This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload of
recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a grill
with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.

1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from london
broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.

2. I prefer to smoke it on the grill. Should I "dehydrate" it in the
oven first? Is it okay to use mesquite chips, or will it taste like ass?
I only see hickory smoked beef jerky in stores, which leads me to
believe mesquite does not taste good enough for people to buy it. I ask
because I am fresh out of hickory, but I have plenty of mesquite.

3. The recipes all say to cut across the grain, but beef jerky I buy is
cut with the grain. Any thoughts or suggestions?

4. The marinades in all the recipes call for salt. I prefer to keep my
sodium intake to a minimum, part of my motive for making it myself in
the first place. 23% of my daily intake of salt from a single 4 oz
package is a bit much. Does anybody have a suggestion for a low-sodium
marinade?

--
John Gaughan
http://www.johngaughan.net/

John Gaughan wrote:

> This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload of
> recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a grill
> with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.
>
> 1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from london
> broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.
>
> 2. I prefer to smoke it on the grill. Should I "dehydrate" it in the
> oven first? Is it okay to use mesquite chips, or will it taste like ass?
> I only see hickory smoked beef jerky in stores, which leads me to
> believe mesquite does not taste good enough for people to buy it. I ask
> because I am fresh out of hickory, but I have plenty of mesquite.
>
> 3. The recipes all say to cut across the grain, but beef jerky I buy is
> cut with the grain. Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
> 4. The marinades in all the recipes call for salt. I prefer to keep my
> sodium intake to a minimum, part of my motive for making it myself in
> the first place. 23% of my daily intake of salt from a single 4 oz
> package is a bit much. Does anybody have a suggestion for a low-sodium
> marinade?
>
> --
> John Gaughan
> http://www.johngaughan.net/
>
>
While I make jerky with a dehydrator and often use a bottled sauce for

marinade, or a homemade teriyaki, the cut of meat I usually use is a
bottom round or top round-never an eye round...eye round may be okay for
smoking, I don't know.

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 16:11:37 -0500, John Gaughan
> wrote:

>This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload of
>recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a grill
>with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.
>
>1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from london
>broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.

The very leanest meat you can get. London Broil would work ok if you
trim off the outside fat and silvrskin.

>2. I prefer to smoke it on the grill. Should I "dehydrate" it in the
>oven first? Is it okay to use mesquite chips, or will it taste like ass?
>I only see hickory smoked beef jerky in stores, which leads me to
>believe mesquite does not taste good enough for people to buy it. I ask
>because I am fresh out of hickory, but I have plenty of mesquite.

Jerky can be smoke dried and sometimes was in areas where flies were
bad. Keep it cool enough to dry the meat not cook it. Real jerky is
not cooked.

>3. The recipes all say to cut across the grain, but beef jerky I buy is
>cut with the grain. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Probably won't matter too much with modern beef. In earlier days when
it was made with whatever came to hand it would have mattered more.

>4. The marinades in all the recipes call for salt. I prefer to keep my
>sodium intake to a minimum, part of my motive for making it myself in
>the first place. 23% of my daily intake of salt from a single 4 oz
>package is a bit much. Does anybody have a suggestion for a low-sodium
>marinade?

Jerky is dried, raw meat - plain and simple. No salt necessary. No
curing agents. Don't even need flavorings or smoke if you don't want
it. Just lean, lean meat and sufficient heat and air flow to dry it.
Use any marinade you like. Personally, I sprinkle a little black or
red pepper on mine and dry it. Marinades add moisture which you then
have to evaporate from the meat which slows down the entire process.

......Alan.


--
Curiosity killed the cat -
lack of it is killing mankind.

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003, (A.T. Hagan) wrote:

>Jerky is dried, raw meat - plain and simple. No salt necessary. No
>curing agents. Don't even need flavorings or smoke if you don't want
>it. Just lean, lean meat and sufficient heat and air flow to dry it.

Yep. I just slice and dry. I keep the temperature low to maxmize the meat
flavor. I generally use 115 degrees, or a little more if summer and it's
humid. Then I dry for a couple days; until no more odor is coming out.

While it is fine like that, I prefer to then make it into pemmican.

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

John Gaughan wrote:
> This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload
> of recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a
> grill with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.
>
> 1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from
> london broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.
>
NOTE: London broil is not a cut of meat. It is a recipe. I've noticed an
increasing number of meat counters in grocery stores identifying particular
cuts of sirloin as "london broil" but this simply is not true.

