I grew up loving beef jerky. What corn-fed Midwestern kid hasn't? It was a rite of passage in my family. So much so that my mother bought a dehydrator so we could make our own. Sadly, my mother didn't make it nearly as often as we would have liked, and with moving around as much as we did, the dehydrator was forgotten in a box. Decades later, my wife and daughters moved my family to the East Coast, away from the jerky I grew up on. But the "hunger" remained, gnawing at my subconscious. Sure, I would buy a bag of the big bag producers, but it just wasn't... satisfying. It lacked the heartiness and flavor that I grew up on. And the "hunger" would merely be taunted, 6oz and $8 later.
A few years ago, my mother, knowing my love for jerky and my love for cooking gave me the very same dehydrator that had been stored away all those years ago. Taking one of my favorite dishes, I made jerky of my own. The first batch didn't make it through the night; not because of my "hunger," but that of my wife and daughters. I made a second batch, but saved some to take to work. Like any good office mate, I shared; and they loved it. So much so that I had my first order that day. At that moment, Imperial Jerky was born.