i finally decided to make my homemade beef jerky. the breakthrough was when i found out that the preferred flank steak (which i didn't find the last time i went meat shopping) is also known as london broil (which i have seen before). i picked up about 2 lbs. worth at $2.99/lbs.
after dropping off the groceries at home, i left the house once more to 1) get some more grapes and spinach from star market, and 2) stock up on some häagen-dazs ice cream on sale ($2.50/pint) at rite aid. i even got some new dawn dishwashing liquid to replace the generic brand my previous roommate got for the kitchen (on sale for $1, 50¢ after coupon).
i paid another visit to the garden. i knew i still had some hot peppers left, but was surprised to find some ripe tomatoes as well. i ate some raspberries and left.
i did some more work on my box fan dehydrator, cutting some plastic screens of the proper size (these will be used to shield the filters from touching the raw marinated jerky).
around midnight i put my london broil steaks in the freezer. once they're a little bit hard, i'll start cutting them into slices and throw them into the marinade overnight for some dehydration action tomorrow morning.
the steaks were finally solid enough for thin slicing by 2:00. they were still a little soft in the middle, but i couldn't wait any longer. recipe said to cut them 1/8" but i basically eyestimated the thickness (who's got time for rulers?). i had two london broil steaks and a small satellite piece. i trimmed off as much fat as i could (remind me to toss the trash tomorrow, it's going to stink.
the ingredients for the marinade are as follows:
2 lbs. london broil (flank steak) 2/3 cup worcestershire sauce 2/3 cup soy sauce 1 tsp honey 2 tsp fresh ground pepper |
1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp liquid smoke 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tbsp vietnamese chili garlic sauce |
it's basically alton brown's recipe, except i'm using garlic powder instead of onion powder, and i added a tbsp of vietnamese chili garlic sauce to give the jerky some additional heat. there seems to be enough marinade for 2 more lbs. of beef; the steaks are basically drowning in soy and worcestershire sauces.
i mixed the sliced beef with the marinade inside a ziploc bag. i couldn't find a sturdy freezer bag of the proper size (i only have sandwich-sized freezer bags) so i ended up recycling a larger used ziploc i found in my pantry shelf. i swished the marinade and the meat around a little bit before putting it in the fridge.
recipe says to marinate 3-6 hours, otherwise the jerky becomes too salty. that means i'll have to wake up around 8:00 to dab-dry the raw jerky then put them on the box fan dehydrator.