...(Jerky) may not be quite as tasty as fresh meat, but it has much food value and actually is very good. It has the advantage of being light in weight and of keeping indefinitely, so long as it is kept perfectly dry...
...Jerky can be made out of almost any piece of meat. The piece can be small, only a pound or so, or large, up to several pounds in size. Of corse it must be removed from the bone and kept in chunk form. A very sharp butcher knife is required. A hunting knife is too thick-edged and usually too short for the job...
...First, cut straight through the center of the piece, stopping within a quarter of an inch of going clear through. Then the process is practically like unrolling the meat, first one side of the chunk and then the other (Drawing reference here). Hold the meat on the palm of the hand and work the knife carfully along through the meat, parallel to the surface of the palm. Be careful you do not cut yourself, and don't be discouraged if at first it seems very slow.... ...one little chunk opens up into a long, thin slice, many inches in length. We have seen pieces fire and six feet long! You will end up by discovering that you have only about one pound of jerky for every five pounds of fresh meat you start with. But, you still have the real meat and all of its food value. All you have lost is water.
Skewers, usually of plum or cherry wood, are made to keep the long strips spread while drying. These are pointed at both ends and merely caught on each side of the strip. The strips are then hung in the hot sun on poles of the drying racks, which are made in various forms, high enough so that the dogs cannot reach them. Bruce Yellowtail made a big fuss when his grandmother hung some of her jerky on his radio aerial!
You need not worry about flies. The meat is cut so thin, not much over a quarter of an inch in thickness, that flies cannot "blow" it. And the cleaner the camp is kept, the fewer flies there will be. Very few flies will even alight on the meat. Even if they do, sunlight is a good disinfectant, and most people prefer the jerky cooked, further eliminating any danger of contamination.
While drying the meat, make sure that no two surfaces touch. In the hot sun, jerky will dry hard in a couple of days. It should be removed at night, piled up on a clean canvas and covered, so it will not absorb moisture from the atmosphere... ...When it is properly cured, it is nearly as hard as iron, about the consistency of sole leather, but we can assure you that it does not taste like it.
...It can be cared for...by keeping it in cloth sacks which are in the air and dry all the time. For an extended period of time it can be kept in a big tin can, like a lard can. If the meat gets damp, or is unprotected in a dark place, it may be attacked by weevils.
Jerky is sometimes eaten "as is," but is best when cooked. One method of cooking is to break it up into little pieces, barely cover them with water, and simmer until soft. The jerky will never regain the original plumpness and texture of the meat, but it will become quite tender, depending upon what cut of meat it was made from in the first place. Salt the stew to taste, and, if you like, thicken the broth with a little flower for a rich gravy.