Adjusting base marinade for beef jerky...?

Question

So I took my first crack at making jerky a couple of weeks before the holidays and long story short the finished product ended up too salty, some of the thinner slices were nigh unedible.

I cured the meat for 1 hour using an improvised mix of iodized table salt and sodium nitrite from the lab I work in because I was not able to find a proper recipe nor official cure in the store. I did this in a 99 to 1 ratio based on some reading I found. Following the cure I rinsed the meats with water pretty well.

For the base marinade, which I believe is the culprit, I made a solution of soy sauce and Worcestichire sauce in a ratio of 2 to 1. Following that I split the liquid portion of the batch in two and spiced the halves differently, one was intended to be spicy while the other was more of Indian teriyaki I guess with saffron, both contained substantial portions of brown sugar which I figured would offset the saltiness which I was expecting to a certain degree.

What changes to make?

Ran out of space, I marinated the meats for 6 hours.

Answer 1

I at one time had a small Jerky Company called Armageddon Jerky, I'll post a couple of my recipes for you to compare yours to. Perhaps that will help you out, the recipes I'll post have been scaled down for the home Jerky maker.

O.G. (Original Gansta)

2 CUPS SOY
1 HALF CUP WATER
3 QUARTER CUP WORCESTERSHIRE
3 QUARTER CUP APPLE JUICE
1 QUARTER CUP LIQUID SMOKE
1 QUARTER CUP FRANK’S
1 QUARTER CUP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
3 TABLESPOONS WHOLE BLACK PEPPERCORNS (grind in a spice grinder)
10 WHOLE CLOVES (grind with peppercorns)
2 TEASPOONS CAYENNE POWDER
1 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT
3 TABLESPOONS BROWN SUGAR
1 HALF CUP FRESH CHOPPED GARLIC

MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER UNTIL SALT AND SUGAR ARE DISSOLVED.

MARINATE MEAT FOR 24 HOURS.

MAKES ENOUGH FOR 4-5 POUNDS FRESH MEAT.


CHINA SYNDROME

2 CUPS SOY
1 HALF CUP WATER
3 QUARTER CUP WORCESTERSHIRE
3 QUARTER CUP APPLE JUICE
1 QUARTER CUP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
3 QUARTER CUP FRANK’S
1 QUARTER CUP LIQUID SMOKE
3 TABLESPOONS WHOLE BLACK PEPPERCORNS (grind in a spice grinder)
12 WHOLE CLOVES (grind with the peppercorns)
1 TABLESPOON KOSHER SALT
1 TABLESPOON HABANERO POWDER
1 TABLESPOON CAYENNE POWDER
2 TABLESPOONS CHIPOTLE POWDER
2 TABLESPOONS BROWN SUGAR
1 CUP FRESH CHOPPED GARLIC

MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER UNTIL SUGAR AND SALT ARE DISSOLVED.

MARINATE 24 HOURS.

MAKES ENOUGH FOR 4-5 LBS FRESH MEAT.

Hope this helps you out, another important thing is to always dry your jerky at 155 degrees. The soy and sugar in my recipes will be more then enough to "cure" your jerky.

Good luck to you in your quest for the perfect Jerky!! Email me if you'd like the other recipes. I have "Sweet", "Teriyaki", and the the very, very spicy "Armageddon".

Answer 2

i just marinade the beef in "Stubb's" beef marinade overnight. it is wonderful. it sounds like your taking too complicated of an approach. simplify.