Jerky tips suggestions


 

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
I'm going to try my first attempt at beef jerky this week. It seems from probing here and the internet in general it doesn't seem like there's much to it. I'd be happy to accept some advice if anybody got some.
 
I was reading Jim Tarantino's suggestion in his "marinades, rubs, brines, cures and glazes" book to use any marinade minus the oil, and cut meat 1/4" thick. Dry until rubbery, and licorice-like.

Sounds like to shoot for low 200*s or lower to keep it from getting crispy.

I was planning on using eye round or flank.

and probably will go with his "basic southeast asian marinade"

garlic
lemongrass
ginger
shallot
nam pla
soy sauce
basil
coriander
rice wine vinegar
 
Try to cut between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick, no more. Salt will act as a curing agent but you can add nitrites if you wish. Drying is a preservative and inhibits bacterial growth (as does smoking) but you can add a safety measure of simmering the meat in the marinade, after marinating but before drying, because when meat is drying at low temps it takes quite a while for it to actually reach bacteriocidal temps (evaporation keeps the meat much cooler than ambient drying temps till the meat is nearly dry).

Go easy on the acids in the marinade.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> evaporation keeps the meat much cooler than ambient drying temps till the meat is nearly dry </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I did come across that very piece of info. interesting stuff...thermodynamics can be tricky.

Do you think the soy and nam pla will supply sufficient salt? if I omit the oil and back down on vinegar, my liquids look like 3 parts nam pla, 1 part soy, 4 parts vinegar.

Maybe I should cut the liquid portion with a little bit of a basic brine with some nitrite added. just so I can get everything moving in the blender and not have to worry about pH or nam pla/soy dominating the final flavor.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">j, I'm curious: Are you going to slice across or with the grain? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

From what I read (and know) the slice direction effect the final toughness. with the grain makes the final product much tougher. since this is my first attempt I'm not sure how crazy I want to get, I'm considering a flank with the grain and a eye against.

I made 2 marinades (approximately 2 cups each), both seem salty enough, I'm trying to decide how much pink salt I need to boost my margin of safety.

S.E.A: 7 cloves garlic, 4 tbs ginger, 5 shallots, 4 tbs lemongrass, 4 tbs soy, 6 tbs nam pla, 2 tbs rice wine vinegar

Korean: 7 cloves garlic, 4 tbs ginger, 4 green onions, 1 tbs chile paste, 1 tbs kimchee base, 8 tbs soy, 8 tbs mirin
 
J,

The amount of pink salt is determined by the amount of meat you have, but with sufficient salt from soy sauce and proper drying you should be fine. I did 2 batches a few weeks ago and added a 'pinch' of pink salt for grins. Normally I don't add any. I dried about 6 lbs of meat. One thing I found handy was to put the marinated meat in a salad spinner to remove the excess marinade. I figured since drying is the key, this would speed things up and it was very quick.

Paul
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The amount of pink salt is determined by the amount of meat you have, but with sufficient salt from soy sauce and proper drying you should be fine. I did 2 batches a few weeks ago and added a 'pinch' of pink salt for grins. Normally I don't add any. I dried about 6 lbs of meat. One thing I found handy was to put the marinated meat in a salad spinner to remove the excess marinade. I figured since drying is the key, this would speed things up and it was very quick. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

right, that makes sense. I purchased nitrite and nitrate for sausage making but have yet to figure out how to use them. It makes sense in sausage making to figure it out by meat weight, and it should be easy to figure out how much I need from there. I suppose the only difference in adding it right into the ground mix is that your assured that its in the meat. In the marinade, you can only assume that the meat pick most of it up.

I like the salad spinner idea, I'll give it a whirl
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With jerky, since the meat will be sliced so thin, the pink salt will penetrate pretty easily. I can't recall the amount I used, but it was very little. Maybe something like .5 tsp for all of the meat. I did Stogie's basic recipe which turned out great and a teriyaki which was so-so (shoe leather for some reason
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) .

Paul
 
how long do you typically marinade for?

I suppose like chicken skin, time and temp are important variables for creating the right texture.
 
For brine or marinade cures pink salt quantity is more determined by liquid amount, not so much by meat weight. 1/2 t per 2 c should be fine.

I marinate overnight.
 
I found it made more sense (due to shape) to cut the flank against the grain, and the eye round with the grain. Most slices are nice and thin but a few are close to a 1/4". I'm interested to see how they dry, so this will give me a variety of thickness to work with.

I ended up tossing 1/4 tsp in with each bag. I had a little over 500g of meat in each bag so I figured I'd go with ruhlman/polcyn's guidelines for smoked sausage, that way I knew I wasn't over doing it, since its pretty much just insurance anyways.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">how long do you typically marinade for? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I let the last batch sit for 24 hours. All meat was sliced at .25" against the grain.

Paul
 

 

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