Beef Jerky for the Road

Anyone who regularly goes on long hikes or spends hours on the road knows the moment hunger creeps in. Not enough to stop and sit down for a proper meal, but enough to want to reach into your bag or the glovebox for something. A sandwich works, a piece of fruit too, or an energy bar. But for the road, few things work as well for me as beef jerky: hearty little strips of meat, firm enough to really chew on, salty with just a touch of sweet and heat. It’s not a snack that’s gone in two bites — it’s something you spend time with, and maybe that’s exactly why it suits long rides so well.

The meat

For beef jerky, you want the leanest cut you can find. Fat and sinew aren’t just unpleasant to chew through — they’re also what makes jerky turn rancid faster. I usually go for beef eye of round or topside, though sirloin, rump steak, or another lean cut of beef could work just as well. Slice the meat into thin strips — a meat slicer makes this effortless, but a sharp knife does the job just fine. Pop the meat in the freezer for a while first, not until it’s frozen solid, just long enough to firm it up; that makes it far easier to cut thin, even slices.

A night in the marinade

Once the meat is sliced, it goes into the fridge for at least a night. I always build my marinade around three flavours: sweet, salty and sour — not just because that combination tastes good, but because those same flavours help preserve the meat. For the sweet, I use brown sugar, molasses and honey — the molasses adds a bit of depth, a dark, almost earthy undertone. Soy sauce and ketjap manis handle the salty side, worcestershire sauce brings the sour. On top of that goes paprika powder, a touch of smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, and usually some chili powder too — not too much, since jerky can handle a bit of heat, but I still want to taste the meat underneath it all. Feel free to adjust the spices to your own taste, as long as the balance between sweet, salty and sour stays intact.

From meat to jerky

After a night of marinating, the meat is ready to dry. Originally that was a simple principle: slice the meat, hang it up, and let the sun and wind do the work. There’s something beautiful about that old way of preserving — turning meat into something that can travel for weeks or months. These days, though, hanging meat outside isn’t practical for everyone, so there are a few ways to do it at home.

Drying Cabinet

A dehydrating cabinet comes closest to the original method: a steady airflow slowly draws the moisture out of the meat, in a process that, depending on conditions, can take weeks. This is exactly the method where the details matter most — enough airflow, enough space between the strips, and a clean, hygienic setup — because the moment moisture lingers where it shouldn’t, mould gets every opportunity it needs.

Food dehydrator

A food dehydrator is probably the most practical option at home. You lay the marinated strips on the trays and let warm air pass over them for hours, at a set temperature designed to dry food slowly without cooking it. Within a day or two, the jerky is usually ready, and the nice part is you barely need to check on it.

Oven

Then there’s the oven, which also works, though it’s a bit less ideal — an oven, after all, is built for heating, not drying. Set the temperature as low as it goes and prop the door open slightly for ventilation. Because an oven tends to run hotter than a dehydrator, it works faster (often just a few hours), but the meat can end up partly cooking in the process, which changes the texture. For a small batch it works fine, but anyone doing this regularly will likely find a dehydrator the more pleasant option.

BONVIA • KITCHEN

For drying at home

A food dehydrator is probably the most practical way to make beef jerky regularly at home. It gives you control over temperature and airflow, while allowing the meat to dry slowly without keeping your oven running for hours.

View a suitable food dehydrator →

Just as important as the taste

Hygiene matters with anything you make in the kitchen, but with beef jerky it matters more, since you’re starting with raw meat. Work with clean equipment, keep the meat cold during preparation, and wash your hands often. Just as important: use a reliable, food-safe temperature and time combination. Drying the meat long enough isn’t automatically the same as preserving it safely.

A small stash for the road

Once the jerky is ready, I cut some of the strips into smaller pieces and divide them between a couple of ziplock bags, which then go into a vacuum bag to be sealed as airtight as possible. Maybe that’s a little excessive for something that’s been preserved the simplest way for centuries, but there’s something satisfying about a bag of jerky sitting ready for the next long ride. You tuck it into your bag, ride for a few hours, and somewhere along the way — when the road stretches out ahead and the next stop is still far off — you have just enough with you for that moment of hunger. And maybe that’s ultimately what I make beef jerky for: not to fill a pantry at home, but to take along.

BONVIA • KITCHEN

For storing beef jerky

A vacuum sealer keeps small batches compact and as protected from air as possible. Especially useful when the jerky is coming along on a longer hike or ride.

View a suitable vacuum sealer →

BONVIA • KITCHEN

For drying at home

A food dehydrator is probably the most practical way to make beef jerky regularly at home. It gives you control over temperature and airflow, while allowing the meat to dry slowly without keeping your oven running for hours.

View a suitable food dehydrator →