If you are just starting out, try doing your jerky in the oven. Marinate your jerky in whatever jerky marinade you like, I usually do this in the refrig for 24-48 hrs.. I use a Tupperware container, turn it over every 8 hrs. to get thorough saturation of the marinade. When it is ready for the oven, cover the bottom of the oven with a sheet of aluminum foil to catch the drips. Skewer your jerky strips on toothpicks and suspend from the oven racks. I do this over the sink to catch drips, when the racks are full transfer to the oven. Set the oven to the lowest heat and prop the door open a couple of inches to allow moisture vapor to escape. An oven full of jerky takes about 3 hrs. to dry, start watching and testing at 2 1/2 hrs. The caution regarding adding smoke flavoring is a good one, use it according to directions on the bottle a little bit goes a long way and it is easy to make your jerky bitter tasting from too much liquid smoke. I have a Luhr Jensen Little Chief electric smoker the I use too, I prefer Alder wood chips for smoking as it gives a nice flavor that is never bitter. A pan full of chips will smoke for 1 hr. which is a good starting point, your jerky will need to stay in the smoker for 2-3 additional hrs. without wood chips to be done. If after you've tried jerky with one hrs. smoking and you want a more intense smoke flavor, increase the smoking time to 2 hrs.. A real Holiday treat is Rock Cornish hens done in the smoker with Apple wood. We have them for Christmas dinner quite often, each guest has their own hen, some wild rice, vegatable of choice and a nice white wine complete the meal. Give it a try.
