So in my reading I've come across a few things that were not quite clear to me.
The marinade tumblers. Looks like it is not a necessity but every post I've read from those who have them swear by them. So:
1. Is there a preferred brand everyone has found to be really good? One of the names I saw come up here is discontinued. I see several others on Amazon. Can just base it off their user reviews but I kind of trust the user group here more.
2. Would those tumblers stand up to meat with bones in them? Like pork chops for instance? Or would tumbling bone in chops in Italian dressing crack that plastic all up?
3. I'm guessing that these do the job fairly quickly so you don't have to worry about something like pork chops sitting on the counter too long to become a risk?
Ok, now on to more beef jerky type questions.
4. With the use of a tumbler, cures are still used for strips of beef? I don't know if I'll get into ground jerky chips just yet, I prefer the strips of beef for now. Looks like I still need to use a cure on them though?
5. Jerky racks don't seem to be sold any longer. Guessing that is because the magic mats? Or am I just real unlucky finding them for sale and keep looking?
6. Strange as it sounds, while I've found several recipes to try, times to smoke, and times to run without smoke, I never see anyone really say what smoke chips they found go best. I'm going to try and find an "original" flavor. And then a teriyaki one. Which smoke puck would do well for each of those?