Need your help!

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by jimj

Probably not but I was hoping someone out there knew of at least one. I mean it's been done for I'd guess over 100 yrs so you'd think it would be out there somewhere.
We've tried the "canned" stuff and compared to fresh it's not very good at all.

did you try calling them to see if they'd ship you some??

[jimj]

I'm planning on calling to see if they'd share the recipe since I'm so far away. As for shipping some, it generally adds significant cost to the food making it cost prohibative (at least for me) so that idea won't really work.

[bluefeather52]

I found these directions for drying beef in one of my many cookbooks, "The Farm Cook and Rule Book." I don't know if it would come close to the flavor of what you're looking for, but here it is:

Dried Beef

Use the round for this purpose. To 50 lbs. of cooled meat, weigh out 3 pounds of salt, 1-1/2 pounds of brown sugar, and 1 ounce of saltpeter. Mix these ingredients and divide into three portions. Rub one portion on the meat and place it in an earthenware jar. Let stand 3 days, then take the meat from the jar, but leave the syrup formed during the curing in it, rub the second portion of the mixture on the meat, return it to the jar and let stand 3 more days. Then take out the meat and rub the third portion on it and put back in the jar with the syrup. After standing 3 days, hang it up in the smokehouse. Smoke until dry and then keep in a dry place.

This may be more work than it's worth to you, but it was the only "recipe" for dried beef I could find. Good luck! (Will you have to build a smokehouse first??)

[jimj]

Thank you for the recipe! I won't have to build a smokehouse, a smoker will work just fine.
From what I've heard so far it takes about a week to cure it and a few days of smoking to dry it out so this recipe looks pretty accurate.