Jerky!!

[TobyH]

I've always loved jerky whether it's the south african Biltong or american jerky. So when I saw the article on how to make it in the oven, I thought I'd give it a go. I am SO glad I did!!!

I used the top side beef as suggested and as my local farm shop did venison too I gave that ago. Ok not the cheapest purchases I have ever made but in the end it was worth it.

For the first part (seasoning) on the venison i used paprika, sage, and some rock salt oh and some pepper.

For the beef I decided to try something different. I like curry so decided to try some tikka masala powders as well as cayenne pepper and normal pepper. I also added some salt too.

2nd stage is the marinade. I was a bit limited as to what I had in the cupboard, so both lots got some balsamic vinegar while the venison got some honey (parents bee's!) some white wine vinegar, some peri-peri (medium) and some rape seed oil (newly purchased with the venison!). For the beef I thought I'd add a little heat with some tabasco and some white white vinegar that have had chilli's in for an age! left them both in sealed bags for 4 hours then started them in the oven.

This took alot longer than suggested. I have a fan oven but no real idea on temperature so left it on the lowest setting. I did 6 hours, but they were way too moist so kept them going for about anoth 4 hours (at intervals as I have a life!!). Finally decided they were just moist enough to bend without breaking but not too moist.

I've only tasted a small bit, but they are just perfect!! Will wack some in the freezer and keep some sealed to see how long they last....

Give it a go.....

 

[Matt Weir]

That sounds like the biz. I've just bbq'd a load of meat and between myself, swmbo, the kids, the mutt and next doors mutt we cleared the lot. Jerky is another thing I want to try myself Mmmmmmmmm

 

[Rebel]

I've also home made jerky in the oven and it's turned out really well.

I have a gas oven and put it on the lowest setting possible and used a wooden spoon handle to hold the door slightly ajar (so that the oven didn't get too hot and so the moisture could escape).

I put a simple cheap oven thermometer in the oven to make sure the temperature was correct and used what I had available in the kitchen to marinate the meat (which in my kitchen is quite a lot of suitable ingredients). I love garlic and crushed plenty of that into the marinade which I think added an excellent flavour.

Here's some of the first batch I ever made.

This came out a bit dark because I used dark soya sauce in the marinade. In later batches I used light soya sauce because I preferred the meat a lighter colour.

The small light coloured specks are larger bits of garlic which I think added a wonderful extra flavour.

 

[TobyH]

Blimey I thought for a minute that was going to be one of those "this is how not to do it" photo's

I would have use soy sauce and also worcestershire sauce too but ran out!!

I'm not too bothered though as for some reason you can't pick out any particular flavour, it just tastes good!

Need to work on refining the flavours...

 

[Matt Weir]

I think that looks cool - Rebels Black Jerky

 

[singteck]

I tried some the other day, courtesy of Red I like it. It's certainly different from the chinese version.

If you ever go over to asia, try some of the chinese version of jerky. They are not dry and they pack flavours you wouldn't believe!



singteck

EDIT: Just to say that they come mostly in chicken or pork thought and not beef..... but you can get beef.

 

[Rebel]

You can get Chinese beef jerky here in the UK. I bought some from a Chinese supermarket. It was very good.

 

[singteck]

You can get Chinese beef jerky here in the UK. I bought some from a Chinese supermarket. It was very good.

Hehe didn't realise that Must go and get some.....

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

Just finished off my last batch of jerky.. no, not finished smoking it.. finished eating it!

Had Elk, Buffalo and Emu jerky made.. all tasted as good as any othe rjerky I've ever made.

What meats has everyone "jerkyed"?

 

[jon r]

That all looks and sounds lovely! I dont like beef because of the BSE scare years ago and i never got back to eating it, so could you use lamb?

 

[Tantalus]

You can use any meat you like including fish and chicken

If in doubt , try including some mild antisceptic in the basting mix , vinegar and salt come to mind. Salt is nice as the meat dries the salt gets more concentrated and has more bug killing power.

Edit to add : Salami is a variation on this , inside a sausage skin, some of the best hungarian salami I ever had included a lot of donkey meat .Probably not one to try selling in the UK though.

Tant

 

[Zammo]

Toby have you got a link to the article?

