1. Mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl big enough to accommodate your meat.
2. Once everything is well mixed, add your strips of beef and make sure each strip is coated well. Be sure your hands and work surface are clean… I use a disposable rubber glove for sanitary purposes & because I hate touching raw meat. =)
3. Take your strips of beef, and put them in a Gallon Ziplock Bag. Remove as much air from the bag, seal it well, and place it in the Refrigerator for 12-24 hours to marinate. Or, for a more intense marinade, use your Food Sealer to remove the excess air & seal the meat.
4. After marinating, remove the beef from the bag and dehydrate according to the directions below for either an Oven Method or Dehydrator Method:

OVEN METHOD:

1. Don’t skip this step! Line the lower rack of your oven with aluminum foil, being careful not to wrap the sides so you can slide it in and out of the oven with ease. This takes less than 2 minutes, and will save you hours of clean-up & protect the lower heating element. Replace the foil lined rack to the lowest rack possible – right above the lower heating element.
2. If your top oven rack is really dirty, wash it well before placing the beef jerky on it. You don’t want to cross contaminate the jerky with any bad bacteria or old food. Once your rack is clean, run the broiler for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria inside before beginning.
3. Preheat oven to the lowest temp… which in my case is 170 degrees, but don’t go lower than 155-160 otherwise you run the risk of dangerous bacteria growth. Any higher, and you end up cooking the beef jerky and not dehydrating it – which is what makes it shelf stable and edible.
4. Hang the strips of marinated beef over the top rack grates, spacing the meat so that there isn’t any overlap. The more space between the strips, the faster and more efficient the drying will be.
5. Depending on the thickness of the meat slices, dehydration will take anywhere from 5-8 hours. The meat will turn from red, to light brown, then to a dark brown color when it’s done. You really want to be sure the meat is completely dehydrated, but without turning it into shoe leather.

DEHYDRATOR METHOD:

1. I LOVE my Excalibur Dehydrator and it does an amazing job dehydrating beef jerky… But, I personally hate the mess, clean-up & sanitation required to make beef jerky in it – and then running the risk of cross contaminating my raw foods I often make. It is definitely more time consuming than the Oven Method, but will work well either way.
2. Begin by making sure your dehydrator & trays are clean & sanitized – you don’t want to risk contaminating your meat with bad bacteria.
3. Set the dehydrator temp to 155 degrees (the highest setting)
4. You can either use the trays to hang the strips of beef, or lay them flat on your screens. Either way, I highly recommend lining the bottom of your dehydrator with a layer of foil, or a tray to make clean-up easier.
5. Let the meat dehydrate until done, being sure to rotate the trays as needed throughout the dehydrating process – about every hour or so.
6. It takes approx. 6-10 hours to finish dehydrating depending on the thickness of your meat. The more space between the strips, the faster and more efficient the drying will be. The meat will turn from red, to light brown, then to a dark brown color when it’s done. You really want to be sure the meat is completely dehydrated, but without turning it into shoe leather.