Home Made Beef Jerky

I guess it seems a little wierd that I’d have so many vegan recipes on this blog and then once in a while throw in something thats blatantly not vegan (err Beef Jerky?? )…   The thing is,  when it comes to baked goods, I have to go vegan because I can’t do eggs or dairy, and then there’s the gluten and xanthan gum thing I don’t do either.  Makes life an adventure ;).  Outside of baking though, I do eat animal protein.  I would love, *love* to be able to be vegan or vegetarian but its just not in my makeup.  One or 2 days without meat, chicken or fish and I totally lose my strength, crave sugar like crazy, and kinda start melting on the inside.  I musta been a vampire in another life or something. yeesh. ;)

Anyhow, I don’t post alot of meat recipes because frankly, I’m not all that great at making meat dishes.  I try, I do.  But none of it is really ‘post’ worthy.  I basically  poach a chicken breast and chop it in pieces and throw it in one of my salads. I do the same with salmon and tilapia.  Chicken stock is from a basic roast chicken.  I don’t eat much beef outside of quick stirfrys.  Pork, veal, lamb and ground turkey I usually make into meatballs or mini sausages (I DO have the recipes on the blog for those though.  They’re delicious.)  Liver is a quick flash in a hot pan and eaten with a little lemon juice. My meat, in general, is super simple. Get a steak or pork chop, cook it in the pan.  Thats about it. (although there is this stewed rabbit dish I should get going on for Easter…).  Alot of this is because my former mainstay ingredients like soy sauce or worcestershire, or garlic, or eggs, or breadcrumbs or tomatoes, or dark leafy greens that I’d prepare with meats I can’t have anymore.  So I get creative on the salads and for now my meats are simple till I get a bit better at it.

Now, about beef jerky. Making beef jerky is something I have been wanting to do for aaaages now.  The thing is, every recipe I came across insisted on ingredients like Worcestershire, soy sauce, molasses, liquid smoke, etc…  Basically everything I can’t have. Untillllllll, I stumbled across a few terrific ingredients I’d never seen before.  The first, is Raw Coconut Aminos by Coconut Secret (If you’re in Ottawa, I found it at Rainbow Foods). Guys. Blew my mind. Its basically soy-free soy sauce!! Its delicious! (I’m psyched to get back into stirfrying!).  The next thing I found was gluten free, unsulfured molasses (woot! sulfite free!)  Its called Nutrimax Natural Foods Blackstrap Molasses. I couldn’t locate a website for them but if you’re in Canada, you can find it at Loblaws.

So, after all this lengthy chatting, let me finally get on to the recipe!  Its so simple you’ll laugh that you didn’t try it earlier.  I was inspired by the recipe here at Gomestic.