Homemade Beef Jerky

Shown above is the marinade.

The beef is all laid out, ready to go into the oven overnight.

Here's the recipe that I got out of an old magazine (Mother Earth News) back in the 1980's.  The recipe was created by a young man and they did an article about his homemade beef jerky.  I used to make it all the time and it's really tasty.

Marinade

5 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp black pepper
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. hot sauce (I didn't have any and used a little cayenne pepper instead)

Bring this mixture to a slow boil (stirring so it doesn't burn) and lower to a simmer.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  When it's cool, pour the liquid over the sliced meat in a container.  Cover and keep in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

Afterward, remove the strips of meat and lay them across a broiling pan.  I used a light spray of oil on the pans.

Put them into a cold oven.  Turn the oven to 125 degrees F.  Let the meat dry in the oven overnight for 10 to 12 hours.

Note:  The newer ovens only go as low as 170 degrees F.  So, doing it on this higher temperature is new to me and I'll have to let you know how it goes.  I just put the pans into the oven (10:30 pm) and in the morning, I'll check on the jerky to see how done it is and will let you know how it turns out and how many hours it took at this temp.

Oh, one more note on the meat.  I used to have the butcher cut me a one inch thick piece of round steak which I would then partially freeze in order to make it easier to thinly slice.  This time I just bought a thick roast and I didn't have time to wait for it to partially freeze.  Therefore, you can see from the photo that I have some smaller pieces along with some longer ones.  Next time, I will go back to the thick round steak, it always turned out good.  I was just a little in a hurry this time.

Also, be sure to lay the meat flat and try not to have it overlap.  When taking the pieces out of the marinade container, you want to smooth out each piece to make them sit flat on the pan.

When the jerky is done, you need to let it cool before placing it into a covered container.  No need to refrigerate the jerky.