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Yuzu is a tart and citrus fruit which grows in East Asia that resembles a small grapefruit. Yuzu Kosho (seen below) is a pasty Japanese condiment that is made of three ingredients: yuzu zest, salt, and chiles.
My wife is the brains behind this jerky, and keeping with her tradition of making food with either a zillion ingredients or steps; this jerky recipe is no exception. It's inspired by a Chilean Sea Bass dish that was served at our wedding, so it reminds us of a special time whenever we make it. So if you are ready to take some time and put in some hard work in the kitchen, this amazing jerky will not disappoint!
Using a Tri-tip roast, it was sliced with my Weston Jerky Slicer making all the strips an even width which is great for drying. The Tri-Tip had a little too much fat for my liking, but had wanted to try that cut for a while now. I would recommend sticking with an eye of round roast which has less fat.
After slicing your beef, set it in the fridge while you prepare the marinade. The main ingredients in this marinade are the Red and Green Yuzu Kosho. The red yuzu is made from red chiles and the green from green chiles. The red yuzu is very spicy, so use sparingly! You can find these in an Asian supermarket or buy purchase online at the link I provided. The marinade is made up of two broths; a Dashi broth and a mushroom broth.
The mushroom broth is quite simple with 1 packet of dried shiitake mushrooms bathed in hot water. You dispose of the mushrooms, the only thing you want from this is the amazing mushroom flavor.
The Dashi broth consists of kombu (dried seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried fish flakes). Okay, so maybe there aren't a zillion ingredients and making the broth isn't exactly a huge amount of steps. But i'm used to throwing some ingredients in a ziplock bag, adding meat, and you are immediately marinating some jerky! This recipe has a couple more steps, but not too bad...
Just like the mushroom broth, all you want is the liquid and none of the seaweed or fish flakes. Once finished; several cups of both broths are blended together, yuzu added, and brought back to a boil in order to make sure they are well blended. After they have blended, allow them to cool and your marinade is ready. Make sure not to add the meat until the broth has cooled down to room temperature or below.
I have detailed instructions on how to make these two broths in the recipe card below. Don't let the ingredients turn you off from making this jerky. As I mentioned earlier, they can be found online or at a local Asian supermarket.
So how does it taste? GREAT!!! The first thing you notice is a great Asian flavor followed by an orange and chili spice at the end. For such a small amount of red yuzu this jerky has a lot of spice, yet is also savory. So order your ingredients and get to making some Yuzu Beef Jerky!
For more in depth directions on how to dry your turkey jerky, visit my page Jerky Making Methods or click on the pictures below.
Ingredients
Lean Meat
- 1 lb eye of round
Dashi Broth
- 2 3.5" pieces kombu (dried seaweed)
- ½ cup katsuobushi (dried fish flakes)
- 4 cups water (cold)
Mushroom Broth
- 1 oz shiitake mushrooms (dried)
- 4 cups water
Yuzu Dashi Mushroom Marinade
- 2 teaspoon yuzu kosho (green)
- ½ teaspoon yuzu kosho spicy (red)
- 3 cups dashi broth (previously prepared)
- ½ cup mushroom broth (previously prepared)
Instructions
Dashi Broth
- In a small pot, soak kombu for 20 minutes in 4 cups of cold water.
- Bring water and kombu to a boil and add the katsuobushi.
- Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Do not remove the pot from burner.
- Strain the broth in a bowl, removing and discarding kombu and katsuobushi. Set broth aside.
Mushroom Broth
- Place dried mushrooms in a bowl.
- In a separate pot, bring 4 cups of water almost to a boil.
- Before it boils, pour just enough of the hot water over the mushrooms until they are just covered and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Remove and dispose of mushrooms. Set broth aside.
Yuzu Dashi Mushroom Marinade
- In a pot, combine 3 cups of dashi broth, ½ cup of mushroom broth, 2 teaspoon of green yuzu, and ½ teaspoon of red yuzu.
- Heat on high to almost a boil and stir until ingredients are well incorporated.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature or below. Place marinade in a ziplock bag or bowl.
Prepare Beef and Marinate
- Trim all visible fat from the beef and place in freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze.
- Remove the meat from the freezer and slice ¼" strips against the grain for an easy chew. Cut with the grain for a more chewy jerky. (I did not freeze the jerky and used my Jerky Slicer with the grain)
- Add sliced beef to the yuzu dashi mushroom marinade and marinate for 8-24 hours in the refrigerator.
- After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and strain excess marinade in a colander and pat dry with paper towels.
- Dry with your favorite jerky making method. I used my Excalibur Dehydrator and dried for 4 hours at 165F.
- The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half.
Nutrition
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Jason
Well, I looked at the ingredients and liked everything there. I have a Japanese grocery store near me so could easily get the yuzu paste(I had never heard of it). The recipe, as is, came off a bit bland for me. I was a bit surprised that salt, at least a little bit, wasn't in the ingredients list. I ended up sprinkling some on at the end and then the citrus and dashi hints came out. Good recipe but I'm going to do a bit of creative arranging on this one, maybe even a little heat. I love this site. Thank you for putting all these recipes out there. I'm excited to try your Vietnamese style beef jerky next.