Saw your post and thought I'd throw in my 2cents. I make a lot of Deer jerky but beef is cured the same. You have to have lean meat, trim as much fat as possible because fat turns rancid and tastes bad! If your meat is almost frozen it will slice better, try and slice about 1/4" slices or less. Find Mortons curing salt. I found it at my local meat market. It is necessary to allow the salt to "soak in" for about 12 hours prior to starting the drying process. This kills bad bacteria because you are not cooking the meat you are dehydrating it. Place your meat strips in a ziplock bag, I use 1 gallon size, for this size I add 4 tbsp soy sauce 4 tbsp worstishire sauce 2 tbsp curing salt 2 tbsp brown shugar 1 tpsp crushed red pepper 1tbsp italian seasoning This makes alot of jerky, more than a conventional oven can handle. Adjust as necessary. close the bag and knead it around real good. Refrigerate 12 hours. Now from here I have a 55 gallon smoker that works great. I use kabob stickers and let the strips hang down inside my smoker. But you can also put the strips in your oven. Temprature is the key, you want it to be about 150deg and not over 180 deg. for about 5-8 hours depending on your thickness. If you use your oven you want to have the door cracked I used my meat thermometer to keep it cracked that way I can regulate the temp. That's about it, It's a long process and mine is about half gone by the time it is finished! Enjoy Jon
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