A recent thread I was participating in on store bought jerky made me think of posting a quick and easy jerky recipe and instructions for anyone else that maybe thinking of making their own. This is a no cure recipe so will keep a couple weeks in just a ziplock sitting on a shelf, a couple months in ziplock in the fridge or if you vacuum seal it with a desiccant pack it should be good for a year.
First I started with meat, local save-a-lot had top round on sale for $3.99 a lb, I got the store butcher to pick out the leanest pieces he saw and cut them into 1/2 inch thick cuts. I brought it home, let it rest in the fridge for a day to drain out the red water.
Prepping the meat: I started by taking a tenderizing hammer and hammering the meat out on both sides till the meat was about 1/4 thick on each slice, cut the slices up into the size pieces I wanted for jerky, this really is preference big pieces, little pieces, doesn't really matter as long as they are all about the same thickness they'll dry about the same. After cutting everything I divided the meat into 2 gallon sized ziplock bags for marinating, added in the marinade (recipe below), got all the air out of the bag I could, sealed and mixed it well and placed in the fridge in a pan just in case the bag leaks. I'll come back every few hours and knead the bags making sure to turn the meat around in the bag to coat all sides of all the pieces. I usually let it marinate for 24 hours, but timing wise this time it'll be Saturday morning before I start drying it, so this batch will get a day and a half.
I'll be adding pictures over the next couple days as this batch gets finished. Just to show results, and I may come back to this thread as I make different batches and post different marinades or rubs for different flavors.
Marinade: Sweet and hot, this one has a bit of heat from the crushed red pepper flakes, but the brown sugar and teriyaki balance it out really well. This is a great recipe for a mixed group of some who like it hot and some who don't because if someone doesn't want the heat they can just scratch off the crushed pepper from the slice and kill most of the heat. This recipe makes enough marinade to treat 6-7 lbs of meat, if you're making a smaller batch just divide by X on everything. Add all the liquids to a bowl, add in the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk for a couple minutes till everything is dissolved.
3/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 cup Brown Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoon hot sauce (whatever you have, I'm using Zatarans cajun because that's what was open, if you like heat here's a chance to add some more heat, I've used redhot, texas pete, siracha, whatever, anything is good)
2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoon minced dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (this is where you can add more if you like heat)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 cup light brown sugar loosely packed
In this recipe the heat obviously comes from the peppers, you can taste the marinade and adjust the background sweetness/heat to your liking, the crushed pepper just adds heat to the bite with the pepper on it. The Sweetness comes mainly from the brown sugar and teriyaki, the soy and vinegar both are mainly acting as tenderizers for the meat although the cider vinegar does mix in well taste wise with everything. If you need to watch your salt intake you can sub low sodium soy and teriyaki and just add a little extra brown sugar.
First I started with meat, local save-a-lot had top round on sale for $3.99 a lb, I got the store butcher to pick out the leanest pieces he saw and cut them into 1/2 inch thick cuts. I brought it home, let it rest in the fridge for a day to drain out the red water.
Prepping the meat: I started by taking a tenderizing hammer and hammering the meat out on both sides till the meat was about 1/4 thick on each slice, cut the slices up into the size pieces I wanted for jerky, this really is preference big pieces, little pieces, doesn't really matter as long as they are all about the same thickness they'll dry about the same. After cutting everything I divided the meat into 2 gallon sized ziplock bags for marinating, added in the marinade (recipe below), got all the air out of the bag I could, sealed and mixed it well and placed in the fridge in a pan just in case the bag leaks. I'll come back every few hours and knead the bags making sure to turn the meat around in the bag to coat all sides of all the pieces. I usually let it marinate for 24 hours, but timing wise this time it'll be Saturday morning before I start drying it, so this batch will get a day and a half.
I'll be adding pictures over the next couple days as this batch gets finished. Just to show results, and I may come back to this thread as I make different batches and post different marinades or rubs for different flavors.
Marinade: Sweet and hot, this one has a bit of heat from the crushed red pepper flakes, but the brown sugar and teriyaki balance it out really well. This is a great recipe for a mixed group of some who like it hot and some who don't because if someone doesn't want the heat they can just scratch off the crushed pepper from the slice and kill most of the heat. This recipe makes enough marinade to treat 6-7 lbs of meat, if you're making a smaller batch just divide by X on everything. Add all the liquids to a bowl, add in the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk for a couple minutes till everything is dissolved.
3/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 cup Brown Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoon hot sauce (whatever you have, I'm using Zatarans cajun because that's what was open, if you like heat here's a chance to add some more heat, I've used redhot, texas pete, siracha, whatever, anything is good)
2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoon minced dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (this is where you can add more if you like heat)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 cup light brown sugar loosely packed
In this recipe the heat obviously comes from the peppers, you can taste the marinade and adjust the background sweetness/heat to your liking, the crushed pepper just adds heat to the bite with the pepper on it. The Sweetness comes mainly from the brown sugar and teriyaki, the soy and vinegar both are mainly acting as tenderizers for the meat although the cider vinegar does mix in well taste wise with everything. If you need to watch your salt intake you can sub low sodium soy and teriyaki and just add a little extra brown sugar.
