This is a jerky for rugged outdoors men who know that to survive in the wilderness you have to keep things simple and be prepared for any encounter. This recipe is simple cures well with the use of Prague salt, which means it won’t spoil even after long term storage. The recipe is for one pound of meat, but scales up nicely after you bag that high range elk or Mule buck…or you can use beef.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Elk, Venison, or beef – round steak or London broil are good options
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 0.5 tsp Garlic powder
- 0.5 tsp Sea salt
- 0.25 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 0.25 tsp Smoked paprika
- 0.25 tsp Prague powder – curing salt
- 1 TBL Liquid smoke – optional
- 4 oz Water
Process
- Slice meat into 1/8th” thick slices against the grain. If you have a slicer, freeze meat for one hour before slicing, it should be firm but not frozen solid.
- Tenderize the meat by lightly pounding. Best to put meat between two pieces of film when pounding.
- Make the Marinade
- Mix the non-meat ingredients together.
- Cover meat with marinade and refrigerate at least 24 hours.
- Dry Jerky
- In oven
- Preheat oven to 150 F.
- Line a baking pan with foil and place meat so strips are not touching each other
- Bake for 3 hrs. Then, turn the oven off but leave trays inside for 3 more hours.
- In Dehydrator
- Set temp to medium heat (~145 F).
- Dehydrate until all the moisture is gone (~5 hrs).
- Smoker
- Keep smoker temp around 150 F
- Smoke until dry, ~3 hrs
- In oven
Note 1: You have to adjust for your own taste. For me, I use less Worcester sauce, more salt, and a pinch of Prague salt (has nitrates for persevering the meat so it last longer).
Note 2: If you don’t use Prague salt, you should store this jerky in the fridge or freezer. Best if you vacuum seal the storage bags.
