Tender Jerky

• Gluten free
• Paleo

• Meat

  • 3 lbs Ground beef, grass-fed
  • 1 Jerky gun
  • 1/4 lb Liver, ground

• Produce

  • 2 tsp Garlic powder or granulated garlic

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/4 tsp Black pepper
  • 1 pinch Cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp Sea salt

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 2 tsp Cumin, ground

Found on gnowfglins.stfi.re

Description

Ingredients

• 3 pounds grass-fed ground beef (or venison, or lamb, or buffalo... )
• ¼ pound of ground liver (optional)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (use 2 tablespoons for longer-term keeping)
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder or granulated garlic (feel like making your own?)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (or more!)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• jerky gun (optional)

Directions

• Blend all the ingredients together in a big bowl. Use clean hands.
• Taking a portion at a time, press the meat mixture into about ⅛ inch thickness on a piece of natural parchment paper that is the same size as your dehydrator tray. Or use the ParaFlexx sheets that go with an Excalibur dehydrator.
• You could also use a rolling pin to spread it out, but I find I can never get the thickness consistent, so I prefer to take extra time and press the balls out into a sheet myself.
• When a sheet is full, square up the edges to your liking, using your fingers.
• Then use a butter knife to score the meat into jerky-size pieces. Don’t use a sharp knife or you’ll cut through parchment paper or Paraflexx sheets!
• Transfer the whole shebang to a dehydrator tray and put the tray in/on your dehydrator.
• Repeat until you’ve spread out all your meat mixture.
• This recipe fills 4 to 5 trays of my 9-tray Excalibur dehydrator, depending on the thickness I achieve.
• Or use a jerky gun to make sticks!
• Set the dehydrator’s temperature to 145 or 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Depending on thickness, expect total drying time to be 12 to 18 hours.
• Flip over mid-way, which is usually when the jerky is curling up from the bottom and not sticking to the tray’s liner any more.
• You have to play with how much it “cooks” — and keep in mind that coming out of the dehydrator it is going to be much softer than it will be when it cools. I look for no more pink and try to get it out of the dehydrator while it is still really soft. It always surprises me how much it hardens up once it is out.
• Tear apart the pieces and put them in a bowl or tray to cool fully.
• Then store in a cool, dark place in an airtight container. Or in the refrigerator if not using up within 2 weeks.