Can Beef Jerky Be Made Without a Dehydrator

How to Make Beef Jerky Without a Dehydrator

Beef jerky tin be made at abode without needing any fancy equipment such as a dehydrator.
With minimal adjustments a dwelling oven tin can be used, which tin really dehydrate a greater amount of nutrient at one time than nigh shop bought dehydrators.

Select Meat

Whatever meat can be used to make hasty, but information technology makes sense to purchase an cheap cut since y'all won't need the tenderness of an expensive cut like a filet mignon. Brisket is a skillful choice.

Trim Fat

Trim off any fatty on the meat.

Once I took the beefiness out of the supermarket package, I found they had deliberately subconscious a big sheet of fat on the bottom. Try and avoid this when shopping, just otherwise trim information technology off. (I take since been educated that the fat is intentional for roasting to retain moistness).

Optionally Relieve trimmed fat

Left over fat can exist frozen and when you have several pounds saved upward tin be thawed, basis, and rendered clean. The rendered fatty can be used in cooking, traditional soap making, or other uses.

Partially Freeze Meat (optional)

If you aren't in a rush, placing the meat in a freezer for a couple hours will firm it up and make slicing it much easier. It will cut your slicing time in half and allow y'all to have more consistent slice widths. This does not affect the end result profoundly and is largely a matter of personal preference.

Piece Strips

Slice Against the grain

Slice the meat against the grain. The "grain" of the beefiness are the layers the meat is in. If you lot slice with the grain, you will exist leaving them fully intact, so when you go to chew the meat your teeth have to do all the work at breaking up the fibers.

If yous slice against the grain, the knife has washed the work and fibers are very small then you don't accept every bit much chewing to practise.

Slice width

Slices ane/8th to 1/iv inch thick are advisable. The thinner the strip the less time it volition accept to dehydrate, and the thicker the strip the "chewier" your jerky might be.

Marinade/Season the Meat

Homemade jerky tastes very different from shop bought. It tastes like real meat!

Minimal seasoning

A elementary marinade of salt, pepper, water and vinegar tin exist used to bring out the flavour of the original cut of meat. I recommend trying this for the first run and so y'all tin can adjust your recipes in the future

BBQ seasoning

If you have a favorite BBQ sauce, use that and dilute it with water at nigh a one:2 ratio (Utilize 2-iii times as much water as sauce). In one case the water evaporates off, the flavour volition concentrate dorsum onto the hasty.

Marinate 1 hour to over night.

Yous may want to add some additional table salt depending on your tastes.

Line oven with foil

This step is optional, simply simply if y'all prefer scrubbing burned on BBQ sauce from an oven. Use the foil.

Adjust strips

Remove the oven cooking grate and adapt the beef strips on it. Doing this over a sink is a adept idea because the marinade will be dripping off immediately, so less will drip in the oven.

Get-go oven and vent door

Set the oven temperature equally low equally information technology will go. Platonic temperature is 140 degrees farenheight, which will dehydrate the food without cooking it.

My oven only goes to 170 (F) degrees but works fine. Using a wooden spoon (no plastic! it could melt), prop open up the oven door to vent. This lets air circulate and dehydrate the food faster. If y'all have an oven circulation fan, this could be helpful as well but I have non used i earlier.

It will take ii-6 hours to brand the jerky depending on piece thickness and oven temperature. My batches are effectually iv hours long.

Test for doneness

After well-nigh 2-iii hours check for doneness.

Have a slice of hasty and bend it. If it bends easily or feels juicy information technology needs more time.

When information technology starts to stretch or tear the fibers when yous bend it it is about done.

You can let a strip cool out of the oven for 10 minutes and do this test again. When warm the jerky is easier to curve, so cooling it first can let you know if it is dry similar jerky.

When I did my first batch, I thought it was done and took information technology out of the oven. Afterwards nibbling on it and testing it out afterwards cooled for xxx minutes I decided it needed more than fourth dimension. No big bargain, back into the oven.

Remove and let cool

Remove and let the hasty air dry.

Don't packet it immediately. Give information technology 24 hours to fully to dehydrate at room temperature, merely yous tin showtime eating information technology right away.

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