Dehydrator Recipe for Vietnamese Style Beef Jerky

Today I'm proud to be a part of Silvie on 4's and Kol's Notes Excalibur dehydrator giveaway!

My sapiens have owned a Nesco Dehydrator for several years now and have been happily making me treats of Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and even Jerky!

The following is a recipe mainly for sapiens, but they give me a taste now and again when I have been really good!

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of Lean Beef (Eye of Round, Flank, etc.)

8 Thai Chilies

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 stalk of lemongrass

3 tablespoons of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of regular soy sauce

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of curing salt

First we start with the U.S.D.A. Choice Beef Eye of Round. You can choose any lean sort of beef.

Definitely remember to trim off as much of the fat as you can. When dehydrating meat, even when the meat is done, there's still a lot of viscosity in the fat. It will turn rancid quite quickly! At this point, also wrap up the meat and stick it in the freezer for about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. You want it to be a little stiff but not completely frozen so you can more easily slice it.

Grab the Thai chilies and chop them up. I know what you're thinking, but I haven't had any issues yet. Do not try it home if you haven't accidentally had them before with no gastrointestinal issues!

Next add the brown sugar.

Clean up the lemon grass and cut lengthwise. Then start chopping into these little half circles.

Add the soy sauce.

Then the dark soy sauce.

And then the fish sauce.

Finally, add in the curing salt (aka pink salt, aka sodium nitrate). This is a preserving agent used in a lot of cured meats. If you plan to eat your jerky within a week, I would say you can skip this if you are sensitive to preservatives.

Blend this all up into a nice brownish liquid.

By now, your meat should be sufficiently chilled. Start slicing 1/8 of an inch thick slices.

Throw it into a bowl and toss it so that everything is nice and evenly coated. While the receipt suggest refrigeration for about an hour. My sapiens like to marinate things overnight, so it went for a little over 24 hours.

Start lining up your trays.

Dehydrate! This set took about 7 hours. You should keep an eye on it and rotate the trays and also flip the jerky slices once throughout the process. I don't think my sapiens ever know the appropriate time, but once you feel that it is sufficiently dried out, it's time for a feast!

Ain't that color amazing?

I'm ready to have my share!

So what are you waiting for? Enter the raffle here and good luck to you all!

Recipe adapted from: Vietnamese Beef Jerky

Woof,

Ruckus the Eskie

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