Beef Jerky Hats

Jerky has been called the original survival food, and the people who make it at home treat it like a craft. Venison jerky is a standard way for hunters to use a deer, and outdoor writers frame it as tradition. Field and Stream calls jerky a tough snack for tough people and has staged the debate over whether venison jerky or summer sausage is the better deer-camp food. One forum cook sums up the home maker's life in a line: my wife eats it as fast as I can make it. The gear and the rituals supply the material. Dehydrator recipes commonly run from about six to twelve hours, soft strips at the short end and crispier ones at the long end, and forums trade notes on soy sauce, seasoning and whether a marinade penetrated. Jerky starter kits are marketed as Father's Day gifts, one of them under the pun Dad's Being a Jerk(y), which tells you the jerk joke is already sold. These hats go a different way, with the menu language of a person drying meat at home. You get two plain badges, a venison label parody, a dehydrator operator license, a marinade on a need-to-know basis and a club with one member. Every design is custom embroidered on an unstructured dad hat. Give one to the person who runs the dehydrator, or wear it to the next batch.