Sunday, August 31, 2008

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - New Sweet & Spicy

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - New Sweet & SpicyJedidiah's Jerky is a brand belonging to Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks based out of Laughlin, NV.

The business was started by David Coffey in 2005. Coffey is a veteran of the meat snack industry having started with Polley's Jerky in 1984, and launching another brand of his, River Run Jerky. His father worked in the jerky business before him.

The Jedidiah's brand was created to represent unique styles and recipes that appeal to the dedicated jerky snacker. This Private Reserve line of jerky is a soft and tender beef brisket variety, while their Premium line is the standard jerky.

You can watch a video of Coffey talking about his jerky...
http://www.thetalkmarket.com/video/product/446/

Noticing the ingredients list below, this variety contains "tapatia", which I assume is Tapatia sauce, a popular brand of hot sauce.

Ingredients

Beef brisket, soy sauce, brown sugar, Tapatia sauce, jalapeno peppers, lemon juice, garlic powder, black pepper, worcestershire sauce.

Taste

I get a strong sweetness upon putting a piece into my mouth. There's also a chile pepper flavor that comes through immediately as well. Salty is another significant taste that comes on strong. I can taste the soy sauce in there also.

For being advertised as a sweet & spicy variety, I'd say it certainly fits the bill. It's more sweet than it is spicy, however. If you want to differentiate "spicy" as opposed to "hot", it does have a lot of spicy flavorings that I can detect. The chile pepper taste, which perhaps comes from the Tapatia and jalapeno peppers, give it that spicy bite. But it's not very hot, at least not as hot as the company's Hot & Spicy Teriyaki, that I reviewed earlier. This is probably medium by my standards.

The saltiness is well defined in here, it's what I would classify as "too salty". The saltiness is actually the predominant taste in this. There's enough of the other flavors and seasonings that I can taste to offset the saltiness, but it's actually reverse. The other flavors and seasonings would come out a lot more if it weren't so salty.

The natural meat flavors do show up, but are hard to find mainly because the other flavorings drown it out. If anything there is a slight stale taste to this meat, but it's not really that bad. The flavorings and seasonings do a pretty good job to mask it.

This jerky is sprinkled with tiny jalapeno seeds. Every now and I then I bite into one and get a burst of jalapeno flavor.

Overall, this is jerky has a great taste, offering a complexity of flavors between the soy sauce, sweet, jalapeno pepper, Tapatia sauce, and salt. I could get addicted to this if it weren't so salty.

Meat Consistency

These are whole slices of beef brisket, and sliced thin. The strips are thin enough, and sticky enough, that they clump up into small bite sized peices.

This is a soft and tender jerky, being semi-moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. You don't even need teeth to eat this.

The stickiness I described remains in very small amounts on my fingers, but not enough so that I have lick them off before typing.

Being made from brisket, there is indeed quite a bit of membrane to be seen on the edges of these slices, but I haven't found it chewy at all. Everything chews very easily. Otherwise, no tendon or gristle to be found.

Overall, this has a great meat consistency.

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - New Sweet & Spicy

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - New Sweet & Spicy
Product Value

Jedidiah's Jerky sells this New Sweet & Spicy variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.

For general jerky snacking, this has a decent value. It's very tasty, and has a taste that lasts all throughout the chew, and is very easy to eat. It's very snackable. I'd call it an excellent value if it were priced about 50 cents less per ounce.

For being advertised as a sweet & spicy variety, it's also a decent value. It certainly is sweet & spicy, but for a price of $2.19 per ounce, you can find much cheaper sweet & spicy brands.

But you might be intrigued with the unique taste this offers, with the jalapeno and Tapatia sauce, and its unusually soft consistency. It's worth buying to just experience it.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This New Sweet & Spicy variety from Jedidiah's Private Reserve offers a very pleasing taste for folks who love spicy jerky that's not necessarily hot, and provides a very soft and tender texture.

I just found it too salty for my liking. I could give it a best rating if it only toned down the saltiness.

