I'm going to publish my personal manifesto on jerky making in a few days, but in the meantime I've got to wade in on this, and ask that some of the hotter tempers out there just relax a bit. No one is ever 100% right when it comes to this hobby, there are several ways to skin (or smoke) a cat....yech!
I started making jerky when I was a kid, way-way too many years ago and back then everyone used the Lhuer Jensen Little Chief to do it, this was only because it was the only tool available on the market back then. I did this soma many times I have Lhuer Jensen's "Deluxe Recipe for Beef or Venison Jerky" burned into my synapses.
I made hundreds of batches of this in my youth I had 6 Little Chiefs at one time, and it makes great tasting jerky. Not to say there aren't plenty of different ways to do it that may be just as good but this one has stood many of us well for years and I'll bet you have all this stuff in your kitchen right now.
(Note: The published recipe DOES NOT HAVE ANY CURE IN IT!)
Honestly you can make jerky just fine with just the sodium chloride (salt) in the recipe, especially if it is almost fully dried. Personally I prefer to use a cure in my procedure and I do so today, but millions of people have eaten jerky made with out cure or an expensive package of prepared mix from Hi Mountain or Cabala's without dieing, I'm one of them.
It won't matter anyway because your jerky will all be eaten up before it has time to rot anyway.
Nuff Said, this is how the Lhuer Jensen Book tell you how to make it:
2 cups Soy Sauce
1 cup Red Wine
1 cup Water, (But I prefer to use Apple Juice instead of the water)
1/4 cup NON IODIZED Salt
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tsp Onion Powder
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Tabasco Sauce.
Slice mussel meat into 1" X 6-8" strips between 1/8 to 1/4" thick.
Soak (Wet Brine) 12-24 hours and drain. Do not wash the brine off!
I liked to sprinkle the strips with a dusting of the same three powdered spices used in the wet brine for added bite.
Lay on the rack in the Little Chief and smoke with 3 pans of chips until it is dry to your liking. (6-20 hours in Oregon depending on outside temp and age of the Little Chief)
Stand by for my long version, but I used the above recipe for years and it's a great one for those just starting out., (what I use now is different, but this works great)