Normally I marinade my beef strips but now I'm looking for a simple way to include cure into a dry rub recipe. Usually I mix my cure with a cup of water and then add it to the marinade.
Anyone have any tips on proper curing of dry rub jerky? Would I just add it to my dry mix and hope it distributes properly? For the cure to work would I have to leave it on the beef for a while before I throw it in the smoker?
Thanks for your input.
I pulverize the entire rub in a coffee grinder to mix it. Turns into a fine dust.
I'm sure someone else will chime in...
You don't have to wait for the cure to work. You can begin the smoking/drying process as soon as you apply the rub/cure mixture.
Never tried just a dry rub on muscle but I think one would want just a bit of moisture on the muscle to make the dry rub stick. I am a thinkin that if I were doing it I would take an 1/8 cup of water or a bit less and stir the cure up until disolved. Then mix the meat and cure mixture up to cover the meat then lay it out and add the dry rub. This way you are sure that the meat got the cure. Just thinking out loud ;D
Good idea Jim!
If you are using a cure, place the cut strips of meat in a large bowl or tub. Measure out how much seasoning you want to add, then mix the proper amount of cure with the seasoning. Add this to the meat in the bowl or tub, and mix by hand until all pieces are evenly coated. With the salt in the seasoning, and in the cure it will adhere to the meat. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes, tossing the meat one more time during that period. Then dehydrate as you normally would.