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.