I love it chewy as well. When I was a kid the EOR, and other scraps, would get cut with the grain in about 1"x1" strips, get a string ran through it, and then into the "smoker" my uncle would throw together each year for jerky. The "smoker" consisted of corrugated barn metal leaned up against the jerky rack that was probably much older than I was at the time.
For smoke/heat, pecan leaves, small deadwood from the pecan tree, and pecan shells (some still whole) would go into the bottom and just smoulder away... People now days would be FREAKING OUT if they saw that contraption in action. Rusty metal that had only God knows what stuck to it when he picked it up off the ground by the barn.
I've never been able to replicate that jerky. The "pickle" recipe he made to marinade the meat in went with him to the grave.
crankybuzzard
by todays standards the majority of us should have never made it out of childhood! And I'm betting you probably ate your body weight in that jerky over your lifetime! Ah God I miss the good old days!
