best jerky?

[catfishrivers]

Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade jerky?

When I have no pre-made jerky seasonings, I use Worcestershire sauce, McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, and garlic salt, all to taste (be careful with the garlic salt). Let the sliced meat strips marinate in that mixture overnight and then dehydrate about 7-8 hours at 160 degrees F.

[Wise Old Owl]

My overnight soak is,

1/4 cup Kikoman Light Soy,
1/4 cup or a little less L&P Worchestershire
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce - avoid Kraft.
teaspoon of liquid smoke.

When racking the next day then I add the fresh crack pepper so it sticks to the outside.

Other ingredients folks use (experiment)

Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar
Brown Sugar
Mollasses
cayenne
onion bits or powder
garlic powder
catsup
accent msg
Tobasco
mesquite liquid - you have to make that on your own.
kosher salt
Honey.

One item I tried,
Jamacian Sauce

One item- try to avoid - corn syrup it causes it to be a stick goo on the outside of the jerky.

[rigidpsycho]

Mingua Brothers is by far the best jerky, I'm not just syaong because I know the owners. It really is the best.

[YoungMoose]

the backpacker magazine just came out with some recipes. i cant wait to try it.

[Chaco Taco]

My overnight soak is,

1/4 cup Kikoman Light Soy,
1/4 cup or a little less L&P Worchestershire
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce - avoid Kraft.
teaspoon of liquid smoke.

When racking the next day then I add the fresh crack pepper so it sticks to the outside.

Other ingredients folks use (experiment)

Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar
Brown Sugar
Mollasses
cayenne
onion bits or powder
garlic powder
catsup
accent msg
Tobasco
mesquite liquid - you have to make that on your own.
kosher salt
Honey.

One item I tried,
Jamacian Sauce

One item- try to avoid - corn syrup it causes it to be a stick goo on the outside of the jerky.

Nice recipe. Liquid smoke is key!!!

[Jeepocachers]

Here's another for Mingua. It's so good, I buy in bulk...just for me.

[CampGirl]

I LOVE the Gourmet Meat's of Texas jerky and sausage - so now we have it up on the site

I usually like whatever is local though. It's always fresh and has a bit of the local flavor to it.

[scope]

I'm quite sure that making it yourself is the best way to go, but some of us either can't or don't want to get involved with more projects than we're already involved with. Yeah, it means spending money, but that's a choice, and I think the heart of the original question is, "what are my choices".

As far as something that is widely available, Pemmican is my favorite. Kroger brand is spotty, but sometimes very good for the price. A customer of mine runs this little online shop and this stuff is very, very tasty! Its a moist version of jerky...

http://www.runninwildfoods.com/STEAK-N-A-BAG_c_2.html

[Corrigan]

Oscars Adirondack Mountain Smoke House in Warrensberg, NY. If you haven't ever had some, go get some! or check out their website http://www.oscarssmokedmeats.com/jerkys.htm

[hoz]

If you ever get tired of the "chew" try Landjaeger sausages.
https://www.bavariasausage.com/shop/...category_id=54

comes in cajun and pepper also.

[JAK]

I'm going to try just plain dried beef first. Cheap stuff like for stewing. Then after that I might try rubbing a little salt and spice rubbed in. Then I might try drying it in the backyard with a small fire of maple. I think I'll avoid the marinating as I understand it slows down drying. I might try a little honey or mollasses though. Maybe soaking it and flambaying it quickly with some sort of alcohol before drying it, to give it some flavour and kill any surface bugs. Something 80 proof or better. Or maybe just drink that first and then wing it.

[Two Tents]

Oscars Adirondack Mountain Smoke House in Warrensberg, NY. If you haven't ever had some, go get some! or check out their website http://www.oscarssmokedmeats.com/jerkys.htm

I agree with that Oscars is a must stop when in the Dacs. Smoked porkchops-YUM!!---Two Tents

[JAK]

Hey this is something I can mess around with on my diet. Cool.

