This page may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link. This post is about my love for Korean Beef Jerky!
Korean beef jerky is also known as Yukpo. The making of this jerky takes time and love and care. From the cutting of the expensive beef, to the marinade, to the cooking. The beef is marinaded overnight in the most delicious of marinades, and then the beef is dried over the course of around 8 hrs until it is perfectly chewy, tasty, and AMAZING.
This also makes for a great dog treat!
I'm posting about this for several reasons...to inform you how delicious and precious this food is, to show you how much dogs would love it as a most incredible dog treat! But most of all...I'm posting about this because it became a BIG part of my journey to the Tokyo Marathon 2020 Charity Race and I have fallen in love with Yukpo and hope that you might fall in love with Yukpo too. 🙂
I am writing this in hindsight. In the end, I was not able to run The Tokyo Marathon, one of the World's Major Marathons, with Team World Vision on March 1, 2020 to raise money for clean water for children.
The COVID-19 situation forced the organizers of the marathon to cancel it for all except the elite and wheelchair athletes. I am not either one of those, so I was unable to run. However, I did spend months fundraising for this event. Here is one of my fundraising ideas that struck gold. 🙂
Fundraising
Korean Beef Jerky is totally delicious! I came up with the idea to sell it to raise funds for my Charity Race! We ended up selling both popcorn and Korean Beef Jerky, and raised $1376 for clean water that day. Not bad! 🙂
The Dehydrator
I never in my life thought I would make my own home made jerky, but I am sure glad I took the plunge!
The first thing I had to do was purchase a dehydrator. We bought a Nesco FD-75A Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator. This dehydrator has done an incredible job for me! I absolutely love it!
Amazon does have an awesome selection of dehydrators. Click here to view their selection if you are interested in purchasing a dehydrator to make Yukpo.
In particular because I have had experience with the Nesco brand, I would like to draw your attention to these two deyhdrators:
- Nesco Food and Jerky Dehydrator
- Nesco JerkyXpress Deydrator (also comes with jerky gun and seasonings)
They both have over 1,000 reviews on Amazon (nearly 5 star!) and are very reasonably priced. The JerkyXpress is designed for specifically making jerky, and the Food and Jerky Dehydrator can also be used for drying fruits, vegetables, and herbs (it has different settings).
If I were going to buy one today, I would choose the Nesco Food and Jerky Dehydrator, simply because I also have an interest in drying other foods as well. 🙂
The Recipe
The recipe I used to make the Korean Beef Jerky, or Yukpo, is from Maangchi. If you love Korean food, you need to visit Maangchi!
Her recipe for Yukpo is pure perfection. The jerky ended up spicy, chewy, slightly sweet, and just a flavor bomb. I can't express enough how delicious this is! Please I implore you to make this you won't regret it!!
Get Maangchi's recipe for Yukpo by clicking here.
The PERFECT Dog Treat!
Ever since we started making this, our dog Toby has gone CRAZY for it! Very often it's the only thing that will make him behave! LOL
Here he is practicing catch the Korean Beef Jerky. 🙂
I had started celebrating the completion of each training run for The Tokyo Marathon with a selfie picture with Toby. The promise of the jerky treat is what makes him sit still for the selfie. 🙂 This is now a tradition and he expects a jerky treat every time I complete a run.
Life Changing Jerky!
I'm not kidding when I state that this jerky was LIFE CHANGING! The money raised selling it meant that children could be provided with life changing clean water! This was the most impactful jerky ever. 🙂
Korean Beef Jerky also changed my family's life. Seriously...we love it so much (Steve, Toby and me) that we have some pretty much everyday. In addition to celebrating finishing runs with jerky for Toby, I also use it to lure him to the bedroom for the evening. 🙂
Everyone who has tried it has given it the thumbs up! As I mentioned it is spicy, but for those of you who are not big spicy fans simply leave out the chili pepper.
Ready to Make Some Life Changing Delicious Yukpo?
You will not regret making your own delicious Yukpo! You and your dog (if you have one) will LOVE IT!
1 - Buy your dehydrator (awesome if you have one already!)
2 - Head on over to Maangchi for the recipe.
3 - Get busy marinading and dehydrating and then enjoy!
4 - IF you decide to make this, I would love to hear about it! Please email me at grace@explorecookeat.com and let me know your thoughts.
I'll end this by including one last video of Toby catching some Yukpo in slo-mo. 🙂 Do you see now why I have fallen in love with Korean Beef Jerky?
To conclude ...my hope is that YOU will fall in love with this jerky as hard and as much as we have. 🙂
Come Along With Me on a Fun Food Journey!
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Cheers!
Grace
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