I promised someone on the low carb product board that I would post my recipe for Beef Jerky, so here goes. I use London broil because it is always on sale and so easy to use, but any lean meat is fine. I have to buy a new dehydrator because I have worn mine out making jerky every week, so this week I just dried it in the oven, it was really easy. I do it usually Saturday mornings to have a fresh supple for the week. My family eats it faster than I can make it. This has a bit of a teriyaki flavor to it, but vary the spice to your liking

2 or 3 lb London broil slightly frozen
1/2 bottle Wheat Free Tamari (low sodium works fine, but I prefer the full sodium kind)
2 tsp Tabasco (optional, but I like it)
2 tsp Worcestershire
½ tsp minced ginger
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
3 tbsp Splenda
½ tbsp Black Strap Molasses
1 tsp pepper
Pepper and Sesame Seeds to sprinkle on top

When you are ready to use the London broil you will need to slightly freeze it before slicing. It makes it easier to slice once slightly frozen. Before slicing trim all the fat and white tissue you can from the roast, this is very important to keeping it fresh, beef fat goes rancid, so you want to get it all off or it won’t store well.

I use just a regular knife, but an electric one works really well. If you slice going width (shortest) way (as oppose to the length, which is longer) you will get nice short uniform pieces that look like store bought beef jerky. I slice about ¼ inch or 5 mm in thickness, I am not precise, just slice thin. You will have a lot of slices.

I then put all the ingredients into a very large zip lock bag and then toss the meat in and shake it well for a few minutes. Then allow it to marinate in the fridge over night.

When ready to use I drain the meat using a colander and then I take a large metal pan and put a bbq rack on top of it, then lay the slices of meat neatly in rows on the rack. Once on the rack, I sprinkle pepper and Sesame Seeds on top to each piece of meat. Red pepper is great too if you like it hot.

I preheat oven to 200 degrees and place the pan with the meat in the oven. I wait a minute or two to get the heat back up and then I turn the dial down to the lowest setting and keep the oven ajar while it cooks so the moisture has somewhere escape.

You are not cooking the meat, just drying it. It usually takes about 4-5 hours in the oven, and I flip it once during the drying process. Don’t let them get too dry but don’t take it out too soon either. It’s pretty easy to estimate it, I just taste it, and bend it a little, if it’s too moist its not done yet. When it is done let it cool completely before putting it in a Ziploc bag for storage. We eat it in about four days, but I don’t think I would keep it out longer than a week without putting it in the fridge. Keep it dry.

This may sound like a lot of work, but after doing it once it is easy to do again, my teen-age daughter even helps me get it ready, and I often make extra batches of marinate ahead of time so it is ready in a snap.

This sounds delicious!! WOW - I will have to get my mom to try it out as she has a dehydrator at home.
Thanks for sharing!!

One of the funniest episodes of "Good Eats" I ever saw was when he made beef jerkey. He didn't cook it at all, no heat whatsoever. He used cool air to make his jerkey.

He bought furnace intake filters, big ones, made from paper (not fiberglass) and he put the meat in the indentations in the filter. He used bungee cords to strap all these air filter to a big box fan which he pointed out the window (says the smell of the marinade gets pretty strong) and turns it onto high and lets it air dry for some number of hours. It was really funny. I think the cost of all those air filters would get expensive though.

Your recipe sounds great!

sounds really yummy.. one question tho

i dont have any nor can i find any black strap molasses anywhere near me. do you think its absolutely necessary? or would this be okay without that?

thanks!

alibali-

Check out Karen's corner section of the forum. They have a discussion going about molassas and what substatutes can be used for flavour.

No just leave out the molassas if you don't have it or do not want the extra carbs (about 7 in a 1/2 teaspoon)...it just gives the meat a fuller taste but it taste fine without it. I guess you could use a brown sugar twin if you have it in your area, I don't like sugar twin though so I would perfer to just leave it out. I understand people in Canada have access to a different type that tastes fine, the brown sugar twin in the US is gross for most thing IMHO.

Karen's thread on molassas sub's is awesome, you should read it, not sure it would work for jerky but I bet it might be just fine.

good luck
Kellie