Otherwise, I really enjoy the flavor of this. For me personally, anytime you add jalapeno peppers and hot sauce, you get something that finds favor from me.

To make a beer recommendation, the heavy sweetness in this warrants something light on taste, in fact a hefeweizen or wheat beer sounds good.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

Friday, August 29, 2008

Ray's Own Brand - Hickory Smoked Original

rays own brand beef jerky
Ray's Own Brand is a line of beef jerky produced by the business of the same name, based out of San Luis Obispo, CA. It was started by Raymond Cattaneo and wife Nina Marie in 2003.

The Cattaneo's beef jerky business follows their successful barbecue service, Cattaneo BBQ Service, which they've been doing since 1971 across the central coast of California. Ray's grandfather was William Cattaneo who started Cattaneo Bros. Beef Jerky, and since the age of 9 has been working in the meat smoking trade.

Ray's Own Brand is a husband & wife operation with Ray overseeing the individual batch processing, with Nina Marie directing all business operations. They make their own beef jerky at their own facility.

The valleys around the California central coast have long been known for its cattle ranches and vineyards, but only recently began enjoy some popularity for its artisan jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, water, cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, garlic, celery powder.

Taste

A light smoky flavor comes in off the top, followed by a touch of salt, and a light natural meat. The chewing brings on a more defined natural meat flavor with a noticeable smoke. Light amounts of vinegar tanginess follow their way in, along with hints of garlic.

For being advertised as a hickory variety, there's a fair amount of smoke flavor noticeable both on the surface of these pieces and inside the meat itself. It doesn't overpower the meat, however, and instead gives the natural meat flavors the lead role. It's just enough smoke to notice and enjoy.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a rich natural meat flavor, very much like a grilled steak, but also comparable to a prime rib. The hickory smoke is noticeable from the start and throughout the chewing, but clearly a supporting flavor. Hints of salt, garlic, and a light vinegar round out the added flavorings.

The meat consistency is excellent, slices of seemingly pure meat, cut into thick strips with the grain. The meat pulls apart easily enough, and chews with a fair amount of chewiness, yet still easy and lightly moist. Once chewed down soft, it feels just like eating chunks of real steak, not crumbly, not mushy, but like pure beef. I don't see any fat on these slices, nor encounter any stringiness.

Verdict

This Hickory Smoked Original beef jerky from Ray's Own Brand is all about the beef. It has a great balance between a thick, manly, beefy slices, with that campfirey goodness of steak flavor and hickory smoke. While these slices are cut thick, they are not tough. They do have a nice jerky chewiness, yet remain easy enough for most people to get through. The hickory smoke flavor really brings out the beef character, yet doesn't overpower the palate. I love how the seasonings and flavorings are kept at low levels, just enough to give the meat some taste interest while keeping the focus on the beef itself.

Rating: Best (5/5)

Buy this online:


hickory smoked beef jerky

hickory smoked beef jerky

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Premium Honey

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Premium HoneyJedidiah's Jerky is a brand of Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, based out of Laughlin, NV.

The brand was created by David Coffey, who previously produced the River Run Jerky brand. Before that he was involved with Polley's Jerky, and has been in the jerky industry since 1984. He actually follows in his father's footsteps in the meat snacks biz.

The Jedidiah's brand is meant to represent various styles of jerky that appeal to a more discriminating jerky snacker. This Premium line represents the brand's standard jerky, while their Private Reserve line represents a soft and tender beef brisket jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, honey, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, garlic, sodium nitrite.

Taste

I get a sweet taste upon first putting a piece into my mouth. That's followed by the saltiness, and a black peppery taste as well. I can also get some garlic taste too. With some chewing, I can pick up some of the natural meat flavors.

Being advertised as a Honey variety, there is indeed a fair amount of sweetness in this, but it's not the dominant flavor. The saltiness and black pepper seems to get greater attention. Most of the sweetness comes off the surface of these pieces, when a piece first enters my mouth.

