Pork Jerky

Apparently you can make jerky out of pork, which is cheaper than steak, so I had a go.

I used casserole pork, which is the leanest, cheap cut you can buy, but even then there's still quite a lot of fat on it. 

The problem with the fat is that, unless removed, it can cause the jerky to go rancid, so you either have to remove every shred of fat (which is difficult), or eat it before it goes off (which is easy).

The stuff on the left of the photo is the crackling from the lump of porK I purchased, which I cooked separately.

Not too bad and slightly more chewy than the skirt steak, but I think I still prefer the steak jerky.

I also tried a modification for making beef jerky - to leave as large a slab as possible to dehydrate, rather then cutting it up. It saves on space in the air fryer and you can simply cut it to regular shapes after it has dried. Instead of 100 degrees, I set the air fryer to 80 degrees.

I can't say it was a total success. It tastes fine, but came out more cooked and friable than dehydrated. The slab was too thick for optimal dehydration. Think I'll sick to cutting it up before drying it. additionally the rub hadn't covered all the exposed surface when cut up and covered just the edges.

Skirt steak used to be about £10 per kilo, but it's now £15. I have noticed that restaurants are increasingly offering what they call flat-iron steaks (skirt by another name) to cut costs and keep prices down. I actually prefer skirt to rump or sirloin, as it has more depth of flavour. Other names for skirt are flank, hangar and butcher's steak. Our local butcher always has plenty, as few people know what it is.