Wild boar jerky

This is the favorite jerky everybody I know wants to have. My own mix.
Used to be a secret until now..... Try it u won´t regret it.
There are plenty of different jerky recipes out there for sure. Some good some not so good.
This is sooo good I can assure u . U get the perfect mix of sweetness, saltiness, heat , acidity and the fantastic umami(meat taste).
The tastes exploding and sings nicely in your mouth and last for a very long time.

Perfect snack with a cold beer but also perfect when u start getting hungry. Kills all hunger feeling and u can last for a few more hours after just a little piece of it.
A good snack when u are working, training, fishing, hunting or whenever.
I use to bring some when out hunting for many hours. Don´t need much to feel satisfied and happy.
The kids love it. Good snack for them in school and a good back up when the lunch sucks and candy can be easy at hands. It´s healthy also.

Let´s talk about the process now.
I usually use beef but sometimes wild boar meat like this time. I think u can use all kind of meat more or less.The meat I used this time was small casserole parts. A little bit more work then cutting the slices as they get small and all different sizes.
U can also use a bigger piece of meat as I normally do to work with and making bigger slices.

If u let the meat get frozen first it´s much easier to slice thinner slices while the meat starts to get warm again.
I normally work with about 1 kg meat . Usually fits perfect to the dryer machine I use.
A machine supposed to be used to dry mushrooms or fruits etc. Not meat but it works well though.
U can also dry it in the oven at 70 degrees Celcius with the hatch slightly open to make sure the moist disappears out from the oven. The dryer machines are found on most bigger home electronic retailers and costs about +- EUR 50,-  .

When the meat is sliced u need to marinade it for some time.
I use to keep the meat in the marinade for about 48 houres before I start the drying process.

This is the marinade recipe for 1 kg sliced meat:

Soya 1dl
White wine vinegar 1/2 dl
Liquid Hickory smoke  2 table spoons
Light Syrup 3 table spoons
Muskovado sugar 2 table spoons
Chipotle chili powder  1 tea spoon
Garlic powder  5 tea spoons
Black pepper 2 table spoons
Salt  1 table spoon
Anise powder  1 tea spoon
Cayenne pepper 1 tea spoon


I use a plastic bag . Adding the marinade and meat and closing the bag.
Then I start squeezing and rubbing the plastic bag gently making sure everything in it gets well blended.
When ready the bag is placed in the refrigerator for 48 hours.Turning it around once in a while when remembering.

48 hours is no law but it´s always good if the meat gets a few hours to get married with all the flavors.
Now it´s time for the drying process. Open up the plastic bag and start digging for slices .
The slices are then placed on the dryers different layers. This one I use have 5 layers.
Keep some space between them to make sure the warm air in the machine can move around through the different layers.
When a layer is ready u do the last step before the final drying.
Now it´s time to sprinkle the meat slices with a tasty spice mix.

This is my tasty sprinkle mix:

Salt flakes 1 table spoon
Muskovado sugar 3 tea spoons
Black pepper 2 table spoons
Anise 1 tea spoon
Garlic powder 1 table spoon
Chilli powder medium strong 3 tea spoons
Ginger powder  1 tea spoon

Pretty similar to the basic marinade recipe.
All the spices are grained/mixed to a nice powder. This lasts for a few batches and can be kept in a spice jar.  
When ready I sprinkle very gently on top of each meat slice. Not to much. This gives the little extra touch to it.
Then it´s time to start the drying process. The cover is closed and then I start the machine.
It should keep temperature around 70 degrees Celsius.
Depending how thick u have sliced the meat the longer u might need to keep it in the dryer.
I think 2-3 mm thick slices is good. It differs a lot for sure sometimes.

Now it´s just waiting time. It can take from 6-10 hours . You can start checking after about 6 hours.
Then u might find some smaller thin pieces that might start feeling dry. You can pick them out and wait for the thicker pieces to get ready.
I´m not afraid to let the pieces stay a little bit longer in the dryer to make sure they are really dry.
Pretty simple to remove the dry prices.

Now they are ready to be enjoyed.
You can keep them in a glass jar och plastic bag. The good thing with jerky is that it lasts for a very long time if kept away from moist .
But it never last that long. Not a problem.



 I hope u enjoy this!