Beef Jerky

Today I made my second batch of beef jerky, and I hit the bullseye. I'm going to post the recipe below mainly so I will have it for future use. I used to work with a guy in Pennsylvania who made his own jerky, and he once gave me some he made with Maker's Mark Bourbon. It was some of the best jerky I had ever tasted. So, I did a little research and concocted my own Maker's Mark recipe. I went to Hy-Vee again for the meat. I have used their top round roast now twice and it works well. They have a cut with very little fat and they will slice it for you. This time they did it thinner than the first time. It's a little too thin for me, but it still worked great. Here is the recipe:

2 1/2 pound top round roast sliced thin

8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 1/2 Tbsp. of curing salt

2 Tbsp. of brown sugar

1 tsp. of cayenne pepper

4 Tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce

4 oz. of Maker's Mark Bourbon

Mix the ingredients and marinate sliced meat at least 12 hours in refrigerator. Make sure you brush the marinade on. You want the meat wet but not soaked in the marinade. If it's too wet it will not dehydrate properly.

Dehydrate the meat for at least 4 hours and enjoy!

If you're lucky enough and you ask nicely I may even let you try a piece. You should hurry though because it won't last long.