Cooking Escapades: Beef Jerky

This is the first in a new series I talked about a couple months ago...experiments in the kitchen. I love cooking (as those who know me in real life can vouch for) and I do sometimes try new recipes. Most of the time if I'm trying something new it's because I miss something from back home that I can't find in my new home. Or it's too expensive to be manageable on our tight budget. Like today's recipe.

I've always liked beef jerky. There's just something about the flavors of that dried meat that make my mouth water (it's happening right now as I think about beef jerky). I know jerky is supposed to be a manly food (why? because it's meat?) but I love it. When I found out that the process is relatively simple and can be done at home...well, why not? See I would love to buy Jack Link's beef jerky here. Really I would, but this is all I can find...

Do you see the net weight of this bag of jerky? 25 measly grams. That's hardly a handful. And when it costs nearly $4 for it...well, then it just gets really out of hand. So I bought a nice flank steak from the supermarket a couple weeks back and set out to make homemade beef jerky. Here's the journey.

 Step 1: choose your meat and freeze it for a few hours. Once it's pretty well frozen, use a sharp knife and tongs to cut the meat into the skinniest slices you can manage. The fact that the meat is frozen really helps out a lot.

Step 2: The marinade. Once you have sliced all your meat, then you need to make a marinade for the beef. I chose to do two parts olive oil, 1/2 part worcestershire sauce and 1/2 part soy sauce. If I had liquid smoke, I would have used some of that as well. But what I had worked.

Step 3: Combine the meat and the marinade in a container with a lid and let sit overnight in your fridge. The next day is cooking day!

Step 4-6: The next day pull your meat out of the fridge. Preheat the oven to 75 degrees C and get a cookie sheet and a cooling rack out (make sure the cooling rack is appropriate for oven use). Choose your spices for the meat! I went with two different tastes. The first batch was the smoked paprika and oregano (very subtle flavors, but pretty good) and the second batch I went with cumin, coriander and a tiny bit of nutmeg (SOO good). Lay the meat out on the rack so they don't touch each other and sprinkle with the spices you choose. I would also say this is the time to add salt, more salt than you think you might want. I didn't add salt to the first batch and it was more bland. The second batch was so much better with the salt.

 Step 7: Place the cooling rack on the baking tray and put it in the oven. Let the meat cook (basically dehydrate) for about 2.5 hours. Check it once in awhile to make sure it's drying. Your house will smell delicious.

 Step 8: When the meat is completely done, it will look like this. You will want to eat it straight from the pan. Go ahead, have a couple pieces. It's good.

Store your beef jerky in a jar with a lid and watch it disappear as your husband eats it all. Seriously, it didn't last a week here. But it was good. Next time I'll make even more and try out different flavors. I'm thinking cracked black pepper with some hot sauce. Sweet chili flavor. The possibilities are endless.