Alain:

<img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Jerky only stores for about 6 weeks?well ok, longer than that, but around my place it seems to last about 6 weeks. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

The US native peoples known as the Cree are credited with inventing pemmican, which is equal parts jerky and dried fruit mixed with some form of suet e.g. bear or bison. The origin of true Jerky is credited to the South American natives called the Quechua (originally part of the ancient Inca empire) as early as 1550. They called it Ch'arki and the conquering Spaniards recorded how the process was done.

Here is my very basic jerky recipe and recommended storage. Note the recipe is what would have been common in the frontier days of the early US west. Since I have my own dehydrator I don't use the oven method. I have also dried the meat in the Sun.

3 pounds top round London Broil, trimmed of fat
3 tablespoons salt (I use Redmond Sea Salt, but you can use Fleur De Sel)
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder

Cut meat into strips a little less than 1/4-inch thick. Place strips in a shallow bowl. Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture into strips. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and marinate for 48 hours in the refrigerator. Remove a rack from the oven. Preheat the oven to 145? -150? (about 60?-65? C) Remove the strips from the marinade and lay them directly on the oven rack so that air can circulate around them. Line the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil to catch the drippings. Place the rack in the oven, leaving it partially open to maintain a constant temperature. Leave the jerky in the oven until well dried, 6 to 8 hours. To test for the jerky for the proper dryness, remove a strip from the oven or dehydrator. Let it cool slightly, then bend the jerky; it should crack, but not break. A piece of jerky cracks but does not break when it is bent. This is when the jerky is done. Properly dried jerky is chewy and leathery. It will be as brittle as a green stick, but won?t snap like a dry stick.

Other ingredients to consider:

Worcestershire Sauce
Hot Sauce (Tabasco)
Liquid Smoke (to simulate drying in a smoke house)
Brown Sugar
Cayenne Powder
Cumin Powder
Soy Sauce

Although many prepackaged spice mixtures and recipes call for the use of a curing salt (sodium nitrate) I do not use this ingredient and still have good results. Jerky will last in an airtight container for several years at room temperature. You can vacuum package the Jerky, or freeze it, which will give you an indefinite storage option

Good luck,

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared