Jerky - Can you make your own?

Does anyone know how to make their own jerky? And what kinds of jerky you can make?

I think it would be an awesome snack to have throughout the day, and if I make my own I can lower the sodium by tons (plus it's probably cheaper).

Tips? Tricks? Thanks!

well it's pretty hard to lower the sodium.  Part of what makes it jerky is curing it through a salt process.  It's eminently possible to make your own jerky, especially given it's basically a way of preserving meat that's as old as time.  We've been making it forever, long before any food manufacturer came along and used machines for it.

Of course, you can use any meat you have to make jerky.  It's easiest to do if you have a dehydrator, but it's possible to do it in the oven.  It basically takes very very low heat for a few hours to dry it out.

I won't post the links, but I did a google search for "how to make your own jerky" and immediately got many useful hits.

Good luck!

Alton Brown did a whole Good Eats episode dedicated to jerky. it looked delicious. I'm sure you could find it at foodnetwork.com

Making your own jerky is surprisingly easy with the right equipment...

You would (obviously) need a dehydrator - - which go for about $50-60 for a decent one.

What I do is buy the pre-sliced beef (I buy "Beef Top Round Steak Chip Sliced" which is pretty cheap) and marinate the pieces in a combo of soy sauce (low sodium kind), Worcestershire sauce and steak seasoning (Montreal-steak is best) for about an hour.

Once the beef is marinated, spread the pieces on the dehydrator's shelves evenly (don't stack the strips). 

Set the dehydrator to the "beef" setting (usually around 160 degrees).

It usually takes about 4-5 hours to completely finish depending on how chewy/crunchy you like your jerky.

Hope this helps!

My mom used to make turkey jerky with lots of spices. It was awesome.

marinate or sallt thin stiips of beef, put the slices directly on the oven racks and putt a cookie sheet on bottom rack to cach drips. cook WITH DOOR SLIGHTLY OPEN for 4-5 hours at 250.

My mom makes jerky all the time and it is soooo good. I like spicy jerky, so I ask her to add more pepper if she is making it for me. The trick is to pick out a nice slab of meat and ask the deli department at the grocery store to slice it thin. They will do it for no extra cost and it will save you the heartache of trying to cut it! When you get it home, you just have to cut the slices into strips. sooooo much easier!