I like this jerky recipe very much, reminds me of the hickory farms beef jerky we used to get when I was a kid. And I've been missing that! I only gave it four stars because I did it a little differently from the recipe here. I didn't use meat tenderizer, I don't like using msg and I believe that is what it is. I used gluten free low sodium tamari for the soy and I also cut down the salt by about half. The first couple times I made it I didn't have liquid smoke so I used chipotle powder which was too spicy and didn't mix well. I also used the amounts in the recipe for one pound of meat. I would double the recipe for two pounds of meat. I was using this without the liquid smoke and it was ok but it's better with the hickory flavored smoke I used today. And I warmed the marinade on the stove and then let it cool to get the ingredients well incorporated. I found that mixing everything room temperature, I couldn't get everything dissolved and parts of the jerky would be more flavorful or more spicy than others. Warming the marinade allowed the brown sugar to dissolve and all the other ingredients to incorporate well. Once that was cool which didn’t take long, I added it to the meat, mixed it well and let it marinate for about 12 hours in the fridge. I used my oven to dry it, 180 degrees which is the lowest it goes, for about 4 hours. With these changes, I'm very happy with the recipe and will be using it again. I shared it with friends that really liked it also.