Mojito Jerky

I just love everything that is Mojito. From the drinks to the food. With that I decided to create a Mojito Jerky. Not an easy undertaking if you don't have a recipe. I had to create a rub from scratch and I am sure after my taste buds recover I will be modifying it quite often. One big science experiment. At one point after many attempts to get it right I had my wife start sampling the recipe. When you create something like this you're using measurements in grams. 

This mixture is adequate for 4 lbs (1814 grams) of meat. 

1/2 cup of Worcestershire Sauce (this was used for flavor)
1/4 cup Soy Sauce (Mostly used for Sodium Content)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
3 Tbls Mojito Spice Blend
.25% Cure #1 (meat weight 1474 grams X .25% = 3.69 grams)
Rum......Enough to spray meat before dehydration

Anyhow I took the meat and partially froze it so it would be easier to slice. Remember slice it against the grain into 1/4 -3/8 of an inch.

After 24 hours I line them up on racks and sprinkle on some additional Mojito Spice Blend

This might look crazy but it worked. Mist your beef with your favorite rum.

Vacuumed Sealed at SV at 135˚ƒ for 3 plus hours. This will pasteurize the Jerky for safe consumption. 

All Done!! I dehydrated the Mojito Jerky for 8 hours at 125˚ƒ. 125˚ƒ might seem low but like all my Jerkies they're pasteurized using the Sous-Vide cooking method at 135˚ƒ for about 3 hours. Love the texture at 125˚ƒ. Anyhow this Jerky came out great. Love this stuff. 


Note: the Mojito Spice Blend came out perfect!!! This blend although good for Jerky might be too strong for other food applications.

Safety and Jerky

I don't want to go on a rant or lecture about Beef Jerky but there are some precautions you need to take. The amount of jerky recipes out there pales in comparison to the amount of opinions there are about how to make Beef Jerky properly. You can google to you're blue in the face and everyone has an opinion. There are a lot of rules out there and if you want to explore them I have collected on my BLOG. Click the Link HERE and go to the bottom and click on the desired information. 

This is what I do. I make sure there is adequate salt levels. If I am using a dry rub I use 2.5-3% salt. If I use a marinade I go by taste and experience. I use Cure # 1 because I tend to like my Jerky a little moister than others and cannot guarantee that the AW will be below the 85 threshold to ward off Botulism. I store my Jerky vacuum sealed in bags hence Cure # 1. I refuse to pasteurize like the USDA suggest so I have an alternate way of doing it that provides great texture. I pack all the Jerky in Vacuum sealed bags no thicker than an inch and Sous-Vide at 135 degrees for a minimum of two hours. I prefer 3-4 hours for improved texture. All cured and pasteurized.