Having spent 30 years of my life in South Africa but now living in Texas, I often have a hankering for the goodies I was used to there.
To this end, a few years ago I had made what we call a 'biltong box' (biltong being our equivalent of jerky but far better) - which dries meat via air convection, the air moving due to a small PC fan drawing air up through the box and out the top:
Instead of biltong, I wanted to make droewors (pronounciation: "Droo-uh Vors" - Afrikaans for "Dried Sausage") so I got some 19mm sausage-casings offa Amazon, mixed up 2.5 lbs of hamburger meat (less fatty, the better) with various spices and stuff (recipe at the end) and stuffed the casings with the mix. I then hung them over the dowels of the biltong-box and left them to dry in the garage for 3-4 days:
After drying for 2 days:
Ready to snack on:
Just to note: 2.5 lbs of hamburger meat turned into 17 oz of snacks - a loss in weight of around 60% due to drying.
Recipe:
2.5 lbs lean hamburger
1 TBsp roasted/crushed coriander
2.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp crushed black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 finely-crushed cloves (about 1/4 tsp)
1 TBsp vinegar
2 TBsp worcestershire sauce
Mix all together and marinade covered overnight in the fridge, then stuff into casings and dry for 3-4 days until firm(ish).