Wild game cooking: Venison jerky in the oven

Hubby spent most of last night making homemade deer jerky that turned out fantastic, even though we both fell asleep and forgot to get it out of the oven until 2 a.m.!

You can make your own jerky at home too with any kind of meat you want. Just slice it into fairly thin slices, not too long either. I'd also recommend marinating it for a day. We use a mixture of Worcestershire, soy sauce, liquid smoke, a dash of bourbon and a good sprinkling of a tangy seasoning. We used Head Country Seasoning. Here's the meat after Jase laid it out ready for the oven:

Once it's laid out, season it again with Head Country or your favorite meat seasoning. Next you'll want to put some aluminum foil at the bottom of the oven to catch any drippings. Then you'll lay it out across the racks, like this:

For cooking, I would suggest doing some Google research for your particular meat and time schedule. We saw recipes that said 350 for 2 hours (we didn't like the sound of that) to 150 for 8-10 hours (don't have that much time!). Jase did 250 for 2 hours and 200 for another 2 or so. He also kept the oven door propped open using a ceramic spoon rest, about 2 inches. That allows the moisture to escape and helps dry the meat.

There are also dehydrator recipes if you have one of those, but this, I think, is easiest. It takes a bit of time but is worth it!

The jerky turned out fantastic. A great, low fat, high protein snack! Give it a try!