The following method is for those folks who do not have a Dehydrator. I highly suggest if you are serious about Prepping or just want to make some kick ass jerky, go out and buy yourself a quality, high yield dehydrator. They are not that expensive and I can guarantee you after your first batch of jerky, it will have paid for itself three times over. Also, the recipe listed is for BEEF jerky. I highly recommend trying different blends of beef and Venison (Deer) and Wild Hog (Pork) if you can get it…to me, straight venison jerky beats Beef jerky in taste all day long. Also do not be afraid to tweak the recipes, there are some awesome flavors out there. Dont be skeered. 🙂 -SF
An Introduction to Dehydrating Food
Dehydration is all about removing water from food. Doing this helps to preserve the food (bacteria need water) and concentrate flavor. It’s a common misconception that you need heat to dehydrate food. But low humidity, not heat, is the driving force behind dehydration. Warming the air surrounding the food helps keep it dry, but if the air doesn’t move, the food will stay wet. So when dehydrating food in the kitchen, make certain that air can freely circulate around it.
Sidenote: You can achieve the same preservation of dehydration by leaving the water in food but making it unavailable to bacteria. Just add substances like sugar and salt, which bind to water molecules and lock them away. Lox (salt-cured salmon) and salted butter are safe to keep at room temperature for this reason—but unsalted butter is not!
The Best Jerky in the World
Sometimes a survival skill isn’t just about preparing for hard times. Six-time New York Timesbest-selling author Neil Strauss learned this while writing about apocalypse-proofing your life in his book Emergency. Yes, learning to preserve meat was useful. But learning to flavor meat was an art.
In search of the perfect marinade, he polled everyone: hard-core survivalists, friends’ grandfathers, chefs, and beyond. Then he split-tested the best and simplest recipes that didn’t require a smoker or a food dehydrator. He submerged near-identical meat slices into 2–5 containers of marinade at a time. Sometimes he tested a different brand or amount of teriyaki sauce, and other times he added a random ingredient like truffle oil or mustard. It became something of an obsession.
The following recipe is what won all the taste tests.
This recipe is intended for home cooking, not for the wilderness, but it can be adapted for the wild.
Hands-on Time
15 minutes
Total Time
15 minutes plus 24 hours for marinating and up to 24 hours for drying and cooling
Gear
- Knife
- Large container with lid
- Aluminum foil
- Wooden or plastic serving spoon
Ingredients (to make 2.3kg (5lb))
- 2 kg (5 lb) lean brisket
- 470 ml (2 c) Kikkoman soy sauce
- 470 ml (2 c) Worcestershire sauce (Neil likes Lea & Perrins)
- 470 ml (2 c) thick, flavorful teriyaki sauce (Kikkoman Takumi Garlic & Green Onion or, Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki)
- 240 ml (1 c) liquid smoke (it’s not always easy to find, so any brand will do)
- 120 ml (1/2 c) Karo dark corn syrup (you can also try blackstrap molasses)
- 3T garlic powder
- 3T onion powder
- 3T sesame seeds
- 3T brown sugar
- 1t cayenne pepper
Read the Remainder with Prep Instructions at Art of Manliness