Thanks to Freddy - Homemade Beef Jerky

I didn't want to hijack   Freddy's Dehydrator Thread  so I am starting a new one.

I mentioned in that thread that I had a new convection oven and I wondered if I could use that to dehydrate food. Freddy kindly replied with a link on that topic.


Turns out I did not need that link. My oven has a dehydrate function,




In my defense the oven is brand new since October  


I decided some homemade beef jerky was on order.
I froze a 2.5 pound London broil for a hour. This is to firm it up so I could cut thin slices.
While the meat was in the freezer I made a marinade. Then I cut the meat into strips and put it in the marinade. I covered it and put in the fridge for 6 hours.



Then I lined two big cookie sheets with foil, put racks on it and spread the strips. Then into the oven.



I left it in for 4 and half hours. It was darker than commercial but that is to be expected as I did not add preservative chemicals.



I don't know the weight but I got a quart of jerky out of it.



I am very please with the results. It is slightly chewy. The taste is good but not as strong as I would like. It is sweet and spicy. Next time I will make more marinade and season it a little more. Yes there will definitely be a next time. From what I have read this  will not last in long term storage. Seems like 2 months in the fridge. But I will eat it before then,

So a tip of a hat to Freddy for his thread.

If you want long term storage the salt should be 3% min' by weight and it gets dried way past the chewy stage. To use it give it at least an overnight soak with water changes to leach out the sodium. Of course other flavorings can be added but it's not required. I use food processing salt from the feed store (inexpensive in a 50# sack), but any non-iodized salt can be used. You'd need to try iodized to see how it works for you. I never did since the instructions I use state non-iodized.

You can probably dry what you have a bit more for longer storage too, but it's awfully difficult to consume. Chewy is probably what you want for eating out of hand.

Thanks for the tips Brian.

I think I will leave it for now. I like being able to grab a piece and eat it.

I did experiment with bias cut vs with the grain. I do not see a difference.

Looks good. Try leaving the marinated meat in the fridge, over night. It might help infuse the meat with the sauce, some more and then after dehydrating it in the oven, bake it for 10 minutes or so at 175 degrees to 'harden' it up a bit.

Thanks Celestino,
I will do that next time.
I ran mine at 165F for the last 15 minutes. I read that temp would kill microbes.
But I probably did not do it long enough. I was taste/texture testing as I went along. I like the chewy jerky as opposed to crisp.

That really looks good, Phil.  Jerky may not be on my list to try because, while I like it occasionally, I simply couldn't consume so much before it went bad, even a smaller amount than what you made here.  If and when you do try it again, I shall be curious as to what changes you'll make to the preparations.  Enjoy.

Thanks Celestino,
I will do that next time.
I ran mine at 165F for the last 15 minutes. I read that temp would kill microbes.
But I probably did not do it long enough. I was taste/texture testing as I went along. I like the chewy jerky as opposed to crisp.

I completely understand, Phil, and I also prefer the chewy jerky, compared to the crisp one. 
Good luck.