Anyone know of a general brand of Beef Jerky that doesn’t have MSG in it? I searched the forums but found all the store ones mentioned contain MSG.
Or if anyone that makes Beef Jerky is interested in selling me some I could be interested in that, especially if you’re in the Central Florida area.
(not to sure if asking something like that is allowed on here so apologies to mods if it isn’t)
I think your best best is getting a food dehydrator and finding a local butcher to get the right type of cut. My family makes it sometimes and it turns out pretty good, although not as sweet tasting.
I try to wipe off the MSG on beef jerkey, then I put it in my mom’s noodles. LOL
Trader Joe’s is MSG. I’m 98% sure.
well I found a few with no MSG at whole foods and also at Omaha Steaks but its weird the protein is also a lot lower than the gas station brands. Gonna keep looking.
Top round roast, Best meat for jerky. Bottom round is a close second. Many stores will run specials where it is 1.99 per pound. Buy several and freeze them.
To slice properly, locate the thick fat pad, with fat pad facing up on the cutting board, slice into 3 or 4 sections lengthwise depending on the size of the roast and how big you want your peices to be. Essentially you want to make it into 3 or 4 steaks that are about 2 inches thick. Move all but one to the side and with an ELECTRIC knife start slicing. You begin by removing the thicklayer of fat on the one end, then continue slicing in the same manner, this will yeild you even peices with the meat fibers running in the correct direction. IMO thinner is better, take your time and try to get them to 1/8th inch, as you get towards the end you will likley have to just chunck up the last bit of meat, thats ok, 90% of it’s going to be perfect slices. Repeat this process with the other sections.
kthxbye
V
picture of top round for reference
kthxbye
V
My marinade is simple, elegant and delicious. I have to make 20 batches of jerky a year for other people because they demand it of me.
2 cups brown sugar, 2 cups soy sauce, liquid smoke to taste. If you use one of the bottles you get in the supermarket, the 4.0 oz bottles, just dump the whole thing in. If you get the nicer bottles form a specialty store (Gander Mountain has a great liquid smoke) you will have to do some test runs. I use 3 tablespoons of the kind I get at gander Mt. From there add in black pepper. This is going to be the main ingredient to control the heat and spice of the jerky. It’s hard to say what you will like, but at least 1/8 of a cup I would reccomend. I do like it to have some bite to it though so if you are scared, just go a little less than that.
Thats it. I have some advanced recipies but this is the homerun hitter. Prepare your marinade in a large bowl, then as you slice your meat up, just toss it in the bowl. Leave it for 12-24 hours mixing occasionally then pop it on the dehydrator. If you get the dehydrator I showed above (the one I use myself) turn it to high and your jerky will be ready in 8-12 hours depending on the thickness of your slices.
kthxbye
V
One other thing I should mention, I don’t trim any of the fat off besides the main slab of fat. Fat can turn rancid so if you don’t think you will be polishing off the bag in a week or so, you should trim as much fat off as possible. You can also freeze half if you like and that will help.
kthxbye
V
I would also like to add that once you buy the dehydrator for $70 bucks, you will start saving a LOT of money doing this. Say you get your hands on a nice 5Lb roast. The rule of thumb is for every 3 Lbs of meat you will get 1lb of jerkey. So you will have 1.6 Lbs of jerky or right around 26 ounces. IF you were smart and got your roast on sale for 1.99 the meat itself would have run you $9.95. Now I buy my soy and brown sugar at BJ’s and while I don’t know the exact prices off the top of my head but the marinade runs me about 3-4 bucks per batch.
So if you figure all this out you will make a batch of jerkey which weighs about 26 ounces for $13.50 on average. Your standard 6oz bag of jerkey in the grocery store is 7 or 8 bucks, I have even seen them as high as 12 bucks. so for 26 ounces of store bought jerkey you will end up paying $34. Each 5 Lb roast you make will save you $20 off store bought jerkey. In 4 batches you have paid for your dehydrator. Not to mention you know whats in the jerkey, it tastes better, it’s fresher, and you will eat more of it because you have a 2lb bag lying around, not eating it sparringly because it’s sooo expensive.
kthxbye
V
One more final thought. This stuff is PROTEIN PACKED! It’s got 100G of protein per Lb WET, so if you buy a 5Lb roast thats 500G protein. When you dry it you take out water not protein, so you have 500G protein packed down into a 1.7 lb package. It’s very very easy to grab a handful of jerky and get 25G of protein out of it for a quick snack and it is much more enjoyable than a protein shake. Ok thats all
kthxbye
V
There are 2 problems with purchasing a dehydrator:
is that is will lose most of its long term cost benefits because I’m hopefully going into the Marines soon.
there is quite honestly 0 space where I am living. I sleep on an air-matress thats pushed up next to a couch with a dining room table less than 3’ away on the other side of my bed. 2 people cannot even stand in the kitchen space, and I don’t have a garage. Its just completely impractical.
That is a rather convincing argument though and I know you can also dry fruit on it which I love and that my mom does eat so theoretically she could continue using it for that after I’m gone (she doesn’t eat jerky). That link however is to a crossbow. Do you know the size of that dehydrator and the name of it?
Have you done any dried fruits? Do you know what type of savings would be available for drying fruit, if any?
vegita, can you give the correct link to the dehydrator you use? it looks amazing
Sorry, here is a better link.
If that doesn’t work the name of it is vegikiln. there are 6,8 and 10 tray models. I have the 8 tray model and it is large enough to accomodate 2 5lb roasts at one time. Unless you are going to go jerky crazy I would go with the 6 or 8 tray model. On 90% of my jerky runs I only use 5-6 trays. The 6 tray model os $70. That is dirt cheap for the quality of the dehydrator.
V
thanks vegita
have you done any fruits with it and could give an example of like how many lbs of apples = lbs of dried apples for example?
I don’t do much fruit. so I don’t have a lot of experience with that. Sorry.
V
Ostrim? good stuff, not sure about the MSG though
Oberto.
You can find it in just about any supermarket, convenience store, pharmacy, or Walmart. It’s about 5-6 bucks a bag. I just went through three bags this week (travelling on biz).
I know the natural and hickory flavors have no MSG. Not sure about teriyaki flavor. Always check the ingredients list before you buy, though. Different packaging or sources may prepare it slightly differently for different regions, like with ketchup and soda. A recent example of this we learned recently is with PopTarts. My (pregnant) wife eats these things, but stays away from hydrogenated oils. Two packs of Poptarts (one small size and one bulk size) ingredients list were different. One had hydrog.oil, the other didn’t. I suspect this could be the case with beef jerky and MSG.
“Eat like an Alpha”: http://www.eatlikeanalpha.com/
lol.
hmm I know I’ve seen Obertos before I’ll have to find which grocery store or gas station near me sells it. Thanks Steely
