My Jerky Experiment(s)

[YT2095]

having made Biltong and dried sausages in the past, I thought I`de try my hand at "Propper" Jerky (beef).

Thus far:

a nice slab of Hip steak thinly cut from the butchers, I trimmed all the fat off although there is plenty marbleing in the meat itself.
I battered that to within an inch of it`s life with a meat hammer, and cut into strips.

marinaded with:

a table spoon and a half of muscavado sugar
2 T spoons of Liquid smoke
1 T spoon of home made Chili sauce
1 T spoon of dried Naga Chili flakes (home grown)
1 T Spoon of fresh ground black pepper.
1/4 cup of scotch whiskey

I didn`t have any soy sauce so I disolved 2 T spoons of salt in just enough beer to do the job, and then added that.

that was left to stand in the fridge a good 24 hours with occasional mixing to make sure All get`s some

now I took it out today, and the smell was quite different, not unpleasant, but not exactly appetising either.

I put these in a drainer and then dried all peices with kitchen towel and arranged them on a rack, I`ve had to modify the Gas oven somewhat, but NOW they`re drying Nicely and actulay LOOK like jerky around the edges

AND the smell is now much more towards how it Should be!

so far so good, I`ll update this as and When I get more Data.

This isn`t a one off experiment either, I shall be posting many more over the months with results both Good and Bad, and hopefully getting feedback from some of my Guiniue pig friends that don`t know it yet

 

[Barb L.]

I use to make beef jerky for my son - he loves it. Just be careful with the marbled meat, the fat is waht goes rancid, store in fridge. I use to use the leanest meat I could fine, thus stays fresher longer. Good Luck with yours and do let us know how it turns out !

 

[YT2095]

is Brisket any good?

I planned on trying that also, but if you can save me a few shillings... )

 

[Barb L.]

Never used that, I like what they call here "Eye of Round" hardly any fat.

 

[YT2095]

I`ll google that to translate to a UK cut and tell Carl (my butcher) to get me some if he doesn`t already have it in, Thnx

 

[kadesma]

is Brisket any good?

I planned on trying that also, but if you can save me a few shillings... )

YT,
when I use to make it for the kids, I used flank steak..I would also imagine a good round steak well beaten would be good as well. I was always told the tougher cuts had the most flavor so I went the flank steak route.

kadesma

 

[Barb L.]

I`ll google that to translate to a UK cut and tell Carl (my butcher) to get me some if he doesn`t already have it in, Thnx

No problem, the eye of round is usually the size of a grapefruit around and any length you want.

 

[YT2095]

well so far they`ve shrunk to Half their size and are a good deep reddy/brown and will stay flat when held at one end, although Not exactly Hard per se, I`de fail to scratch Glass with them

so thus far, all`s looking good

 

[YT2095]

Well, it turned out Very Well for a 1`st try, it Looks and smells authentic and the taste isn`t Bad (but can be improved much more), and the texture looks about right working from memory.

I let my Friend try it and he likes it also (even took the other peice off me).
I`m concerned about the marbeling in it though as when it was drying there was a distinct sign of fat leakage, so I expect the "eat-By" date will be within the next 3 days of this post.

I had some last night and it was also quite nice, but I know I can do MUCH better!

I`ve taken advice and seen my butcher and asked if he knows of "Round of Eye" he seemed to and I think it`s called Silverside here, the round of eye is the end part of the cut.
anyway, I got 6 slices of that, Very thin as I asked him to (I`ve got to pay him in the morning as I didn`t have any cash on me when I asked and he was closing shop).

so I`ll be starting that in the morning, and posting results in a couple of days, Oh yeah, I`ve got my Soy Sauce now too )

 

[YT2095]

I`ve Nearly Cracked it!

a Cup of Soy sauce
a tablesppon of chili sauce
2 T spoons of Muscavado sugar
2 T spoons of Liquid Smoke concentrate
2 T spoons of Marmite (honestly it Works!)

