Alton brown can probably help with putting the science back into your recipes and understanding why it may or may not work. He has an episode on jerky too... and a hot oven may not be what you want to use! I won't spoil the surprise. You can check out his episodes and recipes on food network. I used his snappy cranberry sauce for Thanskgiving and it was pretty good. And he's as close to a gearhead/tech geek as any chef I've seen and his shows reflect what I expect is the mindset of most community members here - Multiple use, alternative use, inexpensive - yet high quality, pound wise instead of penny foolish, and the science of why things cook like they do. The jerky episode was interesting, and I may just try it one of these days.