Homemade Beef Jerky

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown* of www.foodnetwork.com

I did this "project" last night, starting out by cutting the 2.8 lbs of beef flanks into strips, mixed all the ingredients, placed the beef and the brine inside the ziploc bag and let it stand for 8 hours (I woke up late, so it got extended to 2 hours more which is not bad). Next, I drained the beef for the whole morning (we just came home from Redwood City around 3 PM this afternoon) then laid down each strip of beef in the a/c filter. All the rest of the information is down below. Read on. It's easy to do. Right now, it already smells like a real beef jerky, am excited to report to you the results tomorrow. Enjoy!

P.S. The only tough part regarding the purchase of ingredients is knowing where to find the "liquid smoke." I thought it was a joke when Alton Brown was talking about it. But he actually showed it on TV on how a liquid coming from the moisture of the ice, placed inside a bowl, over the covered portion of the bunch of woods , made it all possible to gather the liquid from it, and have the smoke aroma derived from the wood to emit its scent in the liquid. And what you got? Liquid smoke! But for us who does not have the abilities, skills or time to do it the authentic way, you could avail it online or in your favorite grocery store or supermart. Husband walked down SAFEWAY in North Point here in North Beach and luckily found a small bottle of liquid smoke. From now on, I'd add it to my oven barbeque for more aroma and flavor!










Special Equipment: 1 box fan, 4 paper air-conditioning filters, and 2 bungee cords


Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes






Trim the flank steak of any excess fat, place in a zip-top bag, and place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours in order to firm up.
Remove the steak from the freezer and thinly slice the meat with the grain, into long strips.

Place the strips of meat along with all of the remaining ingredients into a large, 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag and move around to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. Place the bag into the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.

Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry. Evenly distribute the strips of meat onto 3 of the air filters, laying them in the grooves and then stacking the filters on top of one another. Top these with 1 empty filter.
Next, lay the box fan on its side and lay the filters on top of it. Strap the filters to the fan with 2 bungee cords. Stand the fan upright, plug in and set to medium. Allow the meat dry for 8 to 12 hours. If using a commercial dehydrator, follow the manufacturer's directions.

Once dry, store in a cool dry place, in an airtight container for 2 to 3 months.