I used thinly cut silverside of beef well trimmed and let that rest in a bowl with the marinade for 24 hours in the fridge.

when dried this stuff is Perfect!, and if you can`t get Marmite then Vegamite should work or even Bovril.

My friend tried some and also agrees it`s WAY better than my 1`st try and is even thinking about making his own now too

I think the Next batch I`ll skip on the sugar entirely, I can`t see how it enhances anything at all other than add a sweetness, which is something I don`t want with a Beef product at all (personaly).

 

[jkath]

Is Marmite enough like vegemite, so it's needed for the salt content?
(Don't know much about it, as I can't eat much salt)

 

[Barb L.]

Congrats ! YT, Great going, keep up the good work !! Jerky Rules !!!

 

[YT2095]

it is salty yeah, and very much in the same way as vegamite is.
and indeed Bovril (only Bovril is Concentrated beef extract).

Vegamite may be a little harder to dissolve as it`s more Granular in texture, whereas Bovril or Marmite are closer to a Honey consistancy.

it probably wouldn`t hurt to heat the marinade a little during this and then allow to cool when all mixed, although I would add the Liquid Smoke after and not before heating.

I wonder if it would work with Beef Stock Cubes????


sounds like an experiment for another day

 

[YT2095]

ok, Latest Batch is the Best Yet!

I bought a whole peice of Silverside beef £6.00 worth, and prepared it all as it should be.
the difference is I dropped the Sugar entirely.

a Cup of Soy sauce
a tablesppon of chili sauce
1 T spoon salt
3 T spoons of Liquid Smoke concentrate
2 T spoons of Marmite
a pinch of ground black pepper

24 hours in the fridge and then follow standard proceedure.

This is by Far the best ever batch yet, I can`t see anyway to improve this for Our tastes anyway, there`s 3 other that concur.

worry not however, I will continue this thread with Further experiments, I haven`t Quite now I have One perfected, Another kind soul from DC is sending me some Mesquite liquid smoke, and so that will be a whole other Chapter

Stay Tuned !

 

[jpmcgrew]

You can get nice thin slices if you partially freeze meat to firm it up.In fact your butcher might do this for you as Im sure he has a meat slicer

 

[YT2095]

yeah, he did that for me the 1`st time, but had`nt got a clue what I was doing, and jerky didn`t mean anything to him and when I mentioned liquid smoke he looked at me like I was a Madman (he was only 51% right).

so this time I bought the whole chunk of meat and did it myself. bag it, freezer for half hour then out and cut.
I have a Huge chinese meat cleaver so razor sharp you could shave with it!, I used that to slice it, it doesn`t even need any Down pressure, just a slide forwards and it`s cut a 3 inch by 5 inch slice for you

it`s equaly adept at removing Thumb tips and nail when your tired (as I found out last year) *sigh*
it didn`t hurt at all though, I think that`s the Scary part!

 

[jpmcgrew]

We cut ours so its more the size of bacon strips.You may want to take butcher a few pieces when done he may well enjoy it and seeing the finished product might make more sense to him.If you have a food dehydrator it works great for jerky as well.

 

[Hungry]

I have been reading these post on "Jerky" for the past 30+ minutes.
No where do I see the opyion of drying the jerky in the sun.

Here is So. Cal. the sun get's in the 110 - 120 degree range from about 10:00a to about 2:00p Maybe longer depending on the cloud cover. (some times it don't "burn" off until noon)

I will put my cinnamon rolls in the sun to proof.

Why couldn't you use the air filters, A La Alan Brown, and dry the jerky in ths sun?

TIA

 

[YT2095]

I have been reading these post on "Jerky" for the past 30+ minutes.
No where do I see the opyion of drying the jerky in the sun.

if you look at the Date stamps on the posts you`ll see why I never mentioned it.
Here in the UK the outside temp has only just gotten into double figures over the last week.
That`s why Sun Drying wasn`t mentioned.

 

[lulu]

LOL YT, looks like instead of me sending to you from London, you'll me sending to me in the south....it sounds great!