Actually, with Beef Jerky, I don't like the stuff they sell in stores either. It is remarkably easy to make your own though, and it will taste like whatever you want. Ours uses Soy, Worchestershire, garlic, salt, chile powder, and about a dozen other ingredients. We've tried different recipes and the finished product can taste radically different. Just cut a slab of meet into 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick peices and soak in a sauce of your own making for a few hours, then stick in a drying rack overnight.

We built our own drying rack using one 100-watt lightbulb at the bottom of a fiberboard box with metal trays in a few hours. Its been working well for more than a decade now. We also dry bananas, apples, strawberries, and all sorts of other things in it.

-Biscuits