Stop Making This One Mistake With Homemade Beef Jerky

Making beef jerky can be a difficult task if you don't know what you're doing. While some will use the wrong kind of beef for jerky or not store the jerky properly after it's ready to eat, others make their lives much harder by not freezing the meat they're using beforehand; one of the smallest yet most important steps in the beef jerky-making process. This is because soft, room temperature meat is typically more wobbly and less firm, making it much harder to cut precisely.

We discussed the topic of freezing meat for beef jerky with Jon Urbana, founder of KOW Steaks, who explained exactly why this step of preparation is so vital to the rest of the process. "Freezing the meat before slicing definitely helps," Urbana explained. "About 30 to 60 minutes in the freezer makes it firm and much easier to cut cleanly." With this in mind, remember not to freeze the beef for too long. You want the meat to be firm and easy to slice, but not frozen entirely solid to the point that it'll impact the jerky's eventual taste and texture.

Seeing as the difficulty of cutting unfrozen meat is the principal reason why forgetting to freeze it is one of the biggest mistakes you can make with beef jerky, you may be wondering why precise cuts themselves are so vital to the process. Cutting the beef without forethought can result in jerky with an unpleasant texture. For example, cutting against the grain rather than with it (something that's much harder to do when the meat is room temperature) is a great way to produce softer, more tender pieces of jerky.

The size of each piece of meat is also a factor in producing tender jerky. Urbana advises us to cut the jerky into pieces thin enough to remain easy to chew but not overly thin to the point that they're flimsy or prone to falling apart. "For the best results, aim for slices about ½ centimeter thick," he said. "This thickness holds up well during drying without breaking apart, but isn't so thick that the jerky turns overly chewy."