brookcove
Posted : 7/20/2008 8:39:02 AM
Have you ever tried drying salmon strips in your oven? You can also do this with liver but you'll probably want to abandon your house completely to the dogs until the smell clears!! You just cut a wild atlantic salmon steak (raw) into thin strips, stick a toothpick through the top, then hang them on the upper oven rack. You have to adjust the rack so that you can get a second rack in below it, with a drip pan of some kind - size depends on how many of these you do. I do about three pounds at once so I just cover the whole rack. 
For just a snack for a couple dogs you'll just want to do a few ounces and a cookie sheet, covered with foil, will probably suffice.
Anyway, you set the oven for about 250 F and let time do its magic. The first time you try this, do it when you can watch it through the day - it will take several hours but it's possible to turn them into blackened stalagmites (or is it stalagtites?) if they go TOO long. After you get an idea of how long it takes for whatever type of fish you use, and your oven, you can set it overnight or for some day you won't be there. This time you'll just have to celebrate Jack's birthday by filling the house with a lovely fishy smell. He'll appreciate it, anyway.
You can do this with any meat - time varies by meat type - organ meats take MUCH less time, while red meats definitely will go all night, and end up extremely chewy - but lamb chewies made this way are real dog-pleasers. Cuts of meat taken from what we consider to be less desirable parts of the animal, such as the shoulder, are excellent sources of glucosamine, because they have lots of cartilage. Terrific for joint issues and skin problems both. 
Hope Jack has a great one! My Ted's second birthday is next week - hard to believe it's been two years, and yet it's hard to remember life without Ted.