And while the saltiness is more defined than the sweet, I wouldn't call this "too salty". Even with 580mg of sodium per 1oz serving, a high amount, there's enough sweetness in it to offset any salt scorching.

The black pepper has a moderate flavor in this jerky. It's enough to be noticed, but doesn't leave a strong aftertaste in the back of my mouth. The garlic, likewise, is also just enough to be noticed, but won't leave you smelling like an Olive Garden restaurant.

The natural meat flavors are there, but not well distinguished. I can get more of the taste after letting a piece soften up in my mouth for several seconds, and then chewing.

There's also a very slight barbecue taste to this, perhaps a culmination of the honey, garlic, and paprika.

Overall, this jerky is packed with flavor, and a complex flavor with plenty of components to identify. It would be better to get more of the natural meat flavors, but I still enjoy the seasonings and marinade quite a bit.

Meat Consistency

This jerky appears to be slices of whole meat, cut into medium and thick slices, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's a dry jerky, with some pieces ranging from flexible to rigid. Some pieces can bend without breaking, while others break.

Some of the pieces are easy to tear apart, but others require some effort to pull apart and bite off. Chewing is maybe the same, but perhaps a little more easier.

There's a few small bits of fat that I can see, but otherwise nothing chewy in the way of tendon, gristle, or membrane.

Overall, this is a good meat consistency, just a little too tough in some pieces.

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Premium Honey

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Premium Honey
Product Value

Jedidiah's sells this Premium Honey variety from their website at a price of $5.99 for a 3.5oz bag. That works out to $1.71 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this has a great value because of its great taste, its flavor complexity, and its good meat consistency. I find it very snackable for these reasons, and can't help but reach for more.

As a honey variety, it has an "good" value, because it's still sweet enough to warrant the Honey advertisement, however the other flavorings come on strong and competes against it for attention. Most of the honey taste comes in the first several seconds. It's the salt and black pepper that dominates through the chew.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Premium Honey variety from Jedidiah's Jerky offers a wonderful flavor complexity, allowing a jerky lover to enjoy several different taste components, in a good meat consistency.

I'm only dinging it for being somewhat tough in about half of the pieces. The toughness can be mitigated by letting a piece soften up in your mouth before chewing. More than likely, the toughness/softness varies from package to package.

Otherwise, this jerky has a flavor that will keep jerky afficionados busy dissecting the flavors they're tasting.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - TeriyakiHawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Palama Holdings, LLC of Kapolei, HI. The jerky has been around since 1969.

The Hawaiian Warrior brand had actually been owned by Palama Meat Company, a company that started out as local butcher in the 1950s. The company soon became the largest meat processor in the state after gaining contracts with local school districts to supply meat. It later launched a line of foods under the Mays Hawaii brand.

In 1997, the company's owner, Donald Lau, retired by selling Palama Meat Company to H&W Foods. In the years following, H&W Foods ran into financial diffiulty and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In 2004, a California-based investment company bought H&W Foods, and relaunched it as Palama Holdings, LLC.

Since it first launched, Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky has grown to become a local favorite in Hawaii, but it never really gained a following beyond the State. It also earned a stigma from tourists as being a bad-tasting jerky. The company recently redesigned the package into what you see now, and reformulated the recipes. The product is now being exported into the mainland and into asian food markets.

Ingredients

Beef, water, sugar, sodium citrate blend, monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed soy protein, garlic powder, maltodextrin, citric acid, caramel color, spices, onion powder, tomato powder, soy sauce, pineapple juice solids, natural flavor, extractives of tamarind, dextrose, modified food starch, natural smoke flavor, vinegar solids, not more than 2% tricalcium phosphate, added to prevent caking.

Taste

There's something of a sweet taste that I detect immediately upon putting a piece into my mouth. With some chewing, that sweetness comes out more. I can also sense a touch of soy sauce.

Aside from that, I don't taste much else.

