Awesome jerky recipe

[JimDog]

Well, the jerky is all done. Three different recipes. My two old stand-bys and a new experimental recipe. I had 17 pounds of meat. I did 7 pounds in my original recipe, 5 pounds spicy, and 5 pounds of the experimental. I now wish I had done it all in the new experimental recipe. It is freakin awesome.

When I made it, I did not read the recipe - I just looked at the list of ingredients, mixed them all together, dumped in ziplock with the meat, and let it marinate for a couple of days - then dried it in the oven on racks with temp set at 175, and the oven door cracked open. Took about 6 - 8 hours to dry.

Had I read the directions, I would have seen that you heat up some of the stuff to dissove things better. I'll probably do that next time. But the flavor of this stuff is fantastic.

My only change to the list of ingredients is that I doubled up the red pepper flakes. And even with it doubled, it is not spicy at all. So without further adue - here is the recipe...

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper, or to taste
1 pound lean beef sirloin tip, sliced into 1/8 inch strips
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
5 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl or cup, mix together the onion powder, garlic powder, and some cracked black pepper. Season the meat lightly, using only part of the mixture. Reserve the remaining spices. Place into an airtight plastic container or bowl, and refrigerate.
In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together the brown sugar, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, liquid smoke flavoring and pineapple juice. Heat until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Pour over the meat, and mix by hand to coat really well. Seal the bowl, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to marinate.
Arrange the beef strips on the rack of a dehydrator, and sprinkle with a little bit more of the spice mixture and red pepper flakes if using. Dry for 5 hours, or to your desired dryness.
Hint

Use an electric knife and slice a semi frozen sirloin for the ease of cutting and for thinner uniform slices.

[hunting170]

Hey JD. I was just wondering how much meat I can do with the amount of ingredients you listed? Thanks for the help.

[Triton X2]

sounds pretty good. Guess it goes without saying "you cant beat J D's meat.

[Duck Me Runnin]

JD,

You can fit a helluva lot more on the racks of you poke a toothpick through one end of each piece, and hang 'em vertically from the racks. Line the bottom of the oven with foil to catch any drips.

And, buy a smoker for God's sake. Ovens are for cakes and shit.

[RB]

yep buy a smoker and use pecan wood.

[JimDog]

170 - Not sure how much meat that recipe will marinate. I usually cut up the meat and put it in a gallon zip lock bag with the marinade. You just have to play around with it to see how much it will cover. I marinate mine in the fridge, and every now and then I'll take the bag out and slosh it around a bit to make sure it is coats all of the meat real good - so you need enough to slosh. I usually marinate for a couple of days.

One thing about that marinade - it does NOT keep well. I made a huge batch of it and stored some in the fridge in a mason jar. I used it about six months later, and it was not the same - you want to use fresh. I mentioned it to my brother and he seemed to think that there is something in pineapple juice that breaks down over time.

Oh - and dmr and rainbow are right - smoker with pecan wood. That post was from 6 freakin years ago - long before those two properly edumacated me. I am tellin ya - pecan is the only way to go. I have got pork loins down to a science. They had whole pork loins on sale here a couple of months ago for $1.29/lb, and I bought 6 of em - about 6 or 7 pounds each. That's cheaper then dog food. Rub em down real good, and slow smoke over pecan. It just doesn't get any better then that. I'll cut a whole loin in half and smoke it. We'll have it right off the smoker for supper, then I'll carve up the rest for sammiches, put strips on a salad, or even make chili. My mouth is watering just thinkin about it.

I bought some pecan chips at hy-vee a while back. They were on sale. Fork that. get some green pecan. I was up in Sumner in October, and brought a bow saw. I pruned several 3" diameter limbs. I use about a 6 inch piece on my bed of charcoal. It slowly smokes for a good 3 - 4 hours. Those chips smoked out in minutes. I kept adding them, but never got the same flavor.

[Rafe Hollister]

I agree about the green wood. When I'm smoking something up at the Tick Farm, I'll walk into the timber and come back with green limbs from cherry trees. Works better than any dried wood chips.

[RB]

The chips are ok in a pinch but you have to soak them in water or beer for several hours to slow down the burn. They still don't last as long as a chunk of green pecan, fruitwood or other nut trees. Hands down the pecan is the best.

[PoisonSnake]

I started with 7 pounds of meat when making jerky a couple of weeks back. I just used the High Mountain mix with the cure. I'm telling you boys it was fantastic and easy to do. I've eaten 2 ziploc bags of it already. Two more to go.

[Duck Me Runnin]

The Fastman is real hip on that High Mountain stuff. I've never used it, but his jerky is pretty damn good.

There used to be a brand of marinade called Corbin's. It was THE BEST base for a jerky marinade that I ever tried. So of course, they quit making it.

Rafe,

I grill salmon on a pretty regular basis. There's a cloud of pecan / cherry smoke comin' out of that Weber the entire time. There's just something about that combo when salmon is involved.