Prepare the meat:  The loin is the best part for making jerky.  It must be sliced fairly thin for jerky.  We have an electric meat slicer that will do this.  It is a Rival brand available at any WalMart for around $30 or less.  After your meat is sliced, it has to be marinated in some type of marinade for flavor. 

Marinating the sliced meat:  We make our own marinades for jerky. I like Teriyaki and can't handle the peppered, but DH loves the peppered variety. We use soy sauce and liquid smoke, plus Teriyaki marinade for that style. You can add Worcestershire sauce to your marinade if you like that flavor also. Every batch turns out a bit different, but it's all good.  Experiment with different flavorings, and get to know what flavors you and your family like.

Prepare the Marinade:  We buy soy sauce in 1-quart cans.  Use half of that or 2 12-ounce bottles of soy sauce. Add 1 bottle of the flavored marinade and 1 bottle of the liquid smoke (if you want flavored) or just the liquid smoke if you want peppered. You can add any spices you want to your marinade, just mix it well to dissolve them. (onion powder, garlic powder, etc. -- DON'T use onion salt or garlic salt, your final product will be too salty to eat). 

Soaking and dehydrating:  Soak your meat in the marinade at least overnight. If you want stronger flavoring, marinade it longer, up to 24 hours.  Set up your dehydrators, making sure all the trays are clean.  Then spray each tray with spray shortening (like Pam, but we buy generic stuff). For peppered jerky, now is the time to add the pepper, after the meat is laid out on the trays. Then dehydrate it until it's done. If the meat is brittle enough to break, it's a bit too dry. The happy medium is dry it enough that you are able to bend it and peel it but not actually break it with a snap. 

Storing your Jerky:  We put it in Zip-lock bags as it gets done. When it's ALL done, we keep what we're going to eat right away in the zip-locks and label as to kind. Anything left, we use our vacuum sealer for. We don't have a jar attachment, so we just use the bags. Afterwards, store the bags in an empty tin. This keeps out light and will make your jerky last longer. 

Butchering