I cut 1/4 inch strips, cure them with a commercial mix for a day, add my own extras like cherry preserves and cayenne pepper flakes, then lay the slices on the two racks for my oven with the racks in the upper two positions. I put them in so that they are touching but not overlapping. As they dry the slices will shrink and separate.
I set the oven at about 180, the "warm" setting on ours. It takes about eight hours to dry the jerky and I think one batch starts with nearly five pounds of the raw strips. I put foil under the heating element in the bottom of the electric oven. If I am around I may switch positions of the two racks as the upper one dries quickest. I pack the finished product in zip bags and store it in the freezer. We think that it has better consistency (more chewy) after freezing and being thawed.
We slice the meat with a rig like the attached picture. The height of the lip around the edge of the cutting board determines the thickness of the slices. One side of our board makes 3/16 slices and the other 1/4 inch.
