So, after marinating the meat in my "secret sauce" for about 3 days, I dehydrated it at 170 degrees in my oven (propped open about 1") overnight. In the morning, I sampled a piece...
...and my face shriveled up like a Fresno raisin. "Holy antlers, Batman! That's salty stuff!" I must have soaked it in the sauce too long, I mourned.
Later that day, I stumbled upon a sample of my friend Michael's venison jerky, and tried a piece. Now granted, Michael is about as close to a Montana Mountain Man as I'll probably ever meet: if it can be done in Montana, he's done it. Twice. And well. As the jerky melted in my mouth, making my teeth lazy, all I could think was "Dang that guy! He got it perfect! How'd he do it??"
I humbly and embarassingly admitted my failure to Michael last Sunday, in hopes of getting some helpful advice. When I got to the part about my use of a cup of salt (!) in my "special sauce", he just winced and chuckled a bit.
"What recipe did you use?", he asked.
"Something I got... off of... the... internet...", my voice trailed off, in reply.
More chuckling. Then a sincerely kind and encouraging smile:
"You know, just a couple tablespoons of salt, or a little bit of soy sauce works much better", he said.
I questioned, "OK, but doesn't that decrease how long the jerky will 'keep'?"
"Well," he smiled (and his eyes lit up like a child's), "with my recipe, I'm not worried about how long the jerky will keep... I worry about how long I can keep the jerky!"
I thought back to how scrumptious that sample was... and how I uncontrollably finished the bag... and I saw his point.
Next time, I'm going with "handed down" preservation recipes... not Googled ones.
Have a great week!
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