Sounds tasty, I will have to try that recipe. Personally I like the crispy style. I took some crispy style to my Girlfriends, and her brother and a Friend of his were down visiting, and I had taken about a pound or more, in a big ziplock bag, and I didn't come back with any. A Friend of mine ,made a dryer for me. Actually it was his, but I had given him a nice Cajun style cast iron, Gumbo pot, with a gator on top of the lid, just in time for his rendezvous made. So his wife, said, it would take him awhile to get around to making it for me, but she was coming down to visit family, not too far from me, and she would just bring his, drop it off at one of the Fire stations I worked at, before I retired, and he could make another one for himself. I do like the way that woman thinks!
Well she did. I can put six racks on it. It is interior 3/8" plywood, or marine, I am not sure, but it is clear, and nicely finished. Anyway, each rack is 2" high, by about 18 3/4" wide, and 25 1/4" long. It has the square wire lathe, as grating. Thereis a 1" square piece of wood, on the inside of the rack frame, and the wire lath is attached to the underside of that. So the wire lath is recessed 1 " inch below the rack top edge. That way, another rack can set on top without any space, and no heat escaping through the space, between the racks.The rack is set on top of the bottom piece with the heat source, and the next one on top of the preceding rack, and so on. The bottom heating source, is the same width, and length, but is 4" high, and has 3, 2" diameter circles cut along each of the long sides, and two at each end. Each hole has a screen mesh. with a plywood bottom. The top is four inches high also, by the same dimensions of width, and length, and a plywood top, and in the center of the top, it has a 6" diameter hole, with a dryer fan, or some kind of little fan motor, with a metal blade. The fan blade is facing up, to draw the heated air in from the vent holes on the bottom. The bottom, pan has six 100 watt bulbs, with a wire running around to each in series, and then out the side, where there is a pig tail receptacle for the fan motor plug. The bottom, is lined with heavy tinfoil, to catch drippings, and reflect the heat. I put a rack under neath, the bottom, just to have it raised up a bit, but you can use something else, or just set on the floor, or on something else to raise it up a bit. Anyway, I just put the jerky strips on the mesh of the racks. I used to marinate them with my buddy's recipe, but then one time I didn't have all the ingredients, so I just put the strips on the racks, and then dusted them with garlic powder, onion powder, Cajun seasoning, and sometimes a little bit of Cayenne powder. And then put the racks on top of the bottom, and then stacked them, and put the top with the motor on top, and plugged her in. I can usually get jerky, to the semi dry chewy state, in about 5 -6 hrs, and full jerky in about 8 hrs. I let it go all night, to get it crispy. I like it that way, because you don't have to rip it with your teeth, and chew for ten minutes, and I still get the full flavor. I cut it across the grain, and pound it out flat. Sometimes, I marinate, and sometimes I don't. I made some crispy for my neighbor, and the guy he works with. The guy he works with doesn't have any front teeth, so he likes the crispy, because he can break off little pieces, and chew them with his back teeth. But that is the machine I use. It works great, and is not very difficult to make. He is a good woodworker, and this unit has dado's cut into them and joined together that way. When you are finished making jerky, you can take it outside, and wash, and brush the remnants off of the screen, and if there is a lot of drippings, you can wipe, the bulbs down, after they have cooled of course, and change the tinfoil. I think I would just use Louisiana sauce instead of the Tabasco. I personally don't like Tabasco. It hasn't any flavor, and I can get the same affect with Cayenne pepper. But the Louisiana, or Crystal, or Trappey's, or any other Louisiana style hot sauce would work, because it has vinegar in it, and it would give the tangyness you like. I will have to try that. I hope you can use those plans, like I said it works really great, and you can put six racks on, and do quite a bit of meat, or fruit, vegetables etc. Hmm, Speaking of pemmican, I wonder if I could pound in some raisins before, I dry it ?......
I will have to find out what kind of motor it is, in case I need to get another one. But I think he said it was a dryer fan, from a clothes dryer. But any small electric fan that has about a near six " fan blade should work.
Wayne
