Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 403 kcal | 114 kcal |
| Protein | 59.4 g | 16.8 g |
| Fat | 15.4 g | 4.4 g |
| saturated | 5.4 g | 1.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 2.9 g | 0.8 g |
| sugars | 0.5 g | 0.1 g |
| Fibre | 1.1 g | 0.3 g |
| Sodium | 765 mg | 217 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 7 1/4 tablespoons (109 ml) powdered chilli
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cumin
- 2 1/2 teaspoons powdered garlic
- 2.2 kg sliced lean beef
Instructions
- Trim every scrap of fat off the beef before it is sliced. Fat does not dry, it goes rancid, and one seam running through a strip will spoil that strip weeks before the rest.
- Firm the meat in the freezer until the edges are stiff and the middle still yields. Cold beef slices cleanly; room-temperature beef drags under the knife and gives you ragged strips of uneven thickness.
- Cut with the grain for a jerky you have to chew and across it for one that breaks apart. Either is right, but cut the whole batch the same way or half will be done before the other half.
- Combine the salt, pepper, cayenne, chilli, cumin and garlic, and rub the mixture into every face of the meat. This is a dry cure, so nothing carries the seasoning for you — it reaches only where your hands put it.
- Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight. The salt needs that long to draw water out of the surface and put seasoning back in its place, and a batch cured for an hour tastes only of its outside.
- Blot the surface moisture off with paper towel and lay the strips out so no two touch. A wet surface steams before it dries.
- Dry at 68 °C for 10 hours. This setting is high because the beef goes in raw, so do not lower it to protect the texture.
- Let a strip cool, then bend it. Finished jerky cracks along the bend and shows white fibres without breaking in two; a strip that folds limply needs longer, and one that snaps clean through has gone too far.
- Cool the batch completely, blot it once more and seal it in a jar. On the shelf it is good for a fortnight, vacuum-sealed for a couple of months, and frozen for a year.
