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This Original Jerky recipe really does taste like good ol' fashioned jerky you got from a small town smokehouse when you were a kid on a long road trip. Hell, it reminds me of my favorite smokehouse in between Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas' Prasek's Family Smokehouse. This place is good, seriously good!
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How to slice the meat
The first step to making beef jerky is choosing a lean cut of beef. I used beef eye of round when making this beef jerky. You can find a complete list of the best cuts of meat for making beef jerky by clicking here.
Slice the meat with a very sharp knife either with the grain for a more chewy jerky or against the grain for a more tender jerky. a ¼″ in thickness is just right.
Slice with the grain for a chewy jerky or against the grain for more of a tender chew. Wanting a little more chew, the meat was sliced with the grain when making this beef jerky recipe.
I didn’t use it on this recipe, but a jerky slicer is a FANTASTIC piece of equipment to help get even strips when slicing jerky.
Not sure what way the grain runs? Need more information on slicing meat for jerky? I have put together a page on Slicing Meat for Jerky where you can find EVERYTHING you need to know when slicing meat for jerky.
Making the marinade
This is a very traditional beef jerky and that calls for some pretty common but TASTY ingredients. Most of the ingredients you will already have in your pantry, so no need to break the bank at the grocery store.
Simply add all the ingredients into a bowl or ziplock bag and mix until they are well incorporated together.
Marinate in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours mixing the bag up several times to further make sure the strips are evenly coated. This makes sure the every piece of finished jerky has a consistent flavor.
RELATED PAGE: ------> DOZENS OF GREAT TASTING JERKY RECIPES <------
Dehydrating
Once the meat has finished marinating, strain any excess marinade in a colander. I marinated this beef for a total of 21 hours before straining. The longer the marinade process, the more intense flavor the jerky will have!
Once you strain the jerky strips in a colander, lay out some paper towels and place the strips on the paper towels. The goal is to pat dry the strips removing any marinade that is still on the surface of the beef jerky strips.
Getting off the marinade on the surface will prevent the jerky from having that "sticky" feel when it is finished. This also speeds up the drying process. A double win!
A Nesco Snackmaster Dehydrator was used when making this jerky recipe. I LOVE the Nesco dehydrators. They work, are reasonably prices, and they last a long time!
Make sure there is space in between the strips so air can circulate around all the jerky and dry it evenly. This is not the time to cram a bunch of meat on one tray and have it overlapping. Give them space people!
Testing for when the jerky is finished
While drying the jerky, you want to start testing to see if it has finished at about the 3-4 hour mark. Take a piece of jerky out of the dehydrator, oven, or smoker and allow it to cool for 5 minutes to room temperature.
Bend the jerky in half; it should bend and crack but not break in half. You will also see white fibers in the meat. The fibers are really visible when a piece is ripped or bent in half.
This jerky took 6 hours to be finished. 90% of the jerky I make is finished within 4-6 hours when using a dehydrator or oven and 6-9 hours when using a smoker. If pre-heating the meat in the oven, drying time can be as little as 2.5 hours.
Storing the jerky
To make the jerky last as long as possible, curing salt will really help along with keeping in air tight containers. I have put together a page on storing beef jerky and steps you can take to make your jerky have an extended shelf life.
This Original Beef Jerky has a rich meat taste brought out by the simple ingredients and finishes with a nice pepper taste. The curing salt definitely adds to the smokehouse beef jerky flavor we are all accustomed to.
Not a fan of curing salts? Not to worry, you can leave out this ingredient if you choose. As I mentioned earlier, most of the recipes I make do NOT call for curing salt. Just make sure that you heat the meat to 160° to prevent any bacteria along with the possibility of becoming sick.
Old Pro Tips:
- Leaving the curing salt out of the recipe will alter the look and flavor of this recipe
- Use liquid smoke that does not include filler ingredients, such as Wright's Liquid Smoke
- When finished, jerky will bend and crack but not break in half. Test for doneness after a piece has cooled for 5 minutes, not while warm.
- Store in ziplock bags or vacuum seal for longer storage. Check out my page on Storing Jerky for more information.
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Ingredients
Lean Meat
Marinade
- 1 ½ tsp pickling salt (or sea salt)
- 1 ½ tsp brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp coriander (ground)
- ½ cup cold water
- ¼ tsp Prague Powder #1 (curing salt)
- ½ tsp liquid smoke (mesquite)
Equipment
Instructions
- Trim all visible fat from the beef and place in freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze.
- While the meat is in the freezer, combine the pickling salt, curing salt, coriander, onion powder, garlic powder, liquid smoke, black pepper, sugar, and cold water in a medium size bowl or ziplock bag. Mix well.
- Remove the meat from the freezer and slice ¼" strips with the grain. Or skip the freezing phase and use a jerky slicer for evenly sliced strips.
- Tenderize the beef strips with a tenderizing mallet to prevent the jerky from being too tough.
- Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate for 6-24 hours in the refrigerator.
- After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and pat dry with paper towels.
- A Dehydrator was used with this recipe and dried for 7 hours at 160 degrees. You can also use a smoker or your oven.
Pro Tips
- Leaving the curing salt out of the recipe will alter the look and flavor of this recipe
- Use liquid smoke that does not include filler ingredients, such as Wright's Liquid Smoke
- When finished, jerky will bend and crack but not break in half. Test for doneness after a piece has cooled for 5 minutes, not while warm.
- Store in ziplock bags or vacuum seal for longer storage.
Nutrition
This recipe is awesome! I’ve been making Jerky for many years and never quite got it where I wanted. This one nailed it.
Glad you found one that you like. Thanks for checking out the site Mark!
5 stars! Recently processed a 25 lb inside round with this recipe and I have nothing to show for it -- the family devoured it all. My only tweak was to add 1/4 tsp of MSG per pound to accentuate the savoriness.
Also want to thank you for your work on this site. Had everything a beginner like me needed. Kudos to you!
Thanks for the kind words John! You can always tell it's great tasting jerky when there is none left! Ha.
This recipe is the best!! I use it repeatedly. I cook it in my electric box smoker between 150 & 200 degrees. Shooting for about 175 for most of 6-7 hours . Untill the beef looks waxy and is "sweating" juices. So delicious. Thanks Will!!
Hi...I'll give the recipe 5 stars even though I haven't made it yet, just sounds like it will be awesome haha. Question: In the instructions it says ".....combine the pickling salt, curing salt....." BUT in the list of ingredients the pickling salt isn't listed? I need to know how much...
Thanks,
Ed
Sorry about the confusion Ed. I either use pickling salt or sea salt in my recipes. I had it listed as sea salt on the recipe card, I changed it to represent either picking or sea salt. Thanks for the heads up!