I love beef jerky

[Incubus]

I have been on a beef jerky kick lately.

I really enjoy it, even though its $5.00+ for a bag of the stuff. But for a long drive, it makes a great snack because I can chew on it for a long time.

Anybody have any recommendations? Most of the stuff I get (Oberto and their ilk) are rather generic and it seems like to get some really good jerky you have to go to a place like Trader Joe's or another specific store.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

I love jerky too, but I usually just buy Pemmican brand or the Albertson's store brand, whichever is on sale. It makes a great high-protein snack, but I find both brands sort of boring. I'd love to try some more exotic or "gourmet" jerky, but we don't have Trader Joe's anywhere in the state.

[Jonathan Chance]

The Oberto's variety is surprisingly good. I'd stick with that. Sure, there might be boutique brands but is that really what jerky's all about?

And you're right that it's damned expensive.

[Stonebow]

Huge fan of the Oberto Teriaki flavor.

And I am thankful that they are $5+ per bag...or else I'd actually be a HUGE fan.

[unclviny]

Get to a Butcher shop immediately!. The Jerky is just slightly more expensive but it is (generally speaking) worlds better. Keep trying different Butcher's until you find the best one, that's what I do.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm Jerky

Unclviny

[Mr. Goob]

Does the occasional Tobasco flavored Slim Jim count?

Not really jerky, and no, I don't really want to know what's in it.

[Duke of Rat]

Jerky is amazingly easy to make. I still buy a $5 bag now and again (and I like it on long drives, also!), but you can make a lot pretty cheap and easy.

I buy a cheap cut, like London Broil. Albertson's runs them 2 for 1 ever so often, or a round roast. Something that's lean.

I like to put it in the freezer until it's firm, not frozen, and slice off thin strips with a shape knife of electric knife.

Then throw it in a pan and season/marinade it. A little Worchester, soy sauce, hot sauce, salt, sugar, black pepper....use your imagination.

Take it out, pat it dry, sprinkle with black pepper (if you like it). Put foil in the bottom of your oven. Drape the meat over the wires of the racks, try to keep it from touching.

Put the oven on the absolute lowest setting it has, and prop the door open a tad. I like to close it off a little more than the detent that leaves it open 4" or so, I just wad up a ball of foil and use it to keep the door from closing.

Let it dry for a few hours. After a few hours, check some of the smaller pieces, and see if it's good and dry. You want the larger pieces to dry all the way through, rare ain't good for jerky. You might want to pull the smaller/thinner pieces as they dry, leave the larger pieces to completely dry. It's a lot easier to figure out when you see it in action, you'll know what's done and what's not.

I've got a road trip at the end of April. Jerky will be my snack of choice!

[Omniscient]

Hmmm, I may have to try that. I'm curious about what you do for your marinades. I love Teriyaki Jerky in the stores, and would using just a good Teriyaki sauce from a bottle be all you'd need, or would you want to cut it with anthing or add extra sugar, salt or other seasonings to it? What about a good smoked and/or peppered jerky?

Also, would it be as well preserved (ie safe at room temp for weeks) as packaged jerky?

[xbuckeye]

Jerky is amazingly easy to make...but you can make a lot pretty cheap and easy.

YES!!
Make your own! Use any lean meat, slice it thin, use any marinade/seasoning, dry in the oven or...if you also get excited about dried fruit and veggie snacks, I recommend a food dehydrator. They rock! I love mine! There was an article I read on the internet somewhere (college affiliated, not random weirdo) that said that dehydrators pay for themselves with less enery vs. the oven if you use them regularly. An important note...keep drying temps above 140F unless you would like to taste the jerky the second time around, if you catch my drift.

My favorite marinade is 1c soy sauce, 1c brown sugar, 1# beef for 1hr. The high sugar/salt in the marinade actually starts the water removal process.

[Lord Ashtar]

I don't remember the brand, but there is this really, really spicy jerky they sell at 7-Eleven near my apartment. It's the cure for the common cold, I swear. The combination of it being really spicy and the constant chewing clears up even my worst congestion.

Jerky rules.

