How to Smoke Beef Jerky
Beef Jerky
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Today we are smoking beef jerky. Store bought beef jerky is expensive, usually has a lot of ingredients you can’t pronounce, contains preservatives and that nasty liquid smoke.
Start with a lean cut of beef, like an eye of round, top round, bottom round, or brisket flat. I’m using an eye of round I found at Safeway for $5 a pound. Put in freezer for an hour so it is easier to trim and slice. Trim off all the surface layer fat. Using a knife or meat slicer, cut against the grain into ¼ inch thick slices. And then cut those into strips.
Build a marinade with liquid, sweetener, and spices. Today I’m making two batches, one simple tried and true recipe and another experiment with some extra seasonings like ginger, coriander, and sesame oil. I don’t add a curing salt because I eat it within a few days and it goes right into the fridge after I smoke it. I also hate liquid smoke with a passion, so I promise you’ll never see me use that in any recipe. You don’t need to add salt because the soy sauce and worcester sauce have plenty of sodium.
Add the beef to the marinade and make sure all sides are covered. Let them marinate in the fridge for 6-16 hours.
Lay out the pieces on a wire rack. You can pat them down with a paper towel, but I like to leave the marinade on and then add a little more black pepper.
Smoke them at 180F degrees for about 4 hours until they have nice dark color and bend but don’t snap in half
My kid liked the experiment batch the best so we’ll have to keep tweaking that one. In my next experiment I’m going to try a low sodium soy sauce and sriracha.
I’m going to put these recipes and all future recipes I try at bkyhd.com/jerky. Let me know if you have a favorite recipe that you’d like me to try.
Recipe:
All recipes scaled to 2lb of meat
Mix all marinade ingredients together with a whisk
Put meat in freezer for an hour or so. It’s easier to cut when partially frozen.
Trim off all surface fat.
Slice in 1/4 inch slices – against the grain.
Coat all beef with marinade
Fridge for 6-16 hours. Vac seal if you have one.
Smoke at 180F for 4 hours.
Until good color, bends, stands up on its own, easily tears apart, but doesn’t snap (too dry).
Let cool.
Store in fridge.
Simple Jerky Recipe
- Soy Sauce – ¾ cup
- Worcestershire Sauce – ¼ cup
- Brown Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Black Pepper – 1 tsp
- Garlic Powder – 1 tsp
- Onion Powder – 1 tsp
- Red Pepper Flakes – ½ tsp
Teriyaki Jerky Recipe
- Soy Sauce – ½ cup
- Worcestershire Sauce – ¼ cup
- Sesame Oil – 2 tsp
- Honey – 1 tbsp
- Dark Brown Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Smoked Paprika – 2 tsp
- Onion Powder – 1 tsp
- Garlic Powder – 1 tsp
- Black Pepper – 1 tsp
- Red Pepper Flakes – ½ tsp
- Cayenne Pepper – ½ tsp
- Ground Coriander – ½ tsp
- Ground Ginger – ½ tsp
Sweet & Spicy Jerky Recipe
- 5 lbs eye of round or top round beef, trimmed of fat
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 habanero pepper
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- ¼ cup fresh grapefruit juice
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper (in marinade)
- Halved from the original 10 lb recipe.
- Liquid smoke was omitted because the jerky will be smoked.
- Pepper blend adjusted to use 1 habanero and 1 jalapeño instead of 5 habaneros in original recipe.
- Adapted from StellanSpice’s Sweet & Spicy Jerky — credit to @stellanspice.
