I have been meaning to make beef jerky for a while now. The meat counter at Falletti’s was all it took. I bought a pound of LEAN top sirloin and had the butcher slice it extra thin. When you get home, make sure to trim ALL of the fat off the meat. Lay the meat between layers of paper towels and press the moisture out of the meat with a wooden spoon, meat tenderizer, etc.
In a large bowl, toss the meat with the brown sugar, kosher salt, soy sauce, minced garlic, crushed red pepper, and cracked black pepper.
Lightly oil a metal rack and put it in a foil covered baking sheet. Lay the meat in a single layer covering the rack. Refrigerate the beef uncovered for 24 hours.
After the meat has been sitting in the fridge, preheat the oven to it’s lowest possible temperature. If your oven does not set to 150 degrees F, keep the oven open ajar while cooking. The meat should dry in the oven between 3 to 5 hours. Mine was ready to go in just over 3, just make sure to check if it’s cooked all the way through.
The original recipe came from Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it, however I changed quite a bit. The book’s recipe came out WAY too salty and I also changed the sugar and spice ratio.
- 1 pound very lean top sirloin, sliced 1/8 inch thick
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 Tbsp Soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 3 tsp cracked black pepper
