If you want to prolong the shelf life of your meat, then you are free to turn it into jerky. How do you do that? If this is your first time to make a jerky, then all you’ll have to do is read this article and follow all of the steps that we would be mentioning below.
Making the Jerky
1.) Choose the meat that you want to turn into jerky. Here are some of the options that you can choose from: caribou, elk, deer, bison, turkey and beef. Here are the meat cuts that you can consider: eye round, top round, flank steak and sirloin.
2.) Eliminate all the fat that you can see on your chosen meat. This will help to prolong the shelf life of the jerky. Then, make extremely thin strips out of the meat that you have bought. The thinner the meat strips, the better.
3.) Make a solution/dressing that you will later use to marinate the meat strips. The solution can contain vinegar sea salt and olive oil. However, you are free to come up with your own solution as long as it suits your taste. Refrigerate the marinated meat for one day
4.) Now, it’s time for you to season the meat. Again, you are free to choose the seasonings that you would want to apply on the meat strips. Just make sure that you get to put salt on them to prevent them from acquiring any moisture. Brown sugar, liquid smoke and vinegar are just some of the seasonings that you can use.
Cooking and Keeping the Jerky
1.) Eliminate all the moisture from the meat. You can use an oven or the usual dehydrator for you to finally cook your jerky. Keep the meat together in doing this procedure.
2.) Now, all you have to do is wait and watch over your jerky. Never leave your meat unattended because your family might eat it without your permission. The whole procedure can take up to 6 hours so just be patient.
3.) If you opted to use an oven in drying your jerky, then you would need to set the oven to a temperature of 165° F. You should do this step accurately for your meat to be completely free of any type of bacteria.
4.) Store your finished jerky in a cool environment. Don’t put in a shelf which has a high temperature. Place the meat in a mason jar or in any food container that you can find. After that, refrigerate the jerky for about 14 days and finally eat it with your family and friends.
Additional Tip:
Don’t overheat your jerky or else it won’t taste really good in your mouth. Just get the moisture out of the meat and turn off the dehydrator or oven as soon as your jerky’s completely dry. Have someone watch over your meat if you need to go somewhere for a while.