Recipe Courtesy of Alton Brown
Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke*
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Special Equipment: 1 box fan, 4 paper air-conditioning filters, and 2 bungee cords
Preparation:
1. Trim the flank steak of any excess fat, place in a zip-top bag, and place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours in order to firm up.
2. Remove the steak from the freezer and thinly slice the meat with the grain, into long strips.
3. Place the strips of meat along with all of the remaining ingredients into a large, 1-gallon plastic zip-top bag and move around to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. Place the bag into the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.
4. Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry. Evenly distribute the strips of meat onto 3 of the air filters, laying them in the grooves and then stacking the filters on top of one another. Top these with 1 empty filter. Next, lay the box fan on its side and lay the filters on top of it. Strap the filters to the fan with 2 bungee cords. Stand the fan upright, plug in and set to medium. Allow the meat dry for 8 to 12 hours. If using a commercial dehydrator, follow the manufacturer's directions.
5. Once dry, store in a cool dry place, in an airtight container for 2 to 3 months.
You can purchase Liquid Smoke at the store or use:
*Alton Brown's Liquid Smoke Recipe:
According to Mr. Brown you can make your own liquid smoke using about any grill/smoker with a chimney. He utilized one of the clay/ceramic type that looks like a big vase with a hole in the side (a chimnea).
1. Place a slightly smaller size pipe(approximately 3-4' long) into the existing chimey, using aluminum foil as a gasket, to allow the gases to cool a bit more.
2. Atop the pipe place a Bundt pan. (For those who don't know a Bundt pan is a cake pan with a hole in the middle of it, kinda like a donut).
3. You will need a couple of "spacers" long enough to span across the Bundt pan, perhaps wooden spoons.
4. Above the spacers place a round cake pan, slightly smaller than the Bundt pan, upside down.
On top of the inverted cake pan place a zip-top bag with ice in it, gallon size about half full.
5. Now, light your fire! Alton used charcoal for the heat and soaked wood chips for the smoke.
The smoke of course flows up the extended chimney, through the center hole in the Bundt pan where it meets the inverted cake pan with the ice on it which causes it to condense and drain into the Bundt pan, giving you Liquid Smoke. This recipe only gives you mere Tablespoons per bag of ice, but if you were smoking for a few hours and didn't mind changing the ice bag out when it melted, you may collect enough to make it worth your while.
He takes a chimnea:
Adds about 3 feet of aluminum-covered ducting to the top:
He puts a bunt cake pan right side up on the top of the ducting.
Then puts a regular metal mixing bowl (smaller than a bundt cake pan) upside down on top of the bundt cake pan.
On top of the metal mixing bowl he puts a ziploc bag full of ice, and then throws charcoal which had been prelit in a chimney into the chiminea.
He throws chunks of hardwood on top of the coals.
In about 20 minutes you get liquid smoke collecting in the bundt pan b/c the condensation from the ice cooling the mixing bowl reacts with the smoke.
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