Homemade Beef Jerky Time

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My wife and I decided to make a few batches of homemade beef jerky. Some of these are experiments, made up on the spot:

• Special steak-marinated jerky with Guinness and marmite
• Habenero, chili and lime jerky
• Jerky basted in Guinness-flavored BBQ sauce with Bhut Jolokia chillis (the hottest chili in the world!) :)
• Garlic and Jolokia yellow curry jerky
• Hefeweizen, lemon and honey jerky

Right now they're in freezer bags in the refrigerator, marinating overnight. We'll see how they turn out! I'll post with updates and pictures as things progress...

 

[sabashuali]

Special steak-marinated jerky with Guinness and marmite

It was all going so well until you introduced the beef!!! :chk:
Could you make a vegetarian jerky?

It all sounds absolutely yumshes! :cool:

 

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Well, you can make it out of chili, soy and tomato paste, kind of like a fruit-rollup. Just pureed vegies rolled out and marinated like you would meat. Or, there's always seaweed jerky. :)

Edit: Come to think of it, I could also picture something with barley, rice, and maybe shitake mushrooms. Actually that sounds good; I think next time I'll try my hand at some vegan jerky. :D

 

[sabashuali]

Well, you can make it out of chili, soy and tomato paste, kind of like a fruit-rollup. Just pureed vegies rolled out and marinated like you would meat. Or, there's always seaweed jerky. :)

Edit: Come to think of it, I could also picture something with barley, rice, and maybe shitake mushrooms. Actually that sounds good; I think next time I'll try my hand at some vegan jerky. :D

I am glad I gave you an idea or two. Fungus? Brrrr, not for me.... Personally I would stick with barley and rice. What sort of a name is it for a mushroom? :chk:

 

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[ot]Man, how can you not like mushrooms and still be a vegetarian? Pshh, some people! ;) But yeah, suppose you could substitute ground lentils or some other hearty bean?[/ot]

The BBQ, Guinness and Jolokia batch is in the dehydrator, and man, it smells good already. I think this batch is probably going to be the best, but time will tell. My wife's on her way to pick up another dehydrator so we can have two batches going at once. The curry batch looks really interesting, so I think I'll get that one going next.

 

[sabashuali]

Man, I love the enthusiasm of people who love cooking.... it is very inspiring...

[ot]Personally I cannot stand being in the kitchen. Mushrooms are rubbery, foamy and smell terrible.... sorry, vegi or not, they give my the willies.... :doh: But you are right, I tend to go for meat substitutes which are mainly made from beans or for dishes which are made from lentils and/or beans.[/ot]

It all looks very busy and promising... I would have loved to try the Guinness and Marmite. How did you come about such an English institute?

 

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Man, I love the enthusiasm of people who love cooking.... it is very inspiring...

Heh, thanks! But I think I like to eat more than I like to cook. :P

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Personally I cannot stand being in the kitchen. Mushrooms are rubbery, foamy and smell terrible.... sorry, vegi or not, they give my the willies.... :doh: But you are right, I tend to go for meat substitutes which are mainly made from beans or for dishes which are made from lentils and/or beans.

Mushrooms are crunchy when dehydrated, not rubbery in the slightest. Perhaps you might be able to tolerate them in jerky? If nothing else they would lend a savory flavor to the mix that I'd be hard-pressed to substitute. Lentils might be good in there too though.[/ot]

It all looks very busy and promising... I would have loved to try the Guinness and Marmite. How did you come about such an English institute?

That's actually my usual steak marinate, which is quite good on steaks but I haven't tried it yet on jerky. Made it up intuitively one day, which is my preferred method of cooking. I like creativity with near-instant gratification, lol.

The marmite may be English, but the Guinness is most certainly Irish, thank you. :D It's Extra Stout to be specific, which definitely lends a heartiness to the mix. It's actually got soy sauce, Worcestershire, ground red pepper, fresh ground black pepper, Guinness Extra Stout, and marmite as a more savory bullion substitute. MMmmm.

 

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The curry jerky is on the second dehydrator (pic attached). It smells a lot better than I thought it would.

 

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Project completion! *jump up, freezeframe*

The jerky is complete, and here are the results:

• Steak-style marinate: Excellent, this is a masterpiece. Some of the best jerky ever.
• BBQ, Guinness and Jolokia: Not quite salty enough. I tried to salvage it by adding some ground sea salt near the end of the dehydration process, but not enough stuck to make it as salty as it should have been. In the future, I would add soy sauce or crushed sea salt to the marinate from the start, and use molasses instead of maple.
• Chili, lime and Habenero: Fantastic. Salty, savory, and slightly sour with strong suggestion of lime. I wouldn't change anything about this one.
• Garlic, yellow curry and Jolokia: Surprisingly good. Hearty and garlicky, with a bit of heat as an afterthought. This one came out really well, though I might add a little more De Arbol chili next time, and maybe a hint more Jolokia as well.
• Hefeweizen, lemon and honey: The effect is delicate... too delicate. Salt, lemon and subtle hints of wheat can be tasted without overpowering the meat itself. Overall though, this variety came out much too bland to stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the above. I won't be making this type again.