I can't really detect any of the natural meat flavors in this. After thinking hard about what I'm tasting, I do pick a very faint signal of meat, but it's more of that "old meat" taste, where it's somewhat stale, or starting to turn. But still, it's very faint, and only detectable if you really look hard for it. Otherwise, there's nary a meat taste in this at all.

As for that sweetness, it's not heavily sweet by any means. But considering there's little other taste to this, even that would be welcomed.

Considering this jerky is advertised as a "Hawaiian Teriyaki" variety, there's is very little teriyaki to be tasted here. Perhaps Hawaiian Teriyaki is a light variety of standard teriyaki, but if that's the case, it's extremely light on taste.

Overall, it doesn't taste bad. It just doesn't taste much at all. All I'm getting is the bit of sweetness, and very light touch of soy sauce. No natural meat flavors, not even very salty either.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be cuts of whole meat, sliced into medium thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is somewhat dry, but you might also think of it as somewhat moist also. They are very flexible and don't break at all. In fact, it has the rubbery consistency, like "gummy jerky".

It's easy to tear a piece apart, and easy to chew.

I do see a fair amount of fat on these pieces, but I didn't find much in tendon or gristle. I did find some pieces with small bits of membrane that made for some additional chewing.

Overall, it's a decent meat consistency in that there's nothing major that got in my way, and is easy to eat. The rubbery consistency is something you often see in large national brands, with their attempt to make jerky more soft and tender. I don't particulary care much for it.

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Teriyaki
Product Value

I paid $6.29 for this 4oz package at a Marukai Market in San Diego, CA. That works out to $1.57 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

For general purpose jerky snacking, it provides a "so-so" value, because there's not much to taste in this. This might be good just to curb your hunger, or give you a protein boost while resting on a hike.

As a teriyaki variety, it has very little value at all. I don't taste much teriyaki in this. If anything, I taste a sweetness, but not something that manifests itself as teriyaki.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

This teriyaki variety from Hawaiian Warrior offers an easy-to-eat meat consistency, though with a rubbery-like consistency. It just doesn't provide much teriyaki taste at all, and in fact not much taste period. Even the natural meat flavors are not well discernable.

I wouldn't quite rate this as "dog treats" because it still doesn't taste bad. As a meat snack, it doesn't really offer much snackability.

The irony of this is that the package is marked, "New and Improved Flavor". I can't imagine what this stuff was like before.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

Monday, August 25, 2008

Ray's Own Brand - Original

ray's own brand beef jerky
Ray's Own Brand is a brand of beef jerky produced by a business of the same name, located in San Luis Obispo, CA. It was started by Raymond Cattaneo and wife Nina Marie in 2003.

The Cattaneo's beef jerky business follows their successful barbecue service, Cattaneo BBQ Service, which they've been doing since 1971 across the central coast of California. Ray's grandfather was William Cattaneo who started Cattaneo Bros. Beef Jerky, and since the age of 9 has been working in the meat smoking trade.

Ray's Own Brand is a husband & wife operation with Ray overseeing the individual batch processing, with Nina Marie directing all business operations. They make their own beef jerky at their own facility.

The valleys around the California central coast have long been known for its cattle ranches and vineyards, but only recently began seeing an interest for its artisan jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, water, cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, garlic, celery powder.

Taste

The first taste I get is the natural meat flavors, followed by a light saltiness. With some chewing, I can pick up traces of garlic. I can also detect a bit of the tangy cider vinegar. There's hints of black pepper.

For being marketed as the company's Original flavor, this has a very simple, light, and mild taste. It emphasizes the natural meat flavors with a steak-like palate, and just touches of vinegar and seasonings.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is the natural flavor of beef, in a steak-like character, with only trace amounts of salt, vinegar, and black pepper.

The meat consistency is excellent, slices of seemingly pure meat, cut into thick strips with the grain. The meat pulls apart easily enough, and chews with a fair amount of chewiness, yet still easy and lightly moist. Once chewed down soft, it feels just like eating chunks of real steak, not crumbly, not mushy, but like pure beef.

