Mango Habanero Beef Jerky Recipe | RelishTheDaily.com (2024)

FAQs

Do you marinate jerky before dehydrating? ›

Place the whole bag into the fridge to thoroughly marinate for up to 24 hours, but no fewer than 4 hours. The longer you marinate, the deeper your flavor and tenderizing action. The most convenient process is to simply refrigerate overnight and start your next step, the drying process, on the following day.

The best meat for jerky are Top Round, Bottom Round, Lifter and Pectoral, but a variety of cuts can be used such as Flank Steak and Skirt Steak. These cuts of beef check all the boxes for beef jerky—economical, lean, and full of flavor.

Not allowing their jerky to marinate for a sufficient amount of time will mean that the meat won't absorb much of the marinade's flavor and will likely result in a more mild, less satisfying flavor once the drying process is complete.

The ideal time to marinate jerky is 16 hours, but an acceptable range is 8 to 24 hours. This time frame allows the marinade to saturate the outside of the meat and the salt to penetrate beyond the surface, seasoning the entire piece of meat.

35ml apple cider vinegar: Acids are essential for food safety since they inhibit the growth of microbes. This ingredient will not just add a distinct taste but help ensure your jerky is safe for consumption.

Beef Jerky Marinade

The combination of sweet, savory, and umami-rich ingredients. This marinade is a beautiful blend of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, salt, pepper, meat tenderizer, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.

Using curing salt when making jerky is not essential, however it does have a lot of great benefits. Using curing salt correctly helps to reduce the chance of harmful bacteria growing on meat and ensures a safer curing process. It also improves flavour, colour and extends the shelf life.

Even so, beef jerky is expensive. Beef jerky is so expensive because it uses a lot of quality meat to make just a little bit of jerky, the process takes resources and employees' time, and beef jerky producers often buy from the beef industry and the price of beef can be expensive.

What is the best thickness for homemade beef jerky? ›

Consistent thickness is the name of the game when it comes to jerky slicing. Slicing your jerky evenly will ensure that each piece cooks and dries at the same rate. This prevents over-drying and under-drying. We recommend slicing meat for jerky at a thickness between 1/8" and 1/4" with the perfect thickness at 3/16”.

Savings: Is it cheaper to make your own jerky? Making homemade beef jerky allows you to choose the type of meats and spices that goes into the snack. This way, you can source cheaper cuts of meat and use flavourings you have lying around the kitchen (like brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic powder, and onion powder).

The short answer is that your jerky is so tough because it's too dehydrated. For some people, this is a great thing and the tougher the jerky, the better! But maybe toughness isn't what you (or your teeth) want in a jerky.

However, most homemade jerky isn't nearly as tender as the store-bought kind. That's because commercial jerky producers use special equipment and curing preservatives to make their signature jerky.

Top round is considered to be one of the best cuts of meat to use for jerky. In fact, this is the cut that many commercial jerkies are made from. This is a good cut because it comes in large pieces, is a lean cut of meat, and is economical. Top round can also be referred to as London Broil or inside round steak.

Add mixture to meat, ensuring all pieces are well coated. Place bag in fridge. You should marinade 6-8 hours but not too much longer. After marinading, work one piece at a time, patting it dry with a paper towel then layering it in the dehydrator.

Place in the dehydrator and cook for 3 to 6 hours at 165°F. Start checking the jerky at the 3-hour mark. Once the jerky has been cooked, remove from the dehydrator, and let cool. Store in an airtight container and enjoy.

Then place the meat or poultry in a dehydrator that maintains a constant temperature of 130 to 140 °F (54.4 to 60 °C) during the drying process. Dry until a test piece cracks but does not break when is bent. Drying jerky can take 10-24 hours when it is not heated in marinade. Meat heated in marinade will dry faster.

While you can combine the spices and marinade together and save yourself a step, we suggest you marinade the meat and pat it completely dry (on the surface) and then season it. The flavor of the seasonings will be much bolder this way.