Lazy Day Jerky
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
There are only two things I’ll say about this recipe: first, while it seems like a terrible waste of whiskey, it’s an amazing jerky and I wouldn’t use any delicate Irish whiskey. It needs the punch of an in-your-face Canadian whiskey. Second, despite being cooked for 4-6 hours, very little of the alcohol cooks off. In fact, next to none.
Curious people have actually tested alcohol levels on people eating foods cooked with alcohol using an official Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) monitor. The results are simple. Very little alcohol evaporates and, when you consume enough of alcohol-laced food, you’ll be impaired. I know, there’s the myth that alcohol evaporates in cooking, but that takes a ton of cooking, and by the time the alcohol is gone the flavor is too.
So no alcohol and firearms, no alcohol and driving, please.
True Blue Fall Jerky
For 1 pound of sliced red meat
Starting with a marinade--a vibrant combo of Canadian whiskey and cloves softened with a bit with brown sugar--this jerky is a burst of great flavor in your mouth. (It might even warm your body a few degrees.) As much as I’d like to use Irish whiskey, it’s too smooth; a Canadian, like Pendleton, stands up to the meat and cloves.
Ingredients
1 pound red meat, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
1 cup Pendleton Canadian whiskey
1 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground cloves
Preparation
Pat the sliced venison with paper towels so it’s not drippy when you add it to the marinade--and dilute its flavor. Then mix the rest of the ingredients in a resealable plastic bag, add the meat slices and mix them into the marinade well. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
Cooking
Preheat the oven to 160°F. Arrange the meat strips on wire mesh grids over a foil-lined pan. Cook at 160°F for 3-4 hours (¼” takes 4 hours, thinner less), turn the oven off and let the jerky cool in the closed oven. When done, there should be no pink inside but still be bendable. However, after it cools, you should be able to hold it by one end and not have the strip of jerky sag. Overdone, the jerky gets brittle and cracks, and at the edges the meat is white and thready.
*Cloves. Don’t you stick whole cloves in an orange? Or a baked ham? Yes, but they can do a lot more than that. When you think of spices that really heat things up, cloves don’t get much respect. Used right, they have just as much heat capability as cayenne, white and black pepper--and red tabasco sauce. (Same with cinnamon and curry powder.) You just need to not be chintzy. And believe me, 4 teaspoons of ground cloves will do the job.
Stalking the Wild Jerky: 101 wild game jerky recipes, offers strip and ground meat recipes, for venison, turkey, waterfowl, and bear, with tips on oven and dehydrator cooking, how well is done, and how to get even slices without buying more stuff. Available at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273 for $22.
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