Jerky is a staple. Great as a snack, stores nicely, and a wonderful source of protein. Making jerky with a dehydrator is easy and a great way to stock up on a long lasting (if properly dehydrated and packaged) staple. I’ve used the Nesco jerky cure packets for years and there is no denying how good they work. I can barely make a batch without it disappearing in a day or so with the kids in the house.
But I don’t like having to keep a large stock of them in the house if I am going to be able to make jerky whenever I want. They are a bit of a one trick pony. A good trick to be sure, but still one trick.
I want to be able to make jerky with what I have on hand. As I’ve talked about previously, we should always be stocking ingredients that can be used for multiple recipes. A proper jerky marinade should be no exception.
So I set out to try some recipes that contained ingredients that were mostly on hand. All of the recipes came from the book Food Drying with Attitude by Mary T Bell, a kindle book I picked up some time ago. All were strip jerky. And all were marinated using a vacuum sealer to decrease the soak time. Following are the recipes and the results. All recipes are for 1 lb of strip meat. All recipes were dehydrated for about 7 hours at 165 degrees. I probably could have gone about an hour less.
Teriyaki Jerky
- 2/3 cup Teriyaki sauce (I had run out of regular teriyaki sauce so I subbed in my go to teriyaki marinade and a bit of soy sauce to bring it up to level)
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp olive oil (I subbed sesame oil because, well Teriyaki and Sesame oil go together like Danny and Sandy)
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- ½ tsp ginger (fresh, I keep a root in the freezer and grate some on a microplane)
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp liquid smoke
This turned out to be the best of the 4 batches, but that is probably due in part to the use of the store bought marinade. The fresh garlic and ginger really do make the difference though. Keeping the ginger root whole in the freezer works great. And I will probably pick up a root or two more and vacuum seal them for the long term. I am pretty sure this recipe benefited from the higher salt content of the marinade, as none of the other recipes seemed to have that good old jerky saltiness.
Bloody Mary Jerky
- ½ cup V8 (this was one of the ingredients that I had to purchase as we don’t normally drink it)
- 1/3 cup vodka (don’t use Grey Goose, please, that’s just alcohol abuse)
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp hot sauce (I used Sriracha, there is only Sriracha)
- ½ tsp fresh horseradish (I used store bought grated)
- ½ tsp black pepper
The Bloody Mary Jerky was probably my third favorite. The flavor was good, but not all that strong, and the overall saltiness was low. While not as spicy as the cajun jerky, the mix of flavors was really good. It definitely had more than a hint of bloody mary. My concern with this recipe is the use of vodka. Even using cheap vodka, it doesn’t seem to be a good use of the stuff. Plus, V8 is not something I keep on hand much of the time. If you do, then it may be something to consider. I think, with a longer soak and a bit more salt, this will be a Christmas gift basket recipe. I don’t know as it will be a go to recipe.
Cajun Jerky
- 1 cup tomato juice (I used the V8 from the Bloody Mary recipe)
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ tsp dry thyme
- 1 ½ tsp basil (I used some of the last fresh basil leaves from our plant)
- 1 ½ tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp white pepper (I don’t normally keep this on hand so I doubled on the black pepper)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Even though this recipe could also have benefited from more salt and a longer soak, this has the most potential to me. The ingredients, with the exception of the tomato juice, are all things I keep on hand (white pepper not withstanding). It is very easy to throw together and the overall flavor is quite good. The cayenne really brought more heat than the horseradish and sriracha in the bloody mary jerky. And I have some ideas about the tomato juice. I am betting I may be able to dehydrate some tomatoes and grind them down to a powder. Properly sealed they would keep for quite some time. From there it would just be a matter of figuring out the proper amount to constitute to make the marinade. Or better yet, mix the powder with the other ingredients and store for a quickly reconstituted jerky marinade. I’ll let you know how that works out.
Root Beer Jerky
- 3 cups root beer (reduce on stove to 1 cup)
- 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp blk pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
This was a recipe I had high hopes for and ultimately ended up feeling a bit let down. I do think there were some things working against it from the start, though. First off, root beer. Generally speaking, we aren’t a soda house, so I grabbed some to try this. 2Nd, it required cooking the rootbeer down. That took time and energy. By and large I would rather just toss the marinade together and walk away. And finally, simply by my wanting to get everything on quick, I don’t think this batch had long enough to marinate. The flavor was the weakest of the bunch. I think it could have been good, but to be honest, it was way too much work. If we use the jerky packets as the epitome of ease, then a marinade should come together quickly and at most need time to just soak. I don’t want to cook it down and have to fuss.
Ultimately, I think the Teriyaki jerky was the simplest and tastiest out of the gate. But I really do chalk that up to the use of a store bought marinade. I think the Cajun has the most promise as being the recipe that could become a home made, easy to store premade mix. However, all of the recipes are currently sitting in jars in the cupboard for easy snacking or a quick lunch protein. Even the least flavorful is still a delicious snack.
All of the recipes could have benefited from a longer soak. Going forward, I won’t be my usual impatient self and let these sit in the fridge overnight to really bring out the flavor. And I believe all of the recipes except the Teriyaki could benefit from an extra tsp of salt.
If you have a dehydrator, give these a try and let me know how it goes. If you make any tweaks, I would be very curious to see what works. And let me know of any recipes you have had luck with. I’m always curious to learn what others are doing.
Prepared To Cook 