I ended up with 4 1/2 pounds of strips. I laid them out on wax paper, so they were touching. I ended up with what looked like a sheet of meat. I then measured out the proper amount of seasoning, put it in a pepper shaker and spread half on one side of the meat. That's right, I'm doing this dry, no marinade. I turned all the strips over and used the rest of the seasoning on the other side. I used Legg's Old Plantation Seasoning (with Instacure added) which I got from Ask The Meatman. I then stacked the strips on a wire rack placed on a cookie sheet, in a crosshatch pattern and uncovered into the 'frig overnight.