If you prefer jerky to other delicacies, but want to move a little away from the classic and familiar beef, we suggest that you turn your attention to jerky venison. It was thanks to the meat of these noble and beautiful animals that the peoples once mastered the North.
Currently, the indigenous inhabitants of the Far North do not depart from tradition and prepare deer meat in a million different ways. Venison jerky, fried, salted, dried, raw and frozen ... There are a lot of options, but jerky remains the most popular. That is what we offer you to cook today.
How to choose venison
The surest way not to run into low-quality meat is to purchase it only from a trusted supplier. It is also important to determine the part with which you want to make a cut. The most valuable and delicious parts of a deer (for cooking steaks or jerky) are the sternum and the shoulder blade. Less valuable and tasty are the inguinal region and thigh.
Essential Products
To cook the classic jerky deer, you need to stock up on a kilogram of venison, one tablespoon of salt, a pinch of ground pepper, half a glass of chopped garlic (can be replaced with garlic powder). Some recipes contain "liquid smoke" and fresh onions, but we will not use them, adhering to the classics of the genre.
Sun-dried venison. Recipe
Before proceeding with the preparation, experts advise taking precautions. Since you will work with raw meat, which, as you know, can be a carrier of numerous harmful bacteria, wash your hands with soap and water before and after cooking.
For dressing - marinade - you need to mix all the spices. You can (optionally) replace salt with soy sauce. The meat is cut into thin slices about thirty centimeters long and ten to fifteen centimeters wide. It is very important that all pieces of meat are of the same size and thickness, without nicks, cuts, cracks and burrs.
To make the meat evenly marinated, place it in a container or plastic bag with a Zip-Lock and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. After that, you can hang the venison for drying. At home, a balcony is best suited for this purpose, as it is a well-ventilated and cool place. The drying process takes about three to four days.
At home, you can use an oven or a refrigerator to make dried venison.
For the refrigerator: shift each piece of meat with gauze, wrap the top layer and leave it in the form in the cold for seven to nine days. For the oven: pieces of meat are laid out on foil, sent to the cabinet for four to five hours at a temperature of 200 degrees. In order for the venison to dry well and give off maximum moisture, it is recommended to open the oven door a little periodically and turn the meat over in an hour.
The benefits and harms of dried venison
From the point of view of fat content and amino acid composition, deer meat is the most valuable food product for the human body. Properly prepared, it can be eaten even by young children and the elderly.
Due to the content of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, B vitamins, E, PP, A and other vitamins, dried venison is very useful for people suffering from atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Venison also stimulates digestion, tidies up the gastrointestinal tract.
Since deer in nature consume a lot of reindeer moss in food, meat also has antibacterial properties. Indigenous people of the North use it as a medicine for colds and allergies. The constant consumption of venison helps prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels, reduce the risks of strokes and heart attacks. Sun-dried venison will be useful for women, especially nursing or pregnant women, and for men with potency problems.
By the way, not only deer meat is good for the human body. For example, numerous medications are made from offal (extract from the horns), designed to combat hearing and vision diseases. Northerners say that it is thanks to venison that you can get not only health from the inside, but also radiant clean skin, and an excellent, high spirits.