[JAK]

What is the best way to heat the meat up quickly to 160F without cooking it?
Could you microwave it first, then pop it in the convection oven at 160F?

I was thinking also of flambe-ing it on both side first, to kill surface bugs ???

0. Cut up into strips.
1. Rub/shake with salt/spice.
2. Microwave to get to 160F, with some honey or mollasses and salt/spice.
3. Flambe on both sides in pan.
4. Pop into convection over at 160F.

???

[Engine]

It's hard to beat homegrown, jerky that is.

[JAK]

I just had some store bought which wasn't bad but rather salty.
Low in fat, but 1000mg of sodium in 30g, which is pretty excessive.
Some have half that or less. Homemade can have alot less.

The big advantage of home jerky is you don't need as much salt. Most days hiking we only need 1500mg of sodium per day, perhaps less. I think 100g of jerky per day is a good amount, for 50g of animal protien. 1000mg of sodium in that should be plenty, about 1/3 of store bought. That would leave some room for salt in rest of diet but not much. I think it makes sense to use the salt as a preservative, but not to the point of exceeding your daily salt requirement. Not sure though how to figure out how much is in once your done unless you do some sort of dry rub. For a small 500g batch for 5 days that would be 5g of sodium, or about 2 teaspoons of table salt.

You can use less than that, or none at all, as drying meat is sufficient especially on a short trip.
I just think since you need some salt, though not much, you might put it there.

[JAK]

I might try a trip this summer with more meat that usually and less of the usual carbs, just to see what that sort of diet might be like for hiking, as it might be sort of like what a hunter gatherer diet might be like. In that case I would use less salt, spreading the same amount of salt over more meat. I'm not really sure how much salt is really needed, but up here it is probably not much, and I have the entire Bay of Fundy if I ever got low on salt, which I doubt I ever would.

I don't think I would want to go more than half a pound of jerky every day on such a hike, for about 100g of protien from that alone. Maybe more with some practice and as an experiment but I think it would be really hard on kidneys even without too much salt and no other preservatives. It can be done but I think its better not to use protien for conversion to energy. Protien to build and replace muscle. Carbs and Fats for energy. Fats can come from body fat if your losing weight. I wouldn't mind eating a rabbit or squirrel each day though if I could catch them. I will try a high meat diet for a hike some time and see what it feels like, but without too much salt.

[JAK]

Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade jerky?

I made my first homemade jerky Friday night.
I'm not saying its a good recipe, but it was good enough to eat.

I used 4 thin cut sirloin tip steaks. About 450g total.
Dried in convection oven set at 170F for about 4 hours.
Used 4 different 'recipes'
1. Rubbed on both sides with Salt.
2. Rubbed on both sides with Cajun Spice.
3. Covered on both sides with Mollasses.
4. Covered on both sided with Kentucky Bourbon.

Final weight was only 150g, which is fairly dry I think, or meat was saturated with water to sell for more money. Do they do this?

I think I liked the mollasses the best. Will experiment more with combinations.
Can't vouch for safety or shelf life, but it was easy and tastey enough.

For improved taste, safety, shelf life, I will try this next...
1. Rub with salt and spices.
2. Coat with 50/50 mix of mollasses and 171 proof rum and more spices.
3. Flambe on both sides in frying pan.
4. Microwave to bring temperature to 170F.
5. Dry in Convection oven until 1/3 of original weight.

I have no idea what I am doing really but its fun to make it up as you go.

[borntobeoutdoors]

I'm selling Great Range Jerky along with HawK VittleS now.

It's homemade, uses little or no salt or preservatives. And it's great tasting. 4 beef flavors, Peppered, Teriyaki, Buffalo Wing, and Pizza.
Plus Wild (not farm raised) Salmon and Bison.

Hawk

[scree]

I absolutely love the BBQ jerky from http://damngoodjerky.com/ I've been buying that stuff for years -- awesome if you like sweeter/moister jerky.