I have only made jerky once; it was in an electric oven and I used flank
steak.

Jill

John Gaughan > wrote:

>This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload of
>recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a grill
>with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.
>
>1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from london
>broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.
>
>2. I prefer to smoke it on the grill. Should I "dehydrate" it in the
>oven first? Is it okay to use mesquite chips, or will it taste like ass?
>I only see hickory smoked beef jerky in stores, which leads me to
>believe mesquite does not taste good enough for people to buy it. I ask
>because I am fresh out of hickory, but I have plenty of mesquite.
>
>3. The recipes all say to cut across the grain, but beef jerky I buy is
>cut with the grain. Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
>4. The marinades in all the recipes call for salt. I prefer to keep my
>sodium intake to a minimum, part of my motive for making it myself in
>the first place. 23% of my daily intake of salt from a single 4 oz
>package is a bit much. Does anybody have a suggestion for a low-sodium
>marinade?


I have not had the pleasure of any of Paul's jerky, but some of the
members of rec.food.preserving say it is great. Check Google for
jerky in rec.food.preserving and author Paul Hinrichs. You should
find lots of his information.

--
Susan N.

There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 22:20:20 -0400, Don Wiss >
wrote:

>On Sat, 18 Oct 2003, (A.T. Hagan) wrote:
>
>>Jerky is dried, raw meat - plain and simple. No salt necessary. No
>>curing agents. Don't even need flavorings or smoke if you don't want
>>it. Just lean, lean meat and sufficient heat and air flow to dry it.
>
>Yep. I just slice and dry. I keep the temperature low to maxmize the meat
>flavor. I generally use 115 degrees, or a little more if summer and it's
>humid. Then I dry for a couple days; until no more odor is coming out.
>
>While it is fine like that, I prefer to then make it into pemmican.
>
>Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

Well heck, if you make pemmican you should weigh in on Carnivore's
"Easy to pack, not sweet" thread. She's talking about pemmican
making. Sounds like your experience is more recent than mine.

......Alan.


--
Curiosity killed the cat -
lack of it is killing mankind.

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003, (A.T. Hagan) wrote:

>Well heck, if you make pemmican you should weigh in on Carnivore's
>"Easy to pack, not sweet" thread. She's talking about pemmican
>making. Sounds like your experience is more recent than mine.

I found the thread " Easy to pack and not sweet", but it seems to be an
off-shoot of another thread. But which? I do have a lot of pemmican
experience. For one I do not bother with dried fruit. I get ample fresh
fruit in my diet that I don't need more. Those trappers didn't have the
wonders of modern food distribution. Then when it comes to fat and meat
ratio it really comes down to how much suet you need to get the meat to all
stick together. There is some leeway here, but when stirring together the
small amount of suet to swing one way or the other isn't that easy to
control. Anyway, it's my bedtime. Tomorrow I'll use google to find where
the rest of the pemmican thread is.

Don <donwiss at panix.com>.

John Gaughan > wrote in message >...
> This weekend I am going to make my own beef jerky. I have an assload of
> recipes from rec.food.recipes. I have a pilot-less gas oven and a grill
> with attached firebox for smoking, but no dehydrator.
>
> 1. What cut of steak should I use? The recipes list anything from london
> broil to flank to chuck to sirloin.

Raw meat, cut cross grain, your choice.
The leaner the better. Jerked fat tends to go rancid.

I have done this.

>
> 2. I prefer to smoke it on the grill. Should I "dehydrate" it in the
> oven first? Is it okay to use mesquite chips, or will it taste like ass?
> I only see hickory smoked beef jerky in stores, which leads me to
> believe mesquite does not taste good enough for people to buy it. I ask
> because I am fresh out of hickory, but I have plenty of mesquite.

If you want to smoke it, go according to taste, but jerky is
traditionally done raw.

>
> 3. The recipes all say to cut across the grain, but beef jerky I buy is
> cut with the grain. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I hope you have good teeth. ;-)

>
> 4. The marinades in all the recipes call for salt. I prefer to keep my
> sodium intake to a minimum, part of my motive for making it myself in
> the first place. 23% of my daily intake of salt from a single 4 oz
> package is a bit much. Does anybody have a suggestion for a low-sodium
> marinade?

Did you see my earlier post?
I personally do a low sodium marinade for health reasons, then just
keep it in the refrigerator for personal safety/comfort.

C.