This is a tangy nitrate-free jerky you can make in the oven while avoiding all those nasty chemicals that are stuffed into jerky kits. While elk or venison is best, feel free to use beef; keep an eye on the reduced meat section at your store and if you see a London broil, flank steak, or roast, grab it.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs Elk, Venison, or beef
- Marinade
- 2 tsp Black pepper
- 2 tsp Chili powder – New Mexican if you can
- 2 tsp Garlic powder
- 2 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp Onion powder
- 4 oz Worcester sauce
- 4 oz Hot sauce or BBQ sauce
- 2 oz Soy sauce
- 1 tsp Liquid smoke – optional
Process
- Slice meat into 0.5″ strips 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.
- Make the Marinade
- Mix the marinade ingredients together.
- Cover meat with marinade and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 8 hrs.
- 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.
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.
