Looking for a good kitchen/oven jerky recipe.
Thanks
Rick

rick - there are a million good jerky recipes. i can give you a few basics and from there, you can branch out on your own and do some experimenting!

first above all - jerky is DRYING meat, not COOKING meat. keep your "jerky-making temperatures below 200 degrees if possible, closer to 140 would be even better. to make it in an oven, simply set your oven on the "warm setting.

second, at the very least, you want a good balance of salt/sweet and spicy. keep in mind that these flavours can come from a lot of sources. here are a few examples:

salt: salt, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce etc.

sweet: sugar, molasses, apple juice etc.

spicy: black pepper, red pepper, garlic, onion, tabasco etc.

third, a cure - some people say you HAVE to have a cure; others say you don't HAVE to have a cure. i lean on the side that says you don't HAVE to have one. between the salt content and the fact that, at the very least, the outside of the jerky is going to be dry and hard as a rock, you are not going to have any bacterial issues. having said that, if you are unsure of this, or if you plan to make jerky that is not very dry (more like "kippered" meat), then by all means use a cure. morton tenderquik seems, in my opinion, the be the most available and easiest to use. if you do use it, use it according to the package directions.

fourth - dry or wet brine? the purpose of jerky is to get moisture out of meat - to that end, i am lately interested mostly in the dry "brines" where you season the meat evenly and let the salt draw the moisture out. other times, such as when using juice and/or things like soy sauce, there is naturally going to be some moisture. still other times a recipe will call for some water in order to help evenly distribute the brine and flavours. none of these is wrong, but it is up to you to decide what you prefer. no matter what, be sure to mix your meat around while it is soaking in all those flavours!

smoke - to me, jerky needs smoke flavour, whether it comes from a few spashes of liquid smoke added to the brine, or is acquired naturally during thedrying process in a smoker, you need to have some smoke. wrights makes a great liquid smoke, but for a very small investment you can get yourself a smoker (for jerky, i recommend the little or big chief, but there are dozens of choices - you can even build your own easily) and have more options than simply "hickory" flavour. cherry, apple, maple and alder are all good choices, and there are many more. never use pine or evergreen wood for smoke flavour - you will get sick!

thickness of cuts - this is a personal perefernce. if you stick to the findamentals above you can go anywhere from a 1/16- to 1/2-inch thick and still have some good stuff. technically, i suppose you could even go thicker than that, but what you will end up with is will be closer to south african biltong or romanian pastramă, (not pastrami!) than jerky. start with something in the 3/8- to 1/4-inch range and then adjust according to your tastes.

hopefully these fundamentals will get you on a good path. as for a specific recipe, someone somewhere will come along with one, or hopefully the information provided will give you some ideas to try on your own!

I've never had much luck making jerky in the oven. You can easily do it outside on a rack of almost any kind. Light a lazty smoky fire under it to keep the flies off and you'd be surprised how good it turns out.

I bought a food dehydrater at a yard sale for $10. Works awesome for jerky

Once you have had good Biltong (African "jerky" you will never go back)

Biltong:

In Africa they use the cuts from the hind legs. They call it Top Side and Silver side. You can also use the back straps sirloins, but these are of course very good eating as a grilled, BRAAI, steak. I have used various steak cuts and have used beef, elk and deer.

Cut into slices at desired thickness. I cut them about 1" thick. Dries quicker!

Mix coarse salt and some pepper to taste (not much pepper---about teaspoon to 1/2 lb of salt.)

Lay first layer of meat in PLASTIC dish.
Season cut meat by sprinkling salt mixture over meat. Roughly 1 ounce per (2 1/2lb) meat. Sprinkle a small amount of a good red wine vinegar over meat. (this gives a flavour and keeps flies away if they are present)

Lay next layer opposite to first layer --criss-cross-- sprinkle more salt mix as per above. (first layer north-south--next layer east-west)
Sprinkle more vinegar. Small amount.

Continue until meat finished.

If you want to add a different flavour you can add in coriander or garlic powder (not salt), or red pepper. (or some of the flavorings suggested in the recipe above for jerky) Be careful not to make it too strong with the different flavour.

Leave in salt mix for 24 hours--depending on thickness---and turning for the first time after 12 hours. Thereafter turn after every 4-5 hours. When turning then mix all together. The criss cross layers no longer matter.

After 24 hours remove from mix and hang in cool dry place. Must not get sun or heat. Cool breeze or fans as a flow through over meat hanging.

I live in a cool climate and hang mine on clothes line in my garage, and place a fan on low to circulate the air. (Opened up paper clips make it easy)

After a few days meat will get a crust over it. Check when dry as per taste required. Remove as and when desired taste is reached. If meat turns white while hanging means that there was too much salt in mix.

I enjoy mine best when it remain a bit moist.
Then sit back, eat and enjoy!!

bill - that's some great information. if you don't mind, i've copied/pasted that on the biltong topic at my international food forum!

You are more than welcome to use it any way you please. Biltong in Africa spoiled me. That recipe is from a PH and friend in Orange Free State, Selwyn Low of MacLaren Safaris. He uses something called "Black Vinegar" which I could not find here and my use of red wine vinegar worked fine. Down there they are also found of some crushed coriander lightly sprinkled on as an additional flavoring.

If you make it in the oven, be prepared to try and catch/capture ALOT of dripping juice. I've used the oven several times and thought the female of the house was going to kill me over the mess. I found you can greatly reduce the oven mess my smoking the meat outside before finishing it in the oven.

aliveincc - if you have one of those broiler pans, it works well for catching drippings.