There are some good reasons for making jerky at home. Of course a major component of DIY projects is saving money. Making a high quality product is also of major concern. And by doing things ourselves, we have more control over the ingredients and practices involved in the process thus possibly leading to a product that meets our personal desires and a healthful product. Regarding jerky, the process is relatively simple and safe, the results can easily exceed commercial products and with attention to detail and methodology, some money can also be saved compared to the price of commercially available jerky.
Jerky meat is expensive! That's one reason why commercially made jerky is well over $50 a kilo. What is the best way to get top quality jerky meat at the lowest possible price? Buy more meats when they are available at sale prices. If you, or if you know someone who hunts or fishes, take full advantage of a bountiful harvest or gifts or barter opportunities. When you get large amounts of meat, do your slicing immediately and then freeze it in batches of the size that will fit your marinating bowl. (For freezing fish especially, see my article The Salmon Are Here....Now What?) Then when you want to make jerky, place the lump of frozen slices in the bowl and pour the marinating spices over it and leave it in the fridge until it thaws and can be mixed. Then dry as usual.
Try to avoid putting liquid additives into your marinating bowl. Firstly, most of these will be poured down the drain. Secondly, all the remaining moisture will ultimately have to be dried in the oven. There is plenty of moisture for marinating purposes already in the meat and you will find some of this in your marinating bowl the morning after when the salt has drawn it out. Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce have excellent flavour but are very dilute. Dried soy flavour would be a better choice if it is available but not if it is more expensive than ordinary soy sauce. Worcestershire sauce is mostly malt vinegar but I like the taste as well.
Leave your marinating bowl uncovered in the fridge. This will start the drying process as soon as possible.
Leave your marinating bowl uncovered in the fridge. This will start the drying process as soon as possible.
While the combination of ingredients in the marinade does affect flavour of course, and you will make adjustments for your taste as you gain experience, the main object of the exercise is to evaporate the water out of the meat. Meat is over 75% water and almost all of this needs to be removed. If you dry your meat with no additives at all it will still taste great! In traditional times, when the only purpose of making jerky was to preserve meat, the only additive if any was salt. Increased salting will lead to reduced drying times and greater preservative qualities but it will concentrate salt in the final product and may be more or less desirable to your taste buds.
That's another reason why jerky is so expensive. Like so many foods, you are paying for meat that is mostly water and which literally vanishes into thin air and IS money down the drain. I'm a big fan of saving money but I like to pick my battles. In my blog Tax Free Booze in the Great White North, I rant on and on about how easy it is to enjoy huge savings when making homebrew...the essential point here is that when making homebrew, one isn't beating the industry price, one is beating the GOVERNMENT PRICE. No matter what we do to our jerky we won't be able to to beat commercial makers by very much because there's not much tax on food in Canada. But we can avoid the additives and preservatives found in commercial jerky that we don't want. So is home made jerky cheaper than commercially made jerky? The short answer is yes it can be.....but only slightly. If one shops for meat at the lowest possible sale prices, doesn't drive too far to get it, buys and uses additives and packaging frugally, air dries his jerky or at least uses a 110v convection oven AND doesn't put a high price on his labour then he can beat the price of commercial jerky.
These guidelines form the basis for all my jerky recipes including beef, pork, salmon, turkey etc.
Directions and Basic Recipe
- 2 pounds beef round, brisket, or whatever lean is on sale....the less fat the better.
- cut it into thin strips as thinly and as evenly as you can... .slight freezing and a thin sharp knife help but don't worry.
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- for fish jerky, either leave the skin on or slices should be around twice as thick as for beef to avoid crumbly jerky
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika and or chili powder, paste or any or as much hot spice as you like.
- Place beef strips in the bottom of a large bowl. Pour all ingredients over beef. Mix to assure all the meat is evenly coated. Marinate, uncovered in the refrigerator overnight....longer is fine if you don't get to it right away.
- Arrange the meat strips on a wire rack or perforated tray of some kind and put it in a 70 degree Celsius (158F) oven and place a foil lined tray underneath it to catch the drips. In a conventional oven leave the oven door slightly open. Dry at least 4 hours then turn the slices over and continue drying until the desired texture and colour is achieved. Store in an airtight container or resealable bags.
