sample wants MORE, including me!!   I'm addicted.... this could majorly slow down my caramel corn addiction and by God, its so much simpler to make.

Here goes.

Ingredients:

2 lbs tri-tip, sliced as thin as your butcher can get it [flank steak or top round will work just as well from what I heard]
1/2 cup soy sauce [I used reduced sodium and there was no sacrifice on flavor]
1/2 cup worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions:

On a large flat surface, lay out your slices of beef.  Using a meat tenderizer, hammer meat on both sides to get it as thin as possible.  Once all of the pieces have been flattened out, use your hands to tear the slices into slightly smaller pieces.  In a large ziplocking bag add soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, liquid smoke, onion powder, brown sugar, paprika, black pepper and crushed red pepper.  Give the bag a "slosh" to marry the flavors.  Add the pieces of meat and allow to marinate for at least 4, but up to 12 hours in the refrigerator.

Set oven on Dehydrate setting at 140 degrees (if your oven does not have the dehydrate setting, set it on your oven's lowest setting possible-under 200 degrees on bake).   Gather your cookie sheets and line up cooling racks on top of them.  Spread the meat slices over the racks, close together, but so that no edges are actually touching.  Place in the oven for 7 hours [if your oven is cooking at a higher temperature, your meat will be done faster than mine--from what I read 4-5 hours, so check your meat to be sure its not "over-drying".   I put my second batch in the oven at 10pm and set the timer for 7 hours so it was ready when I woke up the next morning.  Yes, I had beef jerky for breakfast... and you will too.   Store in an airtight container [or ziplocking bag] for as long as it takes you to finish the batch...I'm guessing 2-3 days.

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