Many people consider beef jerky a treat because it is famous as a snack. Like us, you may wonder how the process of making beef jerky? Or what all the fuss is about while making that mouth-watering beef jerky? This article will address just that, so you’ve found the correct spot!
Jerky generally refers to meat snacks, including beef jerky. Marinating and drying meat makes them. Treating meat in this manner extends its shelf life and taste. Native Americans invented this meat processing method by smoke-drying meat. It is any beef cured with salt and reduced to less than 50% moisture. It is usually dark and rough. Jerky tastes stronger and rougher than unprocessed beef because moisture removal concentrates taste. It is touted as a low-calorie, high-protein, and energy-rich snack with minimal cholesterol and fat.
In 1996, beef jerky sales exceeded $240 million in the fast-growing meat snack category. The high protein and low-fat content of beef jerky contributed to its rise.
Many beef jerky tastes are made to boost market appeal. Commonly used is pepper-flavored jerky. Other variations include teriyaki, spicy, and barbecue jerky. Maple spice and hickory smoke are also made. Jerky uses various types of meat than these tastes. After beef, turkey jerky is the most popular.
How to Make Jerky?
We can make jerky by slicing thin chunks of meat, marinating and seasoning it, cooking and drying it, then vacuum-sealing it.
The Process of Making Beef Jerky
Homemade Beef Jerky
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1-tbsp honey
- 1-tsp red pepper
- 2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 3-pound beef eye of round or top round roast cut 1/8″–1/4″
- Optional 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
Steps
Meat Prep
Strip the roast of any excess fat. To freeze the outer layer and soften the inside, wrap the roast and freeze it for 30 to 45 minutes if you haven’t already cut it into strips. Cut the beef against the grain into 1/8- to 1/4-inch strips using a sharp knife. Thicker slices could take longer to dry.
Marinade
In a bowl, add and mix all of the marinade ingredients. Feel free to tweak the marinade according to your preference.
Put the meat in a medium-sized dish or a big zip-top bag. Toss the steak in the marinade and turn it so it coats all sides. After sealing the bag or covering the bowl with plastic wrap or the lid, put it in the fridge for at least two hours and up to twelve. (The jerky’s taste will increase as the marinating time increases.)
Turn on oven
Get your oven hot, about 175°F. After removing the beef strips from the marinade, set them on a platter.
Put the meat in the oven using one of these two ways.
A. Wooden skewers may suspend jerky from the top shelf (parallel to the oven door with strips hanging between shelf wires). Cover the lowest rack with foil to collect drips.
B. Arrange the jerky strips on two large-rimmed baking sheets, then place baking racks on top of them. After half on drying, switch racks.
To allow moisture to escape, hold open the oven door with a wooden spoon.
Bake Beef Jerky
After 1.5 hours, rotate the racks so that the bottom shelf is on top and the top shelf is bottom if you’re using B.
For either approach, take a piece of jerky from the oven at 3 hours and try bending it after five minutes of cooling. Bend but not split. It shouldn’t be smooth or oily. You want dry, leathery meat without any liquid.
Jerky with moist at the bend or sides requires additional time. Track your batch from now on. Check the pieces every 5-10 minutes until the batch finishes. Avoid crumbling or brittleness.
After cooling to room temperature, you may store jerky in a vacuum or zip-lock bag in the fridge for two weeks or longer.
Commercial Beef Jerky-Making Process
Small to Medium Batches
Cut Thin Beef Slices
Beef, more especially beef round or sirloin, is the main ingredient in beef jerky.
Thinly sliced beef is prepared by first selecting the cut that best suits the recipe and then cutting the meat parallel to its grain. Next, trim any excess fat or undesirable parts from the beef slices.
It is common practice to do a quality control check on the beef slices before proceeding to the next stage.
Marinate and Season Beef Slices
To get the distinctive taste of beef jerky, trim the meat first and then slice thinly before marinating in a sweet or salty mixture. Deciding the jerky’s distinct flavor here is one of the most important steps in the manufacturing process.
Marinating beef using an organic, slow-heating approach is possible. Marinating beef in this way keeps the meat from drying out and enriches its natural flavor without changing its texture.
Cook and Dehydrate
Following the marinating process, roast the beef until it is no longer pink inside, usually around 160 degrees Fahrenheit, according to USDA guidelines. This will eliminate any excess moisture and make the meat safer to keep until it is ready to eat.
This part of making beef jerky also changes from batch to batch according to what you prefer. The secret to making beef jerky that stays crunchy for days is slow cooking the slices of meat. This process produces a chewy texture and a darker look, which also maintains the meaty taste of the beef. However, beef jerky that uses slices of beef cooked at a higher temperature for shorter durations tends to be lighter in color and has a softer texture.
Dehydrating beef slices after cooking helps to remove even more moisture from the meat, which is essential for making beef jerky. In this stage of making beef jerky, the meat is dried out using fans or other means.
Pack and Ship
Little packets of beef jerky are vacuum-sealed with weighing portions to maintain the beef’s taste and freshness after dehydration. They’re then either sent directly to consumers or beef jerky wholesalers, who will then sell them regionally or nationally.
