Beef, chicken and turkey can all be made into jerky.
The key important difference is that chicken (and probably turkey) MUST be first cooked to an internal temp of 165F to prevent salmonella risks.
Freeze meat for 30+ minutes to get it firm enough to slice easily.
Slice meat to 1/4" thickness.
Marinade for at least 4 hours, up to 24 hours - more than 12 is just overkill.
Drain fluid / marinade. Lay on baking rack.
Bake at 225F-275F for 1 hour to get temp up to 165F
Bake for another 3-4 hours at 170F.
Store in refrigerator.
If cooking in the oven, cover a cookie sheet with foil. Then place a baking rack on top. Spray the baking rack with cooking spray?? The foil covered cookie sheet is for catching drips.
Jerky can be made in the oven - though will obviously heat up the kitchen for an extended period of time, and use a lot of power. There may also be an issue with getting the oven to go down to a low enough temperature.
Some people use dehydrators. However, the upper temperature limit of many dehydrators is only 160F (best case). This may be sufficient for beef. Chicken requires an internal temp of at least 165 - suggesting a cooking temp of 225F for one hour before drying.
An electric smoker may be the most efficient way to dry jerky, as it has the temperature range, and probably uses significantly less power than an oven.
Beef - Top Round is most commonly recommended.
Final product will be 1/3 to 1/2 the original weight, depending on cooking time and original moisture.
Common ingredients in marinade:
(Teriyaki sauce)
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Soy sauce
Liquid smoke
Hub 51 Marinade recipe:
1 1/2 cups Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 3/4 tbsp onion powder
FIRST ATTEMPT: 6/11/20
Started with 1.4 pounds of Top Round.
This had been in the freezer (frozen solid) - so started first 24 hours thawing in the fridge - was mostly thawed.
Stuck back in the freezer for 30 min - fairly solid at that point.
Sliced with a new ceramic 8" knife in slices about 1/4" thick.
Mixed meat in a gallon zip lock with a half bottle (about 8 oz) of "KC Masterpiece Honey Teriyaki 30 min Marinade".
Marinated overnight in fridge.
Covered large cookie sheet with foil. Set baking rack into cookie sheet, and sprayed with cooking spray.
Patted meat down on paper towels to remove excess marinade.
Arranged meat on baking rack (it was a tight fit for that much - pieces were touching, but not overlapping.)
Started oven at 225F for 1 hour to get meat up to temperature.
Reduced temp to 170F for an additional 3 hours. Propped door open with wooden spoon to allow moisture escape.
Yield: 9.6oz (about 50% original weight - neglecting marinade)
Resulting jerky is quite dry - fairly tough. Probably cooked sufficiently through(?). Teriyaki can be tasted, but it's mild.
Let cool in paper towels (still had some moisture (oil?) that was patted down with paper towels, then stored in ziplock bag in fridge.
Second Attempt: Chicken Jerky
6/26/20
Started with 2 pounds (measured on scale) of chicken breast. Re-froze for 30-45 min.
Sliced with ceramic knife. This time, was less consistent, but most pieces closer to 1/4" thick. Some closer to 1/8" thick.
Marinaded in Lawry's Teriyaki w/ Pineapple 30 min Marinade - Used 6 oz in zip-lock bag. Coating all pieces, and left overnight.
Next morning, removed excess marinade from pieces by laying between paper towels and patting down.
Arranged pieces on two baking racks.
Baked at 225F for one hour, with oven door closed.
Flipped meat, cooked at 170F for another hour, with door cracked open with wooden spoon.
Checked, cooked for 3rd hour at 170F.
Removed some of the thin slices that were done after 3 hours, cooked remaining for a 4th hour at 170F.
Cooled pieces, and stored in fridge, with about half going in freezer.
Final product - 14.6 oz.
The thicker pieces never "dried" to the same texture as beef jerky. Tasted more like thin, very well done chicken bites. But not bad.