Homemade Jerky

1 pound beef, sliced about -inch thick

1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika

1 teaspoon brown sugar

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ tablespoon Morton's Sugar Cure Mix, plain

Mix spices and cure. Coat meat by tossing in a bowl while progressively adding spice mix. Use gloves, as the mix stains. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Remove meat from the bowl and rinse. Drain and pat dry and arrange meat on racks.

If using a dehydrator: Set at 160 degrees. If using thin cuts, dehydrate meat for 2 hours. For thicker cuts, more time is necessary. When the top side of the meat develops a "skin," flip the meat and continue dehydrating. It will take less than half the time on the second side.

If using an oven: Start with cold oven, place strips on racks. Set oven to 160 degrees. Look for dry "skin" on the underside of the meat in 2 hours. Turn the meat and finish cooking as directed above.

Cook's note: If you start at noon, you are eating jerky before 5 p.m. But wait: It will get better overnight in the refrigerator, so don't eat it all when it's first cooked. Jerky keeps weeks in the refrigerator.

ManxKatt, via Ed's Diner (blogs.thenewstribune.com/edsdiner)