Tribal community of South America in the 15 century came up with the Beef Jerky which is basically a meat product with defatted meat of elk, deer or buffalo. This meat product is available in the form of slices with rubbed salt. The meat is rolled up for few hours and it is dried in the sun light. Smoked over fire is also seen as an alternative to the sun drying. South African forefathers use to carry dried meat while they travel across continents. They use to apply salt, coriander and various other herbs and spices for preserving the meat for couple of days.
Later, the people from North America applied various other methods to produce germs free meat. Sun drying was supposed to be an effective method for drying the meat along with the alternative method of using heat and smoke for drying the meat. As compared to the sun drying, smoke drying is less time consuming.
Products available today are made from thin strips of meat. Manufacturers add the spices and dehydrate the product; they also introduce the smoke for flavouring. If you are wondering how to get the best and delicious taste of the meat and you love to cook then few tips can help you out in doing so.
The best thing about preparing food for yourself is that, you can do the preparation as per your taste. Before starting the preparation, you need to make sure that meat thickness should be same throughout. For getting the same thickness all over you can also make use of slicing equipment.
For preparation you will need 3 to 5 pound of top sirloin steak, salt, and spices like pepper, garlic, chilli pepper flask, liquid smoke, marinade, plastic bags and dehydrator. After cutting the slices, take the meat into a large mixing bowl and pour in the marinade, add salt, pepper, garlic and all other spices along with the liquid smoke as per your taste.
Now it is the time to pour the meat mixture in the plastic bags and let it be marinated for 24 to 48 hours. Once it gets marinated, it is the time to place it in the dehydrator. You can set the dehydrator to high for 10 to 12 hours depending on the taste and the softness you want in the meat.
If you like the meat to be soft then cook it less, do follow the cooking instruction based on the type of dehydrator you are using. Once it is done, you have the simple yet the most delicious beefjerky on you dinning table; ready to serve and eat. You can feel free to do experiment with different types of marinades, spices and also with meat. You can store the cook product in the air tight container for about a week or so.
