# First attempt at Beef Jerky... Huge success!!!



## slief (Jun 18, 2012)

I have been waiting to try some home made beef Jerky for a while now and have read a ton of different recipes all over the place and decided to give it a go this weekend. I picked up 6 or seven pounds of flank steak from Costco. I went with recipe that I found on line and modified it a bit to include some cure #1 as well as a couple other things that sounded good to me at the time. The results were far better than I was expecting. This had to be the best jerky that I have ever had..

I was on the fence as to whether or not to put them in the smoker as I have a Cabelas Commercial dehydrator. For the sake of simplicity on my first attempt, I decided to go with the dehydrator. Next time around, I will smoke for the first couple hours and then put them in the dehydrator. I will also eliminate the liquid smoke when I try that route.

Here is the recipe I came up with. Like I said, its largely based on a recipe I found on line with a handful of modifications.

The ingredients for 6 Pounds of meat:

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons onion powder

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/4 cup cracked black pepper, or to taste
6 pounds lean beef. I used Flank Steak
3 cups brown sugar
4 cups soy sauce
1-1/2 cups teriyaki sauce
1-1/2 cups Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup honey
2 cups balsamic vinegar
3/4 cups liquid smoke flavoring (the original recipe called for more than double this amount of liquid smoke which I felt was way too much)
3 cups pineapple juice
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
1 1/4 teaspoon Cure # 1
In a small bowl or cup, mix together the onion powder, garlic powder, and some cracked black pepper and set aside.

Everything else except the meat and red pepper go into a pan and get heated up until the brown sugar dissolves. Place the pot of marinate into the fridge and let it cool.

I put the meat in the freezer for around an hour to harden up a bit before slicing. I went with 1/4" strips cut against the grain. I then sprinkled a fair amount of the seasoning over the meat and set the rest of the seasoning aside.  I then put the meat and marinade into zip lock bags and put them in the fridge overnight..








The next day I laid out some paper towels on the counter and spread the meat strips out over the towels and blotted them dry with another towel. Next I laid them out over the dehydrator racks and dusted them again with some of the left over seasoning followed by some of the red pepper.

Into the dehydrator at 140* they went for roughly 6-7 hours..







All done!!

























The pictures do no justice for this stuff. My mom doesn't normally like beef jerky but she couldn't stop eating this stuff!


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## wjordan52 (Jun 18, 2012)

That looks great. I'll have to try this as soon as I get my smoker control fixed (electric). Thanks for the recipe & pics.


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## smokinhusker (Jun 20, 2012)

Don't know how I missed this but that's some great looking jerky!!! Thanks for the recipe.


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## slief (Jun 21, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback guys.. It seems I really outdid myself on this one. I gave my brother a few pieces and he about flipped out. Like my mom, he is not normally a big fan of jerky.. His comments were this was the best stuff he's ever had. That said, today he bought 10 pounds of flank steak for me to make more jerky to split with him. Looks like I will have my work cut out for me this weekend. Fortunately he got it from his butcher and they are pre-slicing it and removing the fat which will save me quite a bit of work. The timing couldn't be better either as there are only a few pieces of my last batch left. I ate that stuff like candy!


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## turtley78 (Jul 6, 2012)

I just tried this recipe for my first smoke and it turned out pretty well. I nixed the maple syrup in the recipe because I didn't have any in the house. I had a little trouble keeping my smoker at 150, and was closer to 170 most of the smoke. I did mine for about 2 hours and called it good - I like my jerky more meaty/chewy.


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## mike fitz (Jul 7, 2012)

Looks tasty! Thanks for the recipe, let us know how it turns out in the smoker and what temp and times you used.


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## daveomak (Jul 7, 2012)

Slief, evening.... excellent job on the jerky.... the recipe sounds delicious.... glad it came out so everyone enjoyed it..... 

excellent choice on the cure#1.... using it, as you know, allows you to keep the temps low for an extended period without the concern of food borne pathogens and someone getting sick.... 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...   Dave


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