Jerky

Recently I've been very interested in Charcuterie. I realize a lot of people, and especially purists, will spit on the ground in regards to my mentioning of Charcuterie in an entry about Jerky but I think that while Charcuterie takes a much more refined path, they both share a common goal to prolong shelf life of meat and in this particular case, it allowed me to use meat that might otherwise have gone to waste.

I chose to give this a go for two main reasons:

1. I had a bison roast that was long forgotten in the freezer that was perhaps past its potential.
2.  This might act as a good preview to where I plan to go in my food adventures in late April when i'm back in my kitchen for an extended period of time: Charcuterie and sausage making.

On to the Jerky

The idea is to remove moisture from the meat. Research and discussion with some local butchers has revealed that it can be very complicated (with multiple processes and equipment) or super easy as a "college attempt". I chose the second option.

Its very easy and takes very little actual prep time however, the drying time is a good 5-6 hours so marinade your meat the night before if you wish, and make sure you can commit to waiting by the oven for the day/afternoon on the following day.

Step 1 (the evening before)

Cut whatever meat you have chosen into thin strips. Think thick bacon and remember that they will shrink significantly during the drying. Just keep the size consistent.

Place the strips in a container or bag overnight with your favorite marinade. In my case I used my current favorite trio of spices (Ancho and Chipotle powders as well as Smoked Spanish Paprika) and a bit of soy sauce.

Use whatever marinade you like but keep in mind that soaking red meat in acid over night can really alter the texture and taste of it. Also keep in mind that these strips will be 'drying' at 180 F in the oven for 5-6 hours so I would use caution with any marinade with sugar, mollasses or honey in it as this could result in tar or even glass covered meat strips.

Personally, I love a good Kansas City bbq and my initial plan was to use a home made bbq sauce (I'll write about it eventually) which  has a lot of mollasses in it. I think next time if I chose that route, I will try a dry rub over night, and maybe mix the meat in with the bbq sauce after the 'drying' process is almost complete so the sugar from the sauce is only actually in the oven for 1 to 2 hours.

Step 2 (6 hours before being done)

Place the strips on skewers or right on the oven racks. The important thing is to ensure that they are not touching and that you maximize the surface area of the meat that is exposed to the hot air that will be circulating in the oven. Note the pan to catch the drippings at the bottom to reduce the "being a shitty roommate and making a mess" factor.

'Dry' or bake at 180 F for 5-6 hours depending on how thick you cut the strips. Use your instincts. I took mine out at the 5 hour mark and there was still a bit of moisture in the middle (although fully cooked through), which is sort of how I like mine. 

Notice the crazy spice loaded one in the top right - this one delivered a bit of pain to the pallet. 

There you go, ghetto amateur jerky. Have some playing around to do with this to improve a few issues, but am otherwise pretty happy with how it turned out. Of course next time I have some meat that has been in the freezer too long I'll prob head the route of sausage making thanks to Rhiannon, Gabe, and Tara for my new meat grinder/sausage maker!

I'm now on the road (made the jerky last weekend while still in town, but am writing this from Vancouver) and will not be in my own kitchen for an extended period of time until late April but I'm going to try and log some quick travelling entries so check back soon!

-Maciej