Sweet Sriracha Beef Jerky
enough marinade for 2-3 lb of meat - eye of round, top round are good, sliced 1/8-1/4 inch thick against the grain

1 cup rice vinegar
1 1/4 cups sriracha sauce
2-4 Tablespoons brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt

Combine marinade ingredients. Dip slices of meat in marinade and place into ziplock bag. Pour rest of marinade into bag. Remove as much air as possible and refrigerate 1-2 days. Massage bag and turn over a couple of times a day.

Blot meat dry, but don't rinse. Smoke at 180 F for 2-4 hours (start checking at 2 hours and remove slices as they are done to your liking.)
Refrigerate or freeze for long storage.

Is there a need for cure?

Is there a need for cure?

I think only if you are not going to eat it right away.  I believe the cure is supposed to help slow the growth of mold on the fat left on the jerky.

I know that jerky isn't pemmican but they're both dried meat with fat.  Pemmican, in rawhide bags, was kept without refrigeration for years.  So I thought (hoped) that jerky might keep a long time without cure, especially if refrigerated.  Guess not.

I know that jerky isn't pemmican but they're both dried meat with fat.  Pemmican, in rawhide bags, was kept without refrigeration for years.  So I thought (hoped) that jerky might keep a long time without cure, especially if refrigerated.  Guess not.

If refrigerated, I suspect you will get up to a month.  I have had some not refrigerated go bad in less than 2 weeks without cure.

I've been vac sealing 5oz per bag.  I put them in the freezer.  When I think I may want some, I let it thaw in the fridge or on the counter.  I usually eat it in a few days then.

Is there a need for cure?

With a hot smoke at 180° I think you'd be fine.  If you want to get semi-technical, measure the weight before and after.  If you've lost at least 40% weight, your water activity should be low enough to prevent any sort of growth.  If you want to add cure, add cure #1 at the rate of 0.25% per 1000g of meat.  So, 1000g meat needs 2.5g Cure #1.

I've been using 1/4 teaspoon of cure per # of meat.

I've been using 1/4 teaspoon of cure per # of meat.

That puts you just a wee bit over the limit (FDA limit is 200 ppm) at 206 ppm, so pretty close.  I usually run 156 ppm, works just fine and less nitrite...not sure if that does me any good but that's what I do anyways haha.  I bought a cheap digital scale that measures to 0.01g on ebay, so that helps keep my OCD at bay for these kind of things.   

I bought one of those scales but have been going off of other recipes.  Could you explain the issue with being over the so called limit?

Just to be pedantic, it's not a "so called limit" it's a limit.   

I've heard that it can give you an upset stomach/headache/diarrhea.  None of that sounded very pleasant, so I opted to stay at the 156 ppm level for comminuted meat.  I prefer to use the scale for small recipes as a small amount over can make a rather large PPM difference.  So if you use 1/4 tsp per lb, you're good at 206 ppm, although like I said before, a teeeny bit high.  However, say it's maybe a bit more heaping than normal so instead of 1.5g, you're using 2g.  Now you're at 275 ppm, which is starting to get up there.

The other interesting thing is that the USDA doesn't give you a minimum, just a max.  I gather because cold storage/freezing works fine to preserve meat with no additives.  I've vac sealed whole muscles with cure (pork loin for instance) at the 156 ppm rate and left them in the fridge for I think 2 months.  Opened the bags to some very fresh smelling meat, probably smelled better than when I put it in there.  Obviously that's how it's supposed to work, but I was really impressed at how well it worked.

This jerky making is more difficult than just hanging strips of meat in the sun.  How did the Native Americans and Canadian First Nation people not poison themselves?

Morton Tender Quick instructions, "For brine curing, dissolve 1 cup TENDER QUICK cure in 4 cups water.  Place meat in brine, refrigerate and allow to cure 24 hours."

I want to keep any jerky I make relatively free from spoiling in the hands of those I might give it to.  At what strength do you recommend adding Tender Quick to a jerky brine recipe?

This jerky making is more difficult than just hanging strips of meat in the sun.  How did the Native Americans and Canadian First Nation people not poison themselves?

Morton Tender Quick instructions, "For brine curing, dissolve 1 cup TENDER QUICK cure in 4 cups water.  Place meat in brine, refrigerate and allow to cure 24 hours."

I want to keep any jerky I make relatively free from spoiling in the hands of those I might give it to.  At what strength do you recommend adding Tender Quick to a jerky brine recipe?

I can't help you with that.  I only use the pink cure salt.

This jerky making is more difficult than just hanging strips of meat in the sun.  How did the Native Americans and Canadian First Nation people not poison themselves?

I thought this was an interesting question so tried to do some on-line research.  The consensus seems to be that Native Americans just  dried meat in the sun.  Small thin strips, nothing added.  It seems that a lot of the meats they were using were not high fat meats.  Guess if you were brave enough to experiment you could test it out.  But, when you think about it, generations of folks survived well before food safety rules were in place.

This jerky making is more difficult than just hanging strips of meat in the sun.  How did the Native Americans and Canadian First Nation people not poison themselves?

I thought this was an interesting question so tried to do some on-line research.  The consensus seems to be that Native Americans just  dried meat in the sun.  Small thin strips, nothing added.  It seems that a lot of the meats they were using were not high fat meats.  Guess if you were brave enough to experiment you could test it out.  But, when you think about it, generations of folks survived well before food safety rules were in place.

They were probably smarter than us too.

Is there a need for cure?

With a hot smoke at 180° I think you'd be fine.  If you want to get semi-technical, measure the weight before and after.  If you've lost at least 40% weight, your water activity should be low enough to prevent any sort of growth.  If you want to add cure, add cure #1 at the rate of 0.25% per 1000g of meat.  So, 1000g meat needs 2.5g Cure #1.

Let's see if I have my math right on this one.

1000g of meat is approx 2.2lbs
1# meat would be approx .4545g

2.5g of cure for 2.2lbs of meat would be approx 1.136g for 1# of meat
1/4 tsp of cure #1 is .58g

Looks like I'm using half of what you are recommending and you are telling me I am using more than the FDA limit.