[Duke of Rat]

Hmmm, I may have to try that. I'm curious about what you do for your marinades. I love Teriyaki Jerky in the stores, and would using just a good Teriyaki sauce from a bottle be all you'd need, or would you want to cut it with anthing or add extra sugar, salt or other seasonings to it? What about a good smoked and/or peppered jerky?

Also, would it be as well preserved (ie safe at room temp for weeks) as packaged jerky?

The great thing is, It's cheap! Try a few simple marinades until you come up with one you like. You need something with some salt to help draw the moisture out of the meat, but you don't want salty jerky.

I imagine the store bought jerky has some preservatives. While home made jerky would probably last a while at room temperature, I can't say. Mine always gets gobbled up in a couple of days. It will last a couple of days no sweat if stored in a re-sealable bag, or keep it in the fridge and let it come up to room temp.

A buddy has a dehydrator, but he's also a fanatic about having raw meat. He has a tendency to way over-do his jerky and it gets powdery, which sucks. I'd like to try a dehydrator myself to see how a non-fanatic could fare.

One neat thing about the dehydrator, you can make "jerky sticks" like a Slim Jim sorta thing from ground meat. My dad has a friend who made some and they were pretty tasty!

[Omniscient]

Does it come out best sliced with the grain or against it? Most "traditional" ones I buy at butchers and what not are seemingly sliced with the grain. The ultra processed one at the grocery store seem to either be extruded to pressed somehow or cut against the grain for tenderness.

Alos, what the hell does "Kippered" mean?

[Incubus]

I think the kippered stuff is cut into small nuggets/pieces, making it so you're not having to gnaw at a 8 1/2 x 11 sized sheet of jerky. Although, that is fun too; most gas stations/convenience stores sell jerky in sheets. I don't know the brand offhand, but some of the best jerky I've tasted came like that. It was 'western' flavored, which is rather abiguous sounding but the best way to describe it was a peppery hickory mesquite flavor- kind of like a meaty barbecue chip ;) .

[Omniscient]

Well, Ijust had to know, so I figured I share what I found.

From Yahoo! dictionary

kip·per (kpr) KEY

NOUN:

A male salmon or seatrout during or shortly after the spawning season.
A herring or salmon that has been split, salted, and smoked.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
kip·pered , kip·per·ing , kip·pers
To prepare (fish) by splitting, salting, and smoking.


So it basically means it's jerky, nothing more. Though I don't know if there's a difference between kippering and dehydrating via heat and salt. You don't really "smoke" when you do it at home or in a home dehydrator.

[Not A Tame Lion]

It has always been my secret shame, but I have always loved "meat snacks" of all kinds, including beef jerky, Slim Jims and other "meat sticks," etc. One variety I really love is the "Nuggets" sold under the "Tillamook Country Smoker" brand; the same taste as standard beef jerky, but much more tender and enjoyable (easier on the teeth than totally dried out sheets of jerky). TCS Nuggets are kind of pricey--usually $5.99 per bag at Safeway--but very worth it if you're a jerky fan.

[stretch]

Yes, make your own. mr.stretch and I love to make jerky. You can make your own marinades or try using jerky seasoning from these folks. (http://www.himtnjerky.com/) You may be able to find the seasonings in the meat department of your local grocery store. The mesquite seasoning is excellent. mr.stretch has also used this company's brines for smoking trout and been very pleased.

We have a food dehydrator and we prefer using rather than an oven; my FIL uses the oven and his jerky is always much drier than ours. I bought our dehydrator for around $20, and we've had it for years. We've used it to dry fruit also.

[Duke of Rat]

Plus..there's no feeling like the "stickin' it to the man" feeling you get when you take about $10 worth of meat and an afternoon and transform it into a pile of jerky you'd need to take a loan out to buy at the store. And you can make different flavors at the same time. I made some Habanero jerky once that was sooo hot I could barely eat it.....for all of about 2 minutes until I just HAD to have another piece. It's a lot of fun!

[tracer]

Homemade beef jerky is all well and good, but nothing can compare to the grandeur and majesty that is ...

PEMMICAN SWEET AND HOT

I swear, eating the stuff is just like eating Kung Pao beef (except without the peanuts).

