Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 383 kcal | 109 kcal |
| Protein | 57.1 g | 16.2 g |
| Fat | 14.3 g | 4 g |
| saturated | 5.2 g | 1.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 2.8 g | 0.8 g |
| sugars | 0.2 g | 0.1 g |
| Fibre | 0.9 g | 0.2 g |
| Sodium | 2461 mg | 698 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
- 3 1/4 tablespoons (49 ml) salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 1/2 teaspoons powdered chilli
- 2 1/2 teaspoons powdered garlic
- 2 1/2 teaspoons powdered onion
- 5/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 7 1/4 dashes liquid smoke
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2.2 kg round steak, (flank steak or other cut meat)
Instructions
- Slice the round steak thinly and evenly while it is still part frozen. Round is a large, uniform muscle and it will give you consistent strips, but only while it is firm enough to hold still.
- Whisk the salt, pepper, chilli, garlic and onion powders into the water before adding the liquid smoke. Dry powders tipped straight onto meat stay as powder, and this marinade is mostly water for exactly that reason.
- Dip each slice through the mixture and stack them in layers in a dish rather than dropping them in loose. Layered, every slice has marinade above and below it instead of sitting in a tangle with dry patches inside.
- Pour the remainder over the top, cover it tightly and refrigerate for six to twelve hours. Beyond that the salt begins curing the surface into something rubbery.
- Rotate the layers once or twice while it sits, bringing the bottom slices up. The marinade settles, and the bottom of the dish is always saltier than the top.
- Lay the strips out flat with the grain running the same way on every tray. It makes no difference to the drying and all the difference when you are tearing a piece later.
- Dry at 64 °C for 8 hours, wiping the strips with paper as oil rises to the surface. Blotting during the run is the single thing that separates jerky which keeps from jerky that tastes stale in ten days.
- Test it cold rather than hot: fold a strip and look for the fibres cracking along the fold while the strip stays in one piece. One that snaps clean through has gone too far and will be dust within a week.
- Store it in a sealed container in the fridge for a fortnight, or portion it and freeze it. A jar left out on the bench looks right and is the reason most home jerky goes mouldy.
