We made about 20 lbs of venison into jerky this year. I use a commercial cure because I want to make sure nothing will grow on the jerky and follow the directions letting it marinade for a day. I then add more spices, black and cayenne pepper, brown sugar and or jar of cherry preserves. I usually microwave a slice to taste test and adjust the spices depending on this test slice.
We dry it in the oven set at under 200, the idea is to dry it not to cook it. I spread the slices over the two oven racks so they touch but do not overlap. (In otherwords the racks are completely covered.) This takes about three pounds of the raw jerky. The slices seperate some as they dry with the two racks in the two highest positions in the oven. It can take a good 8 hours to dry in the electric oven. I sometimes switch the racks if one is drying faster than the other.
As soon as one batch is done the next goes in. It took a little over two days, 24 hours a day, to dry the whole 20 lbs. We let it get pretty dry but not brittle you may like it more one way or the other. We have had no trouble with this getting to Iraq in great shape but have had reports that some other people's jerky arrived moldy. That is one reason we use a cure.
Do a search on "jerky" in this forum and you will get 300 hits just in this cooking section. I also added a model of a rig that we use for making nice even slices. The board is about 6 by 11 including the frame. The meat is placed on the board and is held down with the trowel like piece. The slicing knife just runs along the frame of the board and the depth of the frame determines the thickness of the slice. One side makes slices about 3/16 inch thick and the other just over 1/4.
Meat does not have to be partially frozen for this rig to work.
Good luck, Bob
New to Jerky
