Beef Jerky

Home made beef jerky is a true labor of love and requires a few days and some careful planning. It's well worth it though, especially for those long road trips where beef jerky is a must have munchie.

What you will need:
1-2 lb hunk of meat
toothpicks
soy sauce
worcestershire sauce
liquid smoke
various spices that I'll discuss later

Start with a 1-2 lb hunk of meat. You need to choose a cut that has very little fat - the fat will not dry and will just get naaaaasty, and no one wants to make naaaaasty beef jerky. I like to use london broil - it's just the right width and has very little fat. Put the meat in the freezer the night before you want to start making your jerky - the frozen meat will be much easier to cut.

If you have a mandolin slicer (and shame on you if you don't), you can use it to thinly slice your frozen meat in the morning. Do this before you mix up the marinade so the meat will have thawed some before it goes in the marinade.

The marinade is the fun part of this. I like spicy jerky, but I also like traditional smoky beef jerky - so I make both. You can adjust the ingredients to your liking, that's the beauty of it all. Marinate the meat for at least a day, preferably two to three, turning occasionally. You really want the meat saturated with this stuff.

On cooking day you will need the full day, so make sure to plan ahead - and get up early in the morning. Move your oven racks so that they are at the very top and bottom of your oven, and place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack. Remove the meat from the marinade and pierce the end of it with a toothpick. Hang the toothpicks from the top oven rack, being careful to keep your bottom rack cookie sheet underneath it to absorb the inevitable drips.

Pro Tip - I use colored toothpicks, red for the hot jerky and blue for the sweet, so they don't get mixed up.

Once your meat is all hung, turn your oven on to its absolute lowest setting. For me this is about 180. Remember, you do not want to bake your meat, you want to dry it. Prop the door of your oven slightly open (I stick a pair of tongs in there) to give the moisture an escape route. Check on it in about 8 hours, although it should take 12-16 to fully dry.

Spicy Jerky Marinade:
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. tobasco sauce

Sweet Jerky Marinade:
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Each of these marinades is enough for 1 lb of meat, so if you only want sweet jerky and have a 2 lb hunk of meat, double the marinade.

For a more in depth guide to making beef jerky, check out my guide on Associated Content.