Venison (or Beef) Jerky

Well, My Charming Companion and I postponed our canoe trip about a month to assure no ice and snow. The DNR had to add a whole new color category to account for this year's late ice outs in the northern part of the state! But the time is finally upon us, and I am super excited.

The one benefit to postponing the trip was that food prep got done in advance, and the food was all ready to go two weeks early - including the homemade jerky. It is surprisingly easy, so long as you have access to a nice food dehydrator and some time to be around to check on things. My Charming Companion and I had two batches of venison to use - all cuts were "big rounds" and one was from a deer that was packaged to eat "spicy" - which is code for "this one had a bit of stomach bursting, so really spice it up and definitely do not eat raw." The non-spicy batch got pepper, tamari, (I would have preferred coconut aminos, but at the time every co-op in town was out of them and had been for over a month!) and some ginger, whereas the spicy one got those things plus some onion powder, cayenne, paprika, and extra pepper. Garlic powder would be good too if you like garlic, and some people like to use apple cider for a little sweetness. The recipe is very forgiving, so you can be creative! Of course I forgot to write down the amounts of things, but use the following as a guide:

3 lbs of lean meat (venison is great for this), flank steak would be a nice cut
1/2 c. coconut aminos or tamari
2 tsp each: ginger, onion powder, cayenne, smoked paprika
1 T black pepper

Slice the meat thinly - this is much more successful if your meat is still a little bit frozen, so as it is defrosting, check on it often. You are going for about 1/4" slices, and even really skinny and small pieces will work just fine. As you slice, you also want to remove any fat from the pieces of meat. You can do this from the larger cut, but also be sure to double check the slices. Fat will not dehydrate or preserve, so you want to get all of it off.

Once everything is sliced, mix the pieces with your spices and flavoring. Let it sit in the "marinade" for at least a few hours or preferably overnight (it will be pretty dry, so marinade is a strong word). Stir or turn the meat around in the "mariande" (or spice mix) once or twice during the sit time to spread the spices out and better coat the meat. Then lay the pieces on your dehydrator trays, being careful to make one single layer. Put in your dehydrator (MCC has an Excalibur brand one that is really nice) and set to the meat setting of 145-155 degrees.

Now be prepared to settle in to a long time of meat smell. The jerky will take anywhere from 6-10 hours depending on the slices. It's like when I make bone broth in my slow cooker, and I wake up in the morning to the smell of broth permeating the kitchen. The smell of meat may permeate for the duration of the drying! You want to start checking the meat after 6 or 8 hours. You can remove pieces that are done - the really skinny, small, or super thin slices will go faster then pieces that got a little thick. The meat is done when you can squeeze each piece and it is no longer squishy - it doesn't have to be crisp, but firm. The meat will also start to crack a bit.

Voila! This now is easily packaged in bags to be lunch for several weeks. Yum.