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Peppered Beef Jerky

Starts with a slight sweet and finishes with a peppery pop
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Prep Time20 minutes
Active Time4 hours
Marinating Time16 hours
Total Time20 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Brisket flat or similar lean meat

Marinade

  • 1.75 tbsp Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
  • 1/3 Cup Water
  • 1/3 Cup Molasses
  • 1/4 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce
  • 2 tbsp Lean and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoon 16 Mesh Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic

Instructions

Slicing the Jerky Meat

  • If your meat is thawed, put in freezer for 30-60 minutes. If your meat is frozen, defrost in refrigerator until the meat is somewhat frozen/malleable.
    1 lb Brisket flat
  • Trim the meat, removing any exterior fat/silver skin.
  • Slice the meat between 1/8 - 1/4" thick.
    If you prefer soft jerky, slice the meat against the grain. If you like jerky with a bit of "tug", slice with the grain.

Create Peppered Jerky Marinade

  • To a bowl add the liquid ingredients in the specified quantities. Mix in the bowl until the molasses and the salt have completely combined.
    1/3 Cup Water
  • Put your sliced jerky meat in a ziplock bag or non-reactive container. Then put your marinade into the bag or container with the jerky.
  • If using a bag, roll the bag on top of itself to force out air, then close the bag.
    Leave the bag or container in your refrigerator overnight.
    My jerky marinated for 16 hours.

Pre-heating Jerky to Dehydrate at a Lower Air Temperature

  • If you don't care for this step, just transfer jerky to dehydrator set to 160F.
  • Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
  • Take out baking pans and line it with aluminum foil. Then put oven safe cooling racks on top of the pan so that the jerky is elevated. Elevating the jerky also helps prevent case hardening.
  • Arrange the jerky on the cooling racks so that they don't overlap.
  • Set a timer for 10 mins.
  • After 10 minutes, transfer to your dehydrator set to 120-130F.

Dehydrating the Jerky

  • Jerky will typically finish dehydrating in 3-5 hours depending on how thick you cut it.

Checking for Doneness

  • After 3 hours, take a piece out of the dehydrator, allow to cool and then bend it.
    When checking for doneness, bend the jerky to expose the muscle fibers. If you see hues of red/pink, the meat is visibly moist, or it's rubbery, it needs to dehydrate longer.
  • If the bend is dry and has white spider-webbing, it's considered done (see pictures above).
  • As the jerky finishes, put into a sandwich baggy with the top open.
    This way you prevent condensation from happening inside the bag and you allow heat/moisture to escape. Once it's cool, close the bag and store in a cool/dry/dark place.
  • For longer storage, use a freezer bag/vacuum sealer with food-grade desiccant bags.