Verdict

This Original beef jerky from Ray's Own Brand is about as close as one can get to pure beef jerky that emphasizes the richness of beef meat flavor, with only a trace amount of seasonings. It's very light on the salt, light on the vinegar, and light on the pepper. It's otherwise, gobs of steak-like chewing in a lightly moist, lightly chewy texture. It's also sugar free, perfect for Keto diets and other low-carb diets. This is also an excellent example of artisan-style jerky from California's Central Coast, and is perfect for pairing with red wines.

Rating: Best (5/5)

Buy this online:


rays own brand beef jerky

rays own brand beef jerky

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Teriyaki

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - TeriyakiJedidiah's Jerky is a brand belonging to Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV. It's been around since 2005, owned and operated by David Coffey.

Coffey launched the brand to represent lines of specialty beef jerky that afficionados would enjoy. He's a veteran of the jerky snack business going back to 1984, when he started out with Polley's Jerky and later on launched a previous brand, River Run Jerky. His father was also a veteran of the jerky snack business.

This line of "Private Reserve" represents a a very soft and tender beef brisket jerky, while their "Premium" line is more of the standard beef jerky.

Ingredients

Beef brisket, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, honey, pepper, ginger.

Taste

I get a strong sweet taste immediately upon putting a piece into my mouth, with a saltiness coming on just seconds later. The natural meat flavors start showing through after that, and in the chews I can detect some garlic.

The teriyaki sauce is there, but I can't really say that it's a strong teriyaki taste, mostly because the sweetness is so strong. Or perhaps it's better to say that the teriyaki sauce is more heavy on the sweet side, and less on the soy sauce.

The saltiness is well pronounced in this, however the heavy sweetness balances it out and doesn't really give me a salt-scorching.

The natural meat flavors show up in the chews, but I can't say it's a strong taste, mainly because it's masked by the heavy sweet and salty flavoring. There is also a very slight "rank" meat taste, or stale taste. Note that this jerky contains no sodium nitrite, no oxygen absorption packet, and is not vacuum sealed.

As for the other seasonings, I can detect the garlic, but mostly during the chewing. For the most part, I don't really taste the black pepper, though there were some cracks and crevices in this jerky that had concentrated amount of pepper, and gave off a good peppery taste. The ginger is something I can sense in the teriyaki sauce.

When I let a piece soften up in my mouth for several seconds, I mostly get the heavy sweet flavor, with some saltiness. But the salt really comes out once I start chewing.

Overall, this is a sweet & salty variety of jerky. You could rightfully call it a teriyaki variety, but only if you call it an extremely sweet teriyaki. This stuff is basically "meat candy", and is supported by the very high 13g of carbs per 1oz serving on the nutrition label.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be whole cuts of real meat, sliced thin, and in strips of ranging from 5-10 inches in length.

This is a soft and tender variety of jerky, though not necessarily moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. In fact, it's so easy to eat that I find myself having to slow down so that I don't run out before finishing writing this review.

As with beef brisket, there's a good deal of marbilization, and plenty of "membrane" covering the edges of these slices. That membrane does remain in my mouth in a little chewy ball, but can be easily swallowed. Otherwise, I don't find any tendon or gristle.

If I could recommend a beer with this jerky, it would be a watery beer, something very light on flavor, maybe a Bud Lime.

Overall, this jerky has a great meat consistency that doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the flavors.




Product Value

Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks sells this Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this has a decent value considering it's packed with a lot of flavoring (mostly sweet & salty), is very easy to eat, and provides a lot of snackability. If it were priced about 50 cents lower per oz, I'd say it would have an excellent value.

As a teriyaki variety, that value could swing either way depending on your tastes. If you like heavily sweet teriyaki, then it's a great value being that's exactly what this is. Otherwise you might see this as being a waste of money for something that tastes like meat candy.

Rating

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - TeriyakiI'm giving this a good rating.

This teriyaki variety from Jedidiah's Private Reserve offers a very soft and easy-to-eat jerky with a liberal dose of sweet teriyaki taste against a good natural meat flavor.

