Asian Sweet & Peppery Jerky

• 1/3 cup pineapple juice, unsweetened
• 3 tbsp oyster flavor sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 2 lb ground beef, super lean (97%)
• 2 tsp Morton Tender Quick Meat Cure
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together all of the basting sauce ingredients and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the jerky ingredients.
3. Using your clean hands, mix the jerky ingredients together VERY well.
4. Get in there and really squish it up!
5. I find it's best to rinse your hands under very warm water about every minute while mixing the meat, shaking off excess water (rather than towel drying).
6. Not only warms up your hands, but adds a bit of moisture to the mix, which makes it come out of the jerky gun more smoothly.
7. You want to hand mix for about 8 to 10 minutes to get the flavors well distributed.
8. Load your jerky gun with the meat mixture.
9. I like to use a large rubber spatula to push the meat down as I load.
10. Squeeze out strips of jerky mix onto your dehydrator trays until all the mix is used up.
11. There's always going to be a bit of meat mixture left in the nozzle tip of the jerky gun.
12. No worries!
13. No waste!
14. Unscrew the jerky gun and pull it out.
15. Pinch off small pieces of the leftover meat mixture (see photo) and flatten it to the same thickness as your jerky strips.
16. Fill in the small empty spaces on the dehydrator trays.
17. These little pieces are what you'll be taste-testing during the drying process since dehydrating times can vary.
18. Gently brush the top side of the meat with the basting sauce.
19. Dehydrate at 160F for 75 minutes.
20. Wash your hands very well.
21. Gently turn over all the jerky.
22. Brush on more basting sauce.
23. Rotate your trays and continue dehydrating.
24. Continue dehydrating another 3 to 4 hours.
25. The time is variable depending on your dehydrator and moisture conditions.
26. Every hour, remove one of the small test pieces of jerky from the dehydrator.
27. Allow it to cool completely (about 30 minutes) so the basting sauce can become less sticky and eat it.
28. When you're happy with the dryness and texture, your jerky is done.
29. Mine is generally done, to my liking, in a total of about 6 hours of dehydrating.
30. Turn off the dehydrator and unstack the trays leaving the jerky on the trays until completely cooled, at least 30 minutes.
31. It must be completely cooled before packaging!
32. I usually wait 1 to 2 hours before packaging.
33. If you prefer a strong pepper kick to your jerky (this is mild), as soon as you unstack the trays, while the basting sauce coating is still a bit sticky, sprinkle with coarse ground black pepper.
34. When completely cool, package in airtight containers.
35. I like to vacuum seal about 6 pieces to a bag with my FoodSaver.
36. But you can use ziplock bags or any food container with a tight-fitting lid.
37. This batch here is being shipped to an out-of-state granddaughter, so vacuum packaging is the ideal method.
38. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: If you're lucky enough to know a hunter, deer and elk meat make excellent jerky and, ground, can be substituted for the ground beef in this recipe.
39. The Morton Tender Quick Meat Cure is available in many supermarkets in the spice section near the salt.
40. It's also available at Amazon, though more expensive.
41. The meat cure retards spoilage, although this jerky tends to get eaten up pretty quickly.
42. Should you choose to not add the meat cure, add 2 teaspoons of salt to the recipe.
43. Here's another tasty ground beef jerky you might want to try:

pineapple juice, flavor sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, white sugar, ground beef, garlic, red pepper, ground black pepper, brown sugar, onion, soy sauce

Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/342561-asian-sweet-peppery-jerky (may not work)