Jerky, a favorite protein snack. Convenient to take on a hike, a camping trip, or just a grab-and-go bite when you’re in a hurry. Great to have on hand when tired, hungry kids start whining but the next meal is a still a way down the road. But unless you make your own, it’s expensive.
In the spirit of preserving meat and saving money, we offer this recipe for making jerky at home (we discussed freezing meat in this post). You can use a dehydrator, oven-dry the meat. Instructions for both are below.
What meat makes good jerky? A glance at Wikipedia’s article on jerky teaches us that jerky’s made from a surprising variety of meats. People tend to preserve what’s abundant now for eating later, so let’s see what meat you can get in your area….
“Jerky from domesticated animals includes beef, pork, goat and mutton or lamb and game animals such as deer, kudu, springbok, kangaroo, and bison are also used. Recently, other animals such as turkey, ostrich, salmon, chicken, duck, goose, shrimps, oxen, squids, octopuses, alligator, pigeon, crocodile, tuna, emu, horse, camel, lion, bear, snake and earthworm have entered the market.”
While I’m willing to imagine kangaroo, alligator and even octopus jerky – which would involve a lot of processing – I don’t really see snake and earthworm in my pantry, no matter how marinated, dehydrated, and combobulated.
Luckily, standard ground meat makes great jerky, and without great complications. Let’s go with ground turkey, as an inexpensive and healthy alternative to the commercial stuff. Ground beef works here too if you prefer .Just make sure that your hamburger contains no more than 10% fat. More, and the jerky will be greasy, and spoil fast.
Ground meat jerky’s texture is softer, less leathery than the cellophane-wrapped product you buy. And since you’re making it yourself, you control the flavors. I suggest making jerky once by the recipe below, then play around with the seasonings next time.
Make Your Own Ground Turkey Jerky
A recipe for a delicious, healthy protein snack
- Dehydrator or conventional ovenn
- 1 lemon (zested and juiced)
- 2 tablespoons onion (grated)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 clove garlic (grated)
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Liquid Smoke (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 pound ground turkey (or hamburger)
How To Make Ground Turkey Jerky
Keep the ground turkey meat chilled until you are ready to use it.
In a large bowl, mix together lemon juice and zest, onion, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, olive oil, paprika, garlic, salt, pepper and optional liquid smoke and cayenne pepper.
Add the ground turkey and combine well, kneading the mass with clean, gloved hands.
Refrigerate the seasoned meat for 1 hour.
Lay out a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on a work surface. Scoop about 1/4 of the jerky mixture onto it.
Put a second sheet of waxed or parchment paper on top and roll it out to a thickness of 1/4 – 1/8 inch.
Remove the top sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Put one of the dehydrator trays on top of the jerky and flip it over, thus transferring the jerky to the dehydrator tray.
Remove the remaining sheet of waxed or parchment paper.
Patch any holes by patting in more raw jerky mixture.
With a knife, draw parallel vertical lines through the mass. You don’t have to separate it into slices; the pieces will easily snap apart after dried.
Dehydrate for 4 to 6 hours at 155 F. Check after four hours.
When Is The Jerky Ready?
The jerky will be fully dried but chewy, not brittle. To try it out, take a piece out of the dehydrator and let it cool completely. You should be able to bend a finished, cooled strip in half without breaking it.
To ensure a safe product, when your jerky seems dried but still chewy, transfer it to baking trays and finish it off in a preheated 275 F oven for 10 minutes. This finishing step in the oven ensures it’s fully cooked to a safe temperature. It cooks the meat but does not replace the lengthier step of drying the meat in the dehydrator.
The Oven Method
Lacking a dehydrator, you can oven-dry the jerky. Roll the seasoned meat out between two sheets of parchment paper. Carefully lift the thin mass onto a baking sheet. Remove the top parchment sheet. Draw parallel vertical lines in the mass with a knife. Heat the meat for 10 minutes at 300°F with the oven door closed. Then turn the temperature down to the oven lowest setting (about 170°F). Prop the door open slightly with a long-handled wooden spoon to allow moisture to escape. Turn the baking tray around at 3 hours’ cooking. It will take 6-8 hours to finish; you’ll simply have to check once in a while.
Storing Jerky
Your turkey jerky must be completely dried and cooled before you package it, to avoid moisture condensing in the packaging, which would cause it to spoil.
Store it in a glass jar or a plastic zip-lock bag (press out all the air you can from the bag).
The jerky will keep at room temperature in a cool dark place for a week, two weeks in the fridge, or 2 months in the freezer.
Vacuum-sealing extends the life of this ground meat jerky by 1 month in a cool dark place, 2 months in the fridge, and 6 months in the freezer.
Once you open your vacuum sealed bag of ground beef jerky, it should be eaten within two days, or a week if refrigerated after opening.
The recipe was adapted from “Preserving Everything” by Leda Meredith, Countryman Press.
More about preserved foods on Green Prophet:
Make preserved, fermented Egyptian lemons for a taste of Sinai VIDEO
