Our house has been smelling wonderful the last few days as I have been making beef jerky. We all enjoy eating jerky and it really is not that hard to make.

I am blessed to have a daughter and son in law who allow me to borrow their slicer and dehydrator and that really helps to speed up the process. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use your oven or microwave. ( Just google it.)

My recipe calls for beef round steak but we always use venison. Tastes delicious and you would not know that it is not beef.

I started by pulling my meat out of the freezer so it could thaw. If you do not have a meat slicer then slice your meat with a sharp knife when it is partially frozen. It slices much nicer that way. Slice it in very thin strips.

Then mix the marinade together. This recipe is for two pounds of meat.

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons liquid smoke

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon meat tenderizer

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon paprika

Place meat in a bowl and pour the marinade over top. Mix well and make sure all the meat is evenly coated. Cover and place in the frig for at least eight hours. Feel free to stir it a few times. I usually let mine sit for 24 hours.

 

If your meat is too thick then you can place it in a bag and pound it to 1/8 inch thickness.

Arrange the meat strips on the dehydrator trays ( or on cookie sheets if you are doing it in the oven). Dry at the highest setting for 4-6 hours. Store in an airtight container or resealable bags. I like to put mine in the freezer.

Then enjoy chewing for the rest of the winter. At least we hope it lasts that long since I made 10 batches of this recipe! I might have to hide some in the freezer so the jerky lasts longer.