I realized this morning that I’m about six months late in changing my air conditioner filter. I was in Home Depot, and I thought, “You know what goes really well with air filters? Beef jerky!”

That’s right, I’m an unabashed Alton Brown fan. I saw this episode of Good Eats a few years ago, and I occasionally think, “Huh, I could do that.” Well, I bought three of the cheapest 20x20 filters and 1.5 pounds of flank steak, and got to work, following this recipe.

I placed the steak in the freezer while I did the prep work for the Cast Iron Skillet Pizza, then while that was in the oven I staged my Ingredients!

Bottles of ingredients, in a row.

Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, honey, pepper, onion powder, and ancho chile powder. Bowl of mixed juices.

I mixed up the ingredients above in roughly the ratios called for in the recipe (I skipped the liquid smoke. Can’t stand liquid smoke), and set that aside. Then I got the meat out of the freezer and started slicing.

1.5 pounds of flank steak sliced into strips.

I cut the meat into thin strips, then cut the longer of those strips in half. Some of the strips were a little fat, so I cut them in half width-wise. Overall, I’d say I cut the meat into 1/2" strips.

After that, I put the meat into a gallon sized ziplock with the marinade, shook that up a good bit, and popped it in the fridge. Part 2 here.