Jerky in the oven

[NCLeatherstocking]

Anyone with ideas on preparing jerky in the oven. It's been a long time since I've done it and I can't remember how I did it.

Nahum 1:7

[hardyhunter]

Had some soaking in the marinade (liquid smoke, soy sauce, salt) all night in the icebox. lined the bottom of the stove with aluminum foil to catch the drippings. Back to the beginning:About 3/4 of the meat is liquid when you start to cutit, so I cut my strips with the grain-about 1/4" thick.Once it dries, it'll be just right thickness. I soak ours in saltwater overnight to get the blood out of it, then rinse all that out the next morning. In order to get the longest lasting taste that you want in a piece of jerky, you can do one of two things so that most of the moisture currently in the meat comes out-making room for the liquid you do want to penetrate the inside of the meat: I roll over each strip with a rolling pin,slowly to squeeze the water out. I have hung the jerky in the oven to let it semi-dry and then marinate it. But, then you've got to jerk it again in the oven. Remove all the excess fat, sheath that you can before hanging. I stick a round toothpick through the flat side(at the end) of the strip. If you stick it from one edge across to come out at the other edge, you'll have a tug-of-war to get the toothpick out once it's jerky. Hang each strip downward with the toothpick crossing two grill bars?. I close the oven door with a wooden clothespin inserted between the door and stove at the top so that the evaporating moisture can escape. You don't want to cook jerky, but dry it, so turn the stove on the lowest setting possible. Pilot light heat doesn't quite do it, though. You will know when it's jerky when you take a piece and bend it-it will look leathery, won't snap, but bend and look flexible and dry. TIP: it's a lot easier to slice the meat when you get it in a semi-frozen state by putting the raw meat in the
freezer for half an hour or so.
It took a lot of words to describe the process, but really it's easy.Clean, cut, soak,hang. You can experiment with several different spices in your marinating solution. I'd like to hear which one tasted best for you.

[NCLeatherstocking]

Sounds like a great plan for something to do over the holiday. Any preference on the cut of meat best used?

Nahum 1:7

[BenfromVa]

I make it both ways, in a smoker and in the oven, I will tell you how I do mine, if you want quicker jerky, and not take olot of time making the marinade, go to the Groc. store and get a bottle of Dales meat marinade, it is mainly made up of Soy sauce and Wishtershire(sp) and spices, cut your meat as describe above from others, I too beleive that 1/4 inch is best, I really dont payattention to the grain as I cut mine as large as the piece of meat will allow. Marinate the meat atleast overnight. I then dump the meat into a strainer or colonder, then I stack paper towells on the counter and lay the meat on it, spread out and then take a buch of paper towells and tamp the meat to remove all the excess fluid on it. I then turn on the oven to 150 or just warm, what ever is the lowest setting, I stick toothpicks into the top of the meat and hang it on the rack up high, I do not have to line the bottom of the oven due to the papertowells to remove the moisture, leave a spoon or something in the oven door to prevent in from closing completely and in about 5-7 hours you'll have some awesome jerky. It is the quickest way, I do it all the time, as for the best cuts of meat, the backstraps ofcourse, but a roast works just as well, just try to remove all fat, fat will not dry and goes rancid. store in airtight place. Good Luck.

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