Storminnorman
12-07-2019, 14:54
I’m looking to make my own beef or venison jerky for a future hike. What are some of your favorite recipes for jerky?
I've been doing it for years, to avoid the sugar in most commercial jerky. Also to save money.
I used to buy petite sirloin steak on sale (less than $5/lb), which is good quality and quite lean. A bit of work to slice up with a real sharp knife.
Current plan is buying carne asada, generally at Walmart for about $6.50/lb IIRC. It's big slabs cut to the perfect thickness, and you can often find very lean cuts. Remove visible fat from edges. Coat with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and sometimes we use tumeric powder. Dry in dehydrator set at moderate heat for about 8-10 hrs. We call it "elephant ear" jerky.
We've also used lean ground beef, seasoned and turned into strips by using a "jerky gun" extruder. Works pretty good.
If all else fails, I've found sugar-free jerky from Peoples Choice to be excellent and reasonable price (1 lb for $23). I'm on the monthly subscription plan. Just a satisfied customer.
I might add that you can dehydrate any steak pieces and add it to dry vegetables or dehydrated eggs and just add water for a fabulous meal on the trail. Package in Food Saver bags for each meal. On our last hike we ate steak every day. Our trail names were "Steak and Eggs". My wife is 'eggs" btw.