Home made beef jerky

Home made beef jerky is usually much better than the store bought product because it is much fresher and you can be certain that your home made jerky has the freshest ingredients you can supply. If getting a quality product is important to you then you will have to shop very carefully online or in the normal retail outlets to make sure that you do get what you want. One of the many sites I have found in my searches is the one for king b beef jerky. Unfortunately this site hasn't been updated since 2004 and wasn't completed even then.

Jerky seasonings

Jerky seasonings are an integral part of making your own jerky unless you are wanting to make a traditional salt or sugar cured product. There are an almost unlimited number of ways you can make or modify jerky seasonings depending on what you prefer as the main flavor. Do you like hot? More chili, Tabasco or jalapeño. Do you like sweet? More brown sugar, molasses etc. There are many other flavors you can include such as liquid smoke for that authentic smoked flavor. You get the idea of what the possible options could be for customizing the end result of your home made beef jerky.

Jerky Hut

The Jerky Hut website has an interesting selection of beef jerky in a myriad of flavours but I could not find in the catalogue from the Jerky Hut any reference to packets of marinades or mixes to make your own marinade. Actually there wasn't even any reference to making your own jerky at all, no sign of recipes, recipe books, dehydrators or smokers. Apparently they do have “the best jerky in the known universe”, according to their own website. Pretty impressive, unfortunately self praise is no recommendation and outladish claims seem to abound on the internet. It would be nice if they did have some packets of their jerky seasonings as they would probably sell well.

Pork jerky

Pork jerky is yet another of the smoked meat products made from the meat of that 'magical animal', as Homer Simpson calls it, the pig. Pork jerky is probably the least know as the market is much larger for the other smoked products, bacon and ham. I have had a good look around the online market place for supplies of jerky of all varieties and even though I looked at the Jerky Hut I was unable to find any pork jerky as mostly they seemed to only offer beef jerky in a variety of flavors.

Beef jerky smoker

You can make an excellent beef jerky smoker from a number of different materials. You can even make a wooden beef jerky smoker because what you are trying to achieve is a cool fire or heat source not a hot one so the wood isn't at risk of bursting into flame. The smoker box is effectively a chimney and draws the dry, smokey aire from your fire through the hanging meat strips. One of the more popular meats to put in the smoker is one which is traditionally smoke cured in different forms. You will know them as bacon or ham, yes I'm talking about pork jerky.

Beef jerky meat

Beef jerky meat is lean trimmed and sliced into strips about 1” wide, 6” long and about 1/4” thick. Often beef jerky meat comes from the better cuts of beef but this isn't a requirement as the cheaper cuts can also make excellent beef jerky meats although you may need to tenderise it first. Once you have sliced the meat you will need to marinate the meat strips in the refrigerator overnight or longer. It is your choice to use a dehydrator, your oven or a beef jerky smoker to cure your beef jerky.

Jerky marinade

The jerky marinade is the core to the making a good jerky. Apart from making sure there is and even drying process the bulk of the flavor in the jerky comes from the jerky marinade itself. Of course the meat itself contributes to the flavor but without the marinade it would be fairly bland and just chewy. Some of the more authentic jerkies are salt or sugar cured and sun or air dried but often, if these are the main curatives, they would be called pickled meats rather than beef jerky meat.

Spicy jerky

Spicy jerky or sweet jerky are not the only choices when it comes to picking the jerky flavour you like. Some people prefer the sweet flavour and others much prefer the spicy jerky taste. These are not the only flavours available and, if you make your own, you can make whatever adjustments and fine tuning to the marianade to create exactly the flavour you like. Flavours are always a personal choice and change over time as well so it is really important to make sure that you choose or make a great jerky marinade for your jerky which suits your taste.

How to make jerky?

Can you learn how to make jerky? Absolutely. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to think that you couldn't learn how to make jerky. Can you follow simple instructions? Do you have access to an oven? Then you really can learn how to make jerky. It's easy, you get the meat, trim the fat off and slice into strips or make ground or minced meat, you mix up your marinade mix the meat with it and let stand at least overnight. Set your oven to it's lowest setting and lay the meat on trays or hang on racks. Keep an eye on it to make sure you get even drying and your done. Your marinade determines if you make sweet or spicy jerky.

Make jerky

Do you want to learn to make jerky? You are not alone, many many people have similar desires and want to make jerky for themselves at the homes. The jerky making process has been around for centuries and was originally discovered and then used to preserve the excess meat from a successful hunting expedition. Ultimately jerky was used as a food source that could be carried and enabled mankind to begin exploring further than just local hunting expeditions or following the herds. As you can see, learning how to make jerky is part of your culture regardless of what your nationality is or was.

Making deer jerky

Making deer jerky is as easy as making any other type of jerky. If you have never made any jerky before you will find that the biggest obstacle to making deer jerky is actually sourcing the deer meat or venison. Everything else you need is easily available and almost certainly you will have most of it in your kitchen already. All you need is an oven, spices for the mariande and of course the meat an you can find directions on this site or others to make the process easy. In no time at all you are able to make jerky that is as good or better than the retail product.

Is beef jerky healthy?

Is beef jerky healthy? This is a good question to ask and the answer is not always. So if the question being asked is is beef jerky healthy the answer should cover what constitutes healthy jerky. To make jerky properly you should trim all the fat off the meat before dehydrating it. The protein in the meat is a requirement for a healthy diet and the spices used in the mariande is also good for your metabolism. Some meats require less trimming than others. Typically beef, pork, lamb have more fat on them that wild game so if you want a naturally healthy jerky you should be making deer jerky.

Goose jerky

Goose jerky is an excellent low fat jerky but difficult to get commercially. Even if you manage to get hold of wild goose or farmed goos most people would be more inclined to have a delicious roasted goose than make goose jerky. I personally think this is completely acceptable and I know many others would agree with this thinking. It is unfortunate that this type of thinking prevails because the qualities of goose meat are so good for you. So the next question you would probably ask is that, if goose makes such good jerky, is beef jerky healthy?

Wild game jerky

Wild game jerky is the name given to the jerky made from hunted meat as opposed to the farmed variety. Often wild game jerky has to be treated a litle differently to the farmed jerky because the meat can be a little tougher. What this means is that you will need to tenderise the wild game meat before you make it into jerky. Many times this will mean making it into ground or mince meat so that it becomes a softer chew. Some examples of meats which can be either farmed or wild are deer, duck and goose jerky.

Beef jerky gun

A good beef jerky gun is an extremely useful accessory when you are making ground jerky because you need to be able to create an even strip or stick so the drying process is nice and even. You can do this without a beef jerky gun by using one of the icing bags which you can buy at your local supermarket very cheaply. You will need to use the biggest nozzle and refill it regularly but it will worked for you. Mostly people use a grinder when they make wild game jerky because the meat is often tougher than farmed meats.