[FilmGeek]

I'm a big fan of Hombre Jerky, I don't like the Oberto stuff, it's to soft. (I didn't realize until making this post that Hombre is local. Neat.) I would get some. It's so worth it, and you'll never go back to Oberto again.

Where the hell are you people buying Jerky that cheaply? It's $15 a pound out here. We sometimes get the 1 lb bag of Hombre for D&D sessions, it lasts all night and makes Mountain Dew taste oh so good.

[BrainGlutton]

My doctor recently put me on a low-cholesterol diet. :(

Is there any chance jerky has less cholesterol than other forms of beef? :)

(Hoping against hope.)

[Jeff Lichtman]

It's been years since I had it, but I always loved the mahogany-smoked jerky from this place (http://smokedmeats.com/) .

I always use brisket when I make my own jerky, which allows for long, uniform pieces. I slice it with the grain and marinate it using a modified recipe that came with the Little Chief smoker I got years ago. The recipe calls for soy sauce, red wine, salt, sugar, water, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and tabasco sauce. I use fresh onion and garlic and use a blender to make it smooth. I also throw in some juniper berries after blending the marinade. For smoking fuel I use mostly cherry wood with a little star anise.

Also, I built a smoker years ago out of an old refrigerator. The Little Chief just didn't have the capacity to do large batches.

[The Weird One]

My doctor recently put me on a low-cholesterol diet. :(

Is there any chance jerky has less cholesterol than other forms of beef? :)

(Hoping against hope.)

I, too, am having to lower my cholesterol; however, when I checked a package of beef jerky the other day, it had next to no fat or cholesterol. Jerky is made from lean cuts because it preserves better -- fatty jerky is more likely to go rancid.

What about a good smoked and/or peppered jerky?

Buy some liquid smoke and add a few drops to the marinade. I think most grocery stores carry it near the worchestershire sauce and other such seasonings. I don't know how they make that stuff, but it's not an artificial flavoring, they really make it from woodsmoke somehow.

Personally, I like to cut my jerky with the grain, but that's only because I like to tear apart my meat like a snarling, growling animal.

[Duke of Rat]

My doctor recently put me on a low-cholesterol diet. :(

Is there any chance jerky has less cholesterol than other forms of beef? :)

(Hoping against hope.)

I remember looking at the label of the convenience store variety here (Jack Link, I think) and it was 97% fat free. Not sure about cholesterol, but jerky is normally made from lean cuts. If you make your own, you could get really lean meat to start with.

Might be worth looking into.

[WhyNot]

For good jerky, I make my own. For cheap and surprisingly OK jerky (better than Oberto, anyway) I buy - ready for this? Aldi's (http://usa.aldi.com/) beef jerky. Yep. $2.50something a bag and the best pre-packaged jerky I've ever tasted. Teriyaki....mmmmm.....

I don't know if they have them on the West coast, though. Around here it's where poor people shop. They're generally in fairly seedy areas of town, strictly bag-your-own with grumpy-assed cashiers and few shelves (everything's piled in pallets) and no ambiance or advertising - but very, very cheap. I find myself needing to go to Trader Joe's after my shopping at Aldi just to remind myself that there are nice people in the world.

[Hypno-Toad]

We have a "Beef Jerky Factory Outlet" down here in Fort Myers. Maybe I'll head out there and check out the stock...

[Figaro]

If you're ever driving through Dundee, Michigan (where Michigan's biggest tourist attraction, the Cabella's megastore is the only game in town), stop at the Beef Jerky Outlet. The home-made stuff is SOOO much better than any store brand I've ever tried.

They make everything fresh right there at the store, and they sell beef, salmon, tuna, bear, turkey, etc.

I make up excuses to drive down that way sometimes just to stock up.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

Beef jerky outlet stores? You people are killing me! I'm jealous. Can you buy last season's jerky at a discount, or perhaps jerky with typos on the bag or imperfect cuts of meat? :)

I just realized I live near an Entenmann's Bakery outlet store, so I really need to check that place out!

[The Weird One]

They make everything fresh right there at the store, and they sell beef, salmon, tuna, bear, turkey, etc.

Excuse me, bear jerkey?!? Have you ever tried some? What's it taste like? Wow.