But that teriyaki flavor is extremely sweet, to the point where you might find yourself making a face and handing it off to your toddler to stop him from crying.

Nutritionwise, this is one of the worst, being very high in carbohydrates (for jerky anyways), high in sodium, and high in calories. However, it's lower in cholesterol than most jerky. This isn't a jerky you'd want to diet with.

But I still find it quite snackable, and it's easy-to-eat consistency has me eating it very quickly. Considering it's high price point, you'd have to train yourself to eat this slowly or else that $7.99 price might only provide you with 5 minutes of snacking fun.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

Friday, August 22, 2008

Ray's Own Brand - Teriyaki

rays own brand beef jerky
Ray's Own Brand is a brand of beef jerky produced by a business of the same name, located in San Luis Obispo, CA. It was started by Raymond Cattaneo and wife Nina Marie in 2003.

It seems these days I keep reading about a growth in popularity over beef jerky produced from the central coast of California, an area known for its cattle ranches and fine wines. The two are often paired together where "artisan jerky" is washed down with a sip of red wine.

The Cattaneo's beef jerky business follows their successful barbecue service, Cattaneo BBQ Service, which they've been doing since 1971 across the central coast of California. Ray's grandfather was William Cattaneo who started Cattaneo Bros. Beef Jerky, and since the age of 9 has been working in the meat smoking trade.

Ray's Own Brand is a husband & wife operation with Ray overseeing the individual batch processing, with Nina Marie directing all business operations. They make their own beef jerky at their own faciliy.


Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, black pepper, spices, garlic, celery powder.

Taste

I get a teriyaki flavor immediately upon putting a piece into my mouth, followed by a hint of salt, and then followed by the natural meat flavors. The chewing brings on a more defined teriyaki while the natural meat flavors increase. A light garlic come in, and a faint black pepper raises its head.

The teriyaki taste is light, but enough to let you know that it's teriyaki sauce. It has that authentic Japanese-style, with that fermented character and a pungent seasoning. But, it doesn't have that thick sweet. As I get further into the chew, the teriyaki taste wears off while the natural meat flavors take over.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is the natural meat flavor, but with a noticeable teriyaki mixed in, with a subtle salt, garlic, and black pepper.

The meat consistence is excellent. Thick slices of beef cut with the grain, lightly moist, rest in your hands with a weighty feel, letting you know this is about as real and natural as beef jerky can get. The chewing is chewy, but not tough. Once chewed down soft, it feels like real steak. The teriyaki sauce adds a bit of a rubbery character initially, but wears off fast into pure beef. No fat to be seen, and no stringiness encountered.

Verdict

This teriyaki beef jerky from Ray's Own Brand does a great job of emphasizing the natural meat flavors, keeping the teriyaki to a light enough level that it lets the goodness of pure beef shine through while allowing for some flavor interest. The teriyaki flavor itself seems genuine in the Japanese steakhouse sense, but again, there's only light amount, enough to taste but not too much to get in the way. Otherwise, it's the meat consistency and chewing texture that amazes! It's thick cut, but not tough. It's like chewing on real steak, and tasting the rich flavor of real beef. It's also simple in flavor, but in a good way because there's so much beef luxury in these strips to enjoy. It's the kind of jerky die-hard meat addicts have been searching for nationwide.

Rating: Best (5/5)

Buy this online:


teriyaki beef jerky

teriyaki beef jerky


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Gary West Meats - Certified Angus Beef - Traditional

Gary West Meats - Certified Angus Beef - TraditionalGary West Meats is a brand of smoked meats and jerky produced by a company of the same name. Based in Jacksonville, OR, it's been serving up its famous brand of meats since 1966 on location at the company's own meat processing facility.

The company was founded by Gary West using recipes handed down to him by his grandfather. In 2004, he sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law. Since that time, the Gary West brand of beef jerky rose in popularity quite quickly being well respected for its wonderful meat taste, and gaining great reviews in such publications as the New York Times and earning the 2008 Editor's Choice award from Outdoor Life magazine.