 

[TobyH]

Look in 'articles' at the top of the page then go to food....

 

[TobyH]

I had a mate at school from hong kong, he used to bring over all sorts of stuff. The best was dried beef, dried squid (smelly but delish!!) and dried seaweed.

personally I think the chinese stuff tasted much nicer than the 'Wild West' stuff you can get in the UK supermarkets. Seems not so many additives.

 

[JadaFecT]

think ill give this a shot sometime before the camping at the weekend. I'd like to try making it while camping though - is there any good methods online for doing such a thing?

 

[pag_3833]

ive decided to go for a jamaican style jerky as i have some great ingredients left over from barbados. I'll let you know how it turns out at the end of the weekend hopefully. Going to be HOT

(JadaFecT here)

 

[fredcraft]

I tried it yesturday, but unfortunately I had to stop before setting my ketchin on fire

First of, my oven cannot have only the bottom warmer lit. Second, it seems that It cannot just hold the temperature safely. For instance, the damn thing just either is 100% heating or 0% heating.

Sooooo.... I guess I'll be looking for a good and cheap dehydrator that would do the job which will allow me to make jerky safely but also tons of dried fruits and veggies.

Cheers and have a nice friday

 

[harlequin]

I make biltong quite regularly and it always goes down a treat!

Get your meat (especially when there's two for one in your supermarket!) silverside is usually the best. buy the biggest bit you can afford, as the oven will be on all that time anyway , you'd be as well fill it!
Prepare the brine mix.
For a large joint, 2 -3 Kg, use about two packets/tubes of ROCK salt. Do not use any other type (I talk from experience!), a big handful of brown sugar and as much ground coriander seeds as you want, probably more. Ground coriander seed flavour is the authentic mark of SA biltong. Grind some pepper in, until your hands get tired using the pepper mill!
Cut your meat into approx. 2cm width and breadth and as long as the joint is.
Trim all fat and sinew that you can see (this pays big dividends in the long run!).
Chuck it in the brine mix.
Brine for about 45 MINUTES/60 MAX. Forget any recipe that you might google that says 'brine for 3 hours' the result is unpalatably salty (this I also talk from experience - several times!).
Prepare the 'wash'.
In a large bowl add a bottle of red wine vinegar, maybe two. Top up with water if there is not enough. Add seasoning liquids e.g. worcestershire sause; tabasco; liquid smoke etc. This will be your stamp of individualidity, don't skimp!
Wash the salt carefully from the meat, making sure you don't miss any, and then dip into the 'wash', massage in briefly,
Make a spice mix (optional but makes it 100% better)
Grind up a handful of black peppercorns and three, yes that's right three handfuls of ground coriander seeds. roll the meat in this mix. You'll get the idea once you run out of spice mix halfway through doing it how much you actually need! But then again you can now experience the difference between the 'spiced' ones and the plain ones.
Stick a cocktail stick through the very end of it and hang it from an oven shelf located at the highest point you can in the oven. Stick your oven on at the lowest setting and leave the door slightly ajar. Wooden spoons come in handy here!
depending on how you like your biltong drying times will vary. I like mine dry (keeps better and tastes better!) so approx 24 hours. If you like it wet just keep trying little pieces until you like the taste (wet, it tastes more like liver).
Shave VERY thinly and enjoy with an ice cold beer!
PS look out for the biltong mites once you make it!
My house has an unbelievable infestation of them!
Make a load and next morning when you come down half of it's gone!
PPS the South Africans I know say I make it better than they can so don't tell them the recipe!

 

[pag_3833]

heres a pic of my attempt last week

tastes lovely, cant stop munching it

 

[Toadflax]

I made some at the weekend using the recipe given in the articles section - turned out very well, so here's the inevitable picture. I used sirloin, but after nearly fainting at the price I'd be tempted to use a cheaper cut of meat next time - though what I did is VERY nice. I kept monitoring the temperature with a meat thermometer for the 7 hours it took to dry.

Given that I believe the traditional method is to put up some smoke to keep the flies off, rather than to smoke the meat, I wondered whether air drying in a meat safe would be effective - or maybe in an inner tent with the mossy screen zipped up. That would allow the air to circulate around the meat, but it ought to keep the flies away.

Geoff