I love Jerky!

It HAS to be something primitive. Starting with rare, thinly sliced lean meat and ending with a delicacy.

I usually use a lean cut of London Broil. When this organic meat (no hormones) comes on sale - I get chills!

First I trim all the fat.

I collect all the 'offal' or trimmings to make into chicharrones. My kids and husband love this! It also renders out some beautiful fat to use in beans and tortillas and other recipe uses.

I use a Magic Bullet to powder my spices. By reducing your cracked pepper, garlic, sea salt down to a powder you are going to facilitate a higher absorption rate and therefore use less sodium in the final product.

I am reusing a spice shaker container here for my jerky spice.

This is my favorite clay bowl. My son Jared Focose made it for me. It is perfect for this application and for proofing bread doughs!

Here I have made a brine of equal parts of water and low sodium organic soy sauce.

I poured a couple of tablespoons of the brine into the bottom of my clay bowl.

Now we sprinkle some of out powdered jerky spice onto the brine.

Layer your meat strips onto the spiced brine.

Sprinkle more jerky spice.

Repeat the process.

Here is a full bowl of brined and seasoned meat. This will have to marinade for 24 hours.

Get out the dehydrator! (If you don’t have one - get one! The home versions are inexpensive. Mine is an industrial but lesser models do a fine job.)

Jigsaw the marinated strips into the screened tray.

Yup. Lots of jerky going on here!

After 6 to 10 hours (depending on your dehydrator) your top tray should look like this. Pick up a piece and feel the texture it should have hard edges and feel solid all the way through.

Collect into a pan or bowl that you can cover.

Remember the leftover brine? We are going to warm this up and sprinkle it on our dehydrated meat. what this does is soften those crunchy edges and add that moist chewy consistency that we need.

Toss the strips like a salad until moisture is completely absorbed.

This is your finished product!!

It should be pliant and tear well. Package as you see fit. I keep some out for my munching, vacuum pack, refrigerate or freeze depending on my needs.