<snip>
> Peter, I've been doing this for over 40 years. It works great for making
> jerky or other dried meats and veggies. I've only done beef and tomatoes.
> There's a bit of DIY. Make 2 frames about 2' x 4' or whatever, out of 3/4"
> square wood or whatever. Get enough plastic window screening to make 3
> layers, one for the bottom, one for the top of the bottom and one for the
> top of the top. Improvise some kind of hinges out of cloth or whatever and
> some kind of hasp or use rubber bands on the corners to hold it closed.
Put
> it outside in the morning, take it in at night so it doesn't get dew on
it.
> Thin slices work best, one or two days'll do it. Google should give you
> some marinade or rub ideas, although I haven't looked. I just shake the
> strips of beef in a mixture of garlic powder, s & p in a paper bag. You
> could probably use a Teriyaki sauce, too. Once you see how great this
> tastes compared to the commercial stuff, you're hooked. ENJOY!

Ingenious contraption Nick, in Asia we just sssslap... the lot down on a
concrete floored courtyard & get a kid to keep running around fanning the
flies off. That was in the good old days, these days it's all high tech &
very clean. The meat is marinated & placed into what looks like a
'pressurised' dryer machine & dried. It is then either hand sliced or
machine sliced before it is cooked over hot coals. That's Chinese jerky, the
ones that are very popular during Chinese new year etc.

BTW.. when i read your beef drying technique + comment on flies, it kind of
reminded me of what we use to do with a particular fish bait. There's this
Asian fresh water fish called snakehead, it's like a Asian version of a pike
& it's a real predator & tough as nails. As a kid we've tried 101 ways to
try & catch one of these snakeheads until we finally cracked it, we'd thread
a slice of beef on a fish hook & leave it out to dry rock hard & stank. We'd
then use it for fishing snakeheads, it works like magic, in fact any bottom
feeders like eels or any carnivorous fish will go for it. The dried beef
clings on to the hook & any small nibblers won't dislodge it from your hook
& the smell, of boy the smell will bring them in. LOL. don't really know why
i'm telling you this but if you're into fishing, you've just picked up a
very good tip.

DC.