Beef Jerky in Big Batches
Sourcing Raw Materials
To make beef jerky, you only need meat and a curing solution. Meat is the main ingredient in jerky. Beef that is of premium quality, range-fed, visibly lean, and inspected for quality makes the best jerky. Beef jerky from ground beef has a somewhat varied texture according to specific brands. Typically, you need more than five pounds of beef to make a pound of jerky.
Although beef is the most common kind of meat used to make meat jerky, there are many more. Many people think turkey is better for them than beef; hence, it has grown in popularity. It makes jerky, although it’s softer than beef jerky. Jerky may also be prepared from pork. You won’t get the same old flavor from this jerky.
Curing Solution
Incorporating the curing solution into the beef jerky process improves its flavor and extends its shelf life. In the end, it determines the product’s color as well. Because of its antibacterial properties, the treatment solution also stops dangerous germs from multiplying. In addition to salt and water, a standard curing solution includes sodium nitrite. The salt causes the meat to lose moisture. As a bonus, the sodium nitrite stabilizes the color and slows the rancidity process. You may also add sodium ascorbate if you want your meat to be more pink.
Dissolve sugar, salt, herbs or spices, seasonings, and phosphates in water to form a brine, which is then mixed with the curing solution. Lemon juice, soy sauce, pepper, garlic powder, and monosodium glutinate (MSG) are among the most popular flavors. Both teriyaki and Worcestershire sauce are often used. Sweetening agents such as brown sugar, black corn syrup, dextrose, and sucrose are used. The brine also contains flavored salts like onion salt or hickory salt. Another option is using sodium phosphates.
The process of dissolving smoke in water produces a substance that manufacturers call liquid smoke. Without actually smoking the meat, this substance imparts a smoke-cooked flavor. Because jerky is hard, you may soften it using tenderizing chemicals such as polyphosphates or papain enzyme. However, these materials have restricted utility due to the increased drying time.
Manufacturing Beef Jerky
The Process of Making Beef Jerky
To make jerky, you must prepare the beef, marinate it in a curing solution, and cook it until dry.
Preparation of Meat
You have two options for making jerky: ground beef or whole muscle. Both methods include processing the meat to separate it from its connective tissue and bones before removing any remaining fat. In most cases, you may defat the beef in one of three ways. Putting the meat into a centrifuge is one example. The spinning motion generated by this apparatus separates the liquid fat particles from the meat. Pressing the meat to get all of the fat is another technique. Filtering the meat is another way to eliminate fat.
The meat undergoes a series of procedures that remove unnecessary components, such as deboning and fat trimming. It is laced on a conveyor and checked by personnel as it moves past. It may be shaken on a metal screen to extract any remaining debris. Using magnets to remove metals and water separation are two more possible procedures. While processing meat, some facilities use X-rays to check for impurities.
Curing Solution Preparation
You may make the curing solution while the meat is in the processor. The usual vessel for this task is a big tank with mixing blades. After adding salt, spices, and water to the tank, everything is blended together. As needed, the solution is heated to its final temperature. Mixing is usually required before use because some components are not soluble in water.
Processing Meat, Curing
You may freeze the meat and slice it with an automatic cutter or grind it with a bowl chopping machine. The frozen meat method may extract juices by partially thawing the meat. Cure the meat by dipping it in brine. The liquid should soak in long enough to coat the meat but not so long that it contaminates it.
Another method involves injecting meat with curing fluid using a multi-needle system. Then, the meat is transferred to a massive stainless steel tumbling mechanism, which cures it further. This helps tenderize the meat by getting the solution into every crevice. You can mix ground beef and curing solution to produce a paste, though ground beef is simpler.
Mix the curing solution with defatted beef. Working with it produces jerky with odd qualities.
Following seasoning, meat is shaped into blocks and chilled to 18-28° F (-8-2.2° C). It is split into strips after freezing. Ideal strips are sliced along the meat’s fiber. This gives the product a natural texture. After spreading these strips on wire mesh trays, drying ovens fry them. Roast pork strips at 160° F (71.1° C) and chill to 90° F (32.2° C). Depending on how you prepare the meat, cooking might take 12 hours. Cooking reduces meat moisture to 20-40%.
Jerky Packaging
Many packaging choices are available for beef jerky. Most jerky is vacuum-packed for freshness using beef jerky packaging machines. The meat is placed in a triple barrier bag, which is then evacuated, nitrogen-filled, and sealed. Eliminating oxygen from the system prevents oxidation-induced spoilage.
Manufacturers recently introduced resealable packages. Where you can open and close vacuum-sealed bags with zip locks.
The last step is to pack the individual pieces of beef before loading them onto pallets and trucking them to retail outlets.
Quality Control
Food processing facilities must have strict quality control. Government rules require raw materials to meet minimal requirements. Poor-grade meat is a health danger, so it’s carefully controlled. The majority of companies use premium beef to make jerky of comparable grade. Before processing, you must test raw materials for their taste, appearance, odor, water, and pH. Cut and distribute cured pork on trays to make jerky.
Manufacturing equipment sanitation practices are also important to regulate. Beef jerky must be tasty and contaminant-free before consuming. The final product undergoes testing that is identical to that of the raw ingredients.
