Jerky and Lentils

In preparation for my trinity alps hike last weekend I made a ton of food, but didn't have time to sort through the pictures and post the recipes.

The first thing I made was some jerky, but rather than a jerky for snacking, I made it specifically to season the lentil dinner. I really enjoyed the flavor of the jerky, and the way it worked with the mashed potatoes and lentils. It did cause a bit of gas when eaten dried, but prepared it was mostly fine.

1. 10g salt
2. 15g black pepper corns
3. 5g coriander
4. 9g cumin
5. 4g all spice
6. 8g molasses
7. 2g agave nectar
8. 1.6# beef
9. pinch of cayenne
10. double pinch of cinnamon
    
11. 15mL tamari
12. 1/2 small onion fine dice
13. hand full of garlic cloves, minced
14. 5mL champagne wine vinegar
15. 200mL water
    

I start with a blend of spices consisting of black pepper,
coriander, cumin, allspice, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon.


Toast the seed like spices, and grind to a powder


combine spices with 10mL molasses, 200mL water, 5mL vinegar
15mL tamari, and blend well, add in 1/2 small onion diced fine,
and 6 minced cloves of garlic.


I am going to marinate this 1.64lbs of london broil over night in the refrigerator.


Because this is a small batch of big pieces, I will dry it flat
rather than hang it as I did with the mango-chipotle jerky
last season.


the jerky laid out for drying


130g of the dried jerky will be chopped into bites
and added to 75g of lentils and 45g dry mashed
potatoes per two person meal.


bite size pieces.


More coming soon , this is backpacking season !

Mango Chipotle Beef with Caribbean spiced beans

I don't send untested meals into the wilderness. I like to eat too much for that type of adventure, so I tried the dried dish for dinner last night. Honestly, it was much lighter on flavor after being dried, and if I made it again, I would make some fresh spice mix to toss onto the mixture right before it goes into the dryer. It was flavorful and tasty, but not as bold as I thought it should be. I would increase the cumin amount in the spice mix too.

I'm off to Yosemite, I'll let you know how the trip was when I get back, Cheers !

Enjoy some pictures while you are here :

Fresh out of the oven, the beans and two types of rice are visible. Nice bright green spots of cilantro.

A stick of mango jerky for the dish

chopped into little pieces,

added to the dried food in bowl

Which was tossed into this boiling water, (mix:Water 1:2)

removed from heat, and allowed to stand 10 minutes

here it is after the 10 minutes are up

I simmered it for two minutes, but really it needs to go 10 minutes. The beans were a little bit tough.

Put into the dish after simmering

and topped with some crushed nuts and parsley.

mango chipotle jerky

I got the dates wrong on the Yosemite trip. It's this weekend, not the following. As per the request of a group member, I will be preparing beef. We may be bringing a bigger stove, but regardless, I did pretty good to keep this close to instant. I think it will need to have boiling water added, let sit for 10 minutes, and then bring to a simmer for two or three more minutes.

Since beef is nearly synonymous with jerky on the trail, I made some at home for the trip. I wanted a tasty jerky for eating on the trail, and a sweet seasoned meat for cooking dinner. I settled on a onion, garlic, and red pepper for eating, and mango-chipotle for cooking. I am planning to make some black beans with caribbean spice to pair with the mango-chipotle beef. On the trail, I'll toast some crushed nuts for topping, or use toasted nuts, and finishing the dish.

Over the weekend I aquired a 3lb london broil and had it sliced 1/4" thick. Half of the meat was put into a mango-chipotle marinade, and half was placed into a garlic, onion, and pepper marinade. The meat was incubated over night in the refridgerator before being dried in my oven at the lowest setting with the door propped open.

I wish I would have taken pictures of the preparation, but I had already put the meat in the marinades before it occurred to me to go get my camera. I hope that as I continue this blog, I will become more familiar with using the camera to document the process.

The mango jerky is awesome in both texture and flavor. Nice chew, soft, an upfront sweetness countered by a soft smoky heat on the palate. If I was making this again, I would add some Cayenne or more chili to boost the heat slightly. I like the subtleness of the smoke flavor.
My roomies both liked it a lot, and appreciated the ginger, mango, and pepper flavors. I think we all found it shockingly good, and a nice start to a dinner this weekend.

I wasn't thinking that the different marinades would affect drying times that much. I had to throw the onion-garlic jerky in the trash. Apparently I managed to only check the mango jerky for dryness. I way over dried the other. I ate a few bites, and wasn't enjoying myself. I wouldn't want that experience on the trail, and I certainly wouldn't want to share that with my friends.

Mango-Chipotle Marinade
2 extra large mangos, diced
two palm fulls of turbinado sugar
4 chipotle cleaned of adobo sauce
1 medium white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and rough chop
3tsp Salt
Crack black pepper
1/2 tsp fresh ground red chili
a healthy dose of minced ginger
--toss diced mango with sugar to coat
--collect sweet water that is released from the fruit
--add salt, black pepper, chipotle peppers to juice and puree
--add diced onion and garlic, ginger, cayenne and ground red chili

Onion-Garlic-Pepper marinade
two onions diced fine
8 cloves chopped garlic
3Tbls cracked black pepper
1Tbls crushed red pepper
1/2cup soy sauce
a good shaking of the worcestershire sauce
1tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp Salt (optional)

--Mix everything together

Here are some pictures of the jerky preparation

This is the mango-chipotle marinade with the beef in it.


Here is a close up shot of the marinated meat before drying


This is my own idea. By resting the over rack on cans, I can create enough space to dry hanging slices. I use toothpicks to hang the slices.


Here is the dried jerky