Meat Block (Low Sodium “Jerky”)

10 lb Eye of the Round
100% Maple Syrup
Honey
Brown Sugar
Crushed Red Pepper

Low Sodium Nuts

Raw Unsalted Almonds
Das Salt Free
Oakridge Secret Weapon
Kosmos Wing Dust: Honey BBQ

Why Are We Trying This?

Recently we had a meatgistics user Mulberrylane create a post titled Making Sausage or Jerky For Someone On Chemo where they shared that they were trying to find some treats that they could make for their son who was currently going through Chemotherapy. Now, obviously our prayers and thoughts go out to Mullerberylane and their family! But it turns out we actually COULD help here, not a ton but a little! We were able to test whether you can make a jerky that is low in sodium that would be worth making! Sausage, especially cure sausage like summer sausage or snack sticks just isn’t going to work well as the salt plays crucial roles beyond taste. BUT could it be done with jerky? Well technically it would be more of a jerky-like treat as there are restrictions on what you can call jerky.

Dietary Restrictions

So, we wanted to try to create something that was similar to jerky but had low sodium AND no nitrites or other cures. So, with no cures we treated this as fresh meat, meaning we consumed all of it within 4 days of making it and never left it out.

Process for “Jerky”

• The 1st thing we did was slice it up into consistently sized pieces, we did this using a tenderizer attachment and the Jerky Blade Set and then marinated it overnight in 3 different solutions. We did one in Maple Syrup, one in Honey and the other we mixed Brown Sugar with Crushed Red Pepper and then added just enough water to submerge all the meat.
• Then we laid these out on racks and cooked at high temperatures until the internal temp of the slices was 160°. This did not take long, maybe 20 minutes. If you cannot get a probe thermometer into your pieces of meat, lay it ontop of one and then fold that over. At this point it will not resemble jerky in any real way!
• We put it in the dehydrator for about 4 hours at 160° laid out on racks. After this 4 hours it looked and felt very similar to regular jerky

Process for Almonds

• Spray Almonds (or nuts of your choice) with olive oil or coat by pouring it on and then shaking bowl. Sprinkle on the seasoning of choice, lay out flat on a non-stick tray or tin foil and bake at 160° for 45 minutes or until they just start to get crispy. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Verdict

Good new 1st the Almonds (or whatever nut you want to use) are fantastic and super easy to make and store! If you want to look for low sodium options here we list ingredients of all of our seasonings on the web. If you scroll down on the page and click the additional info tab you will see the ingredients listed in order of predominance.

Now, the bad news. The “Jerky” was just nothing special, bordering on boring. As I pointed out in the video if we started with a base jerky seasoning, like the Colorado Seasoning and then added Honey, Maple Syrup or more Brown Sugar it would have been excellent but with NO sugar it just lacked any pop or real taste! So Mulberrylane we are sorry to disappoint but at this time we don’t see a way to make a jerky that has no sodium that is worth making!

Extra Notes

If you don’t care about sodium content then the Almonds would be even better! Check out when we took Joe Hell’s advice and tried making Dill Pickle Almonds

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