Related Cooking Notes
Beef Jerky
Ingredients
2.25 lbs boneless beef (eye of round roast or lean round)
20 grams kosher salt
5 grams garlic powder
5 grams onion powder
10 grams flaked or ground habaneros
60 grams finely chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Directions
Trim away all the fat from the beef. The fat can go rancid, even after drying.
Cut beef against the grain into strips about 4 mm thick and 1 to 2 inches wide.
Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, add the beef, and toss to coat evenly.
Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Place strips of beef in a dehydrator at 145 F for 7 hours. Check periodically for texture. The beef should be completely dry to the touch, dark, and stiff.
Store in an airtight container. It will keep for several months or longer at room temperature.
Notes
Use a latex glove when mixing meat and peppers.
Freezing the meat for 1 hour helps with slicing (turn meat over half way through). You only want the very outside of the meat frozen. If you freeze the meat too long then it becomes too hard to cut (even for the meat slicer).
Some brands of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce may contain very burnt, hard, or dark peppers. Throw those out (they taste like dirt). Herdez is a good brand.
Gold standard is:
3.5 oz for $14.00 = $64 / lb
References
Adapted from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn
Estimated Nutrition
Serving Size: 1oz
Calories: 100
Calories from Fat: 25
Total Fat: 2.5g / 4%
Saturated fat: 1g / 5%
Cholesterol: 40mg / 13%
Sodium 1600mg / 66%
Total Carbohydrates: 1g
Protein: 19g
History
2018.09.16 Sun
Eye of Round Roast, 27.10 oz, 1.7 lb
Cure: 15.2 g salt, 3.8 g garlic powder, 3.8 g onion powder, 10 g cayenne (skipped chipotles).
Froze meat for 60 mins. Cut 4mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer.
Refrigerated for 40:00. (2018.09.16 at 15:30 to 2018.09.18 at 07:30)
Dehydrated at 125 F for XXX. (2018.09.18 at 07:45 to 2018.09.17 at XXX)
2017.05.16 Thu
Eye of Round Roast from Gambrel and Co; purchased 2016.12.24;
Weight after trimming: 1.750 lb / 28 oz
Cure: 15.6 g salt, 3.9 g garlic powder, 3.9 g onion powder, 11.7 g habaneros, 47 g chipotles (82.1 g / 2.9 oz)
Upped the habaneros from 10 to 15 grams per 2.25 / lb meat.
Used Sonoran Spice Compaby Habanero Flakes.
Froze meat for 60 mins (turned over after 30 mins). Cut 4mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer. Meat was not cold enough.
Refrigerated for 24:08. (2017.05.16 at 23:42 to 2017.05.17 at 11:50)
Dehydrated at 125 F for 07:49. (2017.05.18 at 00:00 to 2017.05.18 at 07:49)
Yield: 11.70 oz (39 %)
2016.03.26 Sat
Eye of Round Roast from Bianchini's; 2.760 lb @ $4.29 / lb = $11.84
Weight after trimming: 40.90 oz, 3.26 oz fat
Out of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, used dried chipotles instead.
Used dried scotch bonnets in place of habanero
Upped the scotch bonnets from 8 to 10 grams per 2.25 / lb meat.
Cure: 22.7 g salt, 5.7 g garlic powder, 5.7 g onion powder, 11.4 g scotch bonnets, 12 g chipotles
Froze meat for 60 mins (turned over after 30 mins). Cut 4mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer.
Put in fridge on 2016.03.26 at 11:38, removed on 2016.03.27 at 11:50 Refrigerated for 24:12
Dehydrated at 145 F. Started on 2016.03.27 at 11:50, finished on 2015.03.28 at 07:40. Dehydrated for 7:40.
Yield: 14.9 oz, $ 12.71 / lb
2016.01.10
Eye of Round Roast from Bianchini's; 2.730 lb @ $4.29 / lb = $11.71
Weight after trimming: 42.05 oz, 1.63 oz fat
Cure: 23.3 grams salt, 5.8 grams garlic powder, 5.8 grams onion powder, 9.3 grams ground habaneros, and 70.0 grams chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
Upped the habaneros from 4 to 8 grams per 2.25 / lb meat.
Froze meat for 120 mins (turned over after 45 mins). Cut 4mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer. Meat was too frozen.
Put in fridge on 2016.01.11 at 00:30, removed on 2016.01.12 at 00:00. Refrigerated for 23:30.
Dehydrated at 145. Started on 2016.01.12 at 00:00, finished on 2015.01.12 at 07:40. Dehydrated for 7:40.
Yield: 15.9 oz, $ 11.78 / lb
2015.12.16
Eye of Round Roast from Bianchini's; 2.765 lb @ $4.29 / lb = $11.99
Weight after trimming: 41.7 oz
Cure: 23.2 grams salt, 5.8 grams garlic powder, 5.8 grams onion powder, 4.6 grams ground habaneros, and 65.5 grams chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
Upped the habaneros from 2 to 4 grams per 2.25 / lb meat.
Froze meat for 90 mins (turned over half way through). Cut 4mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer.
Put in fridge on 2015.12.16 at 23:27, removed on 2015.12.17 at 11:37. Refrigerated for 24:10.
It took up four shelves in the dehydrator with tight packing
Dehydrated at 150 F. Started on 2015.12.17 at 23:50, finished on 2015.12.18 at 08:50. Dehydrated for 9:00.
Yield: 14.4 oz, $ 13.32/ lb
2015.11.26
Eye of Round Roast from Bianchini's; 2.560 lb @ $4.29 / lb = $10.98
Weight after trimming: 37.65 oz
Cure: 20 grams salt, 5 grams garlic powder, 5 grams onion powder, 60 grams chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and 2 grams ground habaneros.
Upped the habaneros from 0.5 to 2 grams per 2.25 / lb meat.
Froze meat for 30 mins (wasn't long enough). Cut 5mm thick against the grain on the meat slicer.
Put in fridge on 2015.11.26 at 14:15, removed on 2015.11.27 at 20:50. Refrigerated for 30 hours and 30 mins.
Dehydrated for 12 hours @ 155 F (too long). It took up three shelves in the dehydrator with loose packing. Tested jerky after 6 hours and it was still soft and chewy, but after 12 hours it was crunchy and too dry . 5 mm seems a bit thick, try 4 next time. Spice level is good, Ronda can still eat it.
Yield: 12.5 oz, $13.94 / lb
2015.10.25
Eye of Round, Organic, from Whole Foods, 2.295 lb @ $14.99/lb = $34.40
Cure: 20 grams salt, 5 grams garlic powder, 5 grams onion powder, 60 grams chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and 0.5 grams ground habaneros.
Quartered meat and froze for 4 hours (flipped once during freezing). Cut 2mm thick with the grain on the meat slicer, over heated the meat slicer half way through. Put in tupperware in fridge on 2015.10.26 at 00:30. Refrigerated for 23 hours.
Dehydrated for 20 hours @ 95 F. It took up 5 shelves in the dehydrator with tight packing.
Yield: 12 oz, $45.90 / lb
Meat was super thin and chewy. Sometimes it was difficult to rip off a bite. Would probably have been nicer if cut thicker, but probably would have been too chewy because it was cut with the grain.