Gary West Meats is also the only brand that offers a special line of beef jerky made from Certified Angus Beef, an organization that produces a very high quality line of beef. Only 8% of all angus beef qualifies for CAB, and is the most tender and flavorful angus beef around. This review tries out Gary West's "Traditional" Certified Angus Beef jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first tastes that comes through is a slight sweetness along with the natural meat flavors. Chewing down on it very slightly is enough to get the piece to release more of that natural meat flavor, along with a salty flavor.

I'm not an expert on Certified Angus Beef, so I can't really say that I know the unique qualities that differentiate it from other Angus beef. However, this particular variety of jerky has an excellent meat taste, just like with Gary West's standard traditional beef jerky (see review here).

This meat has the same smooth, mellow, and almost "buttery" like taste. It's not a sharp taste, but mellow. It's a very delicious flavor, which reminds me of the time I had a rib eye steak at Lou & Mickey's at the Gas Lamp District of San Diego. It was a steak that had such a rich "meaty" taste, yet so soft and juicy, and it became the comparison steak that I compare other steak houses to. While beef jerky is not exactly steak, this wonderful meat flavor from Gary West Meats has become my comparison beef jerky at least in terms of natural meat flavors.

This particular jerky is actually rather sparse on seasonings. Salt is the probably the most dominant flavoring, though I can't say that it tastes overly salty, even though the nutrition facts suggests it salty. The black pepper listed in the ingredients is detectable, but very slightly. I can only taste it while sucking on a piece, before I actually chew down on it.

I'm out of good quality beer in my refrigerator, and had to resort to a Heineken Light that I've had sitting in there for several months. Like most other "rice brewed" beers out there, I find it ruins the taste of this jerky. I'd recommend a honey blonde ale with this jerky; it won't compete against it's mellow buttery flavor.

Meat Consistency

This jerky appears to be made from whole pieces of meat, sliced into strips of about a foot long, and about the width of a meat stick. Note that I cut the strip into smaller pieces for photographic purposes.

I found this to be a semi-moist jerky, probably slightly more dry. It's a "soft and tender" variety of jerky, that is easy to bite off and very easy to chew.

No pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle could be found.

The strips are cut with the grain, making it difficult to tear apart with your with fingers. You have to eat it like a beef stick, basically biting off each piece.

Gary West Meats - Certified Angus Beef - Traditional

Gary West Meats - Certified Angus Beef - Traditional

Product Value

Gary West Meats sells this Traditional variety of Certified Angus Beef jerky at a price of $9.00 for a 4oz package. That works out to a price of $2.25 per ounce, making it an expensive buy.

At that price, I probably wouldn't buy this since I haven't developed the highly sophisticated palate from differentiating Gary West's Certified Angus Beef jerky from their standard beef jerky. The standard jerky sells for $7.50 per 4oz package.

And for general purpose jerky eating, this makes an expensive meat snack. This isn't something you'd snack on while watching a movie or sitting at a football game, simply because it would be an injustice to ignore this jerky's excellent meat flavors.

But if you're someone whose very anal about enjoying "artisan jerky" for its natural meat flavors, or if you simply MUST have Certified Angus Beef in all of your meat-eating, this is an excellent value.

Rating

Gary West Meats - Certified Angus Beef - TraditionalI'm giving this a best rating.

The natural meat flavors that come from this Traditional variety of Certified Angus Beef are wonderful with its smooth, mellow, and almost buttery flavor. It's a flavor that has me craving for more and more. On top of that, it has an excellent meat consistency.

In terms of seasonings, it's rather bland, with basically just salt being the only other flavor I can taste. But the natural meat flavors are so good that it's all that I care to taste.

This isn't a jerky that I'd eat for general purpose snacking, but something I'd take with me on a hike up to a nearby waterfall, with a couple bottles of really good beer, and perch myself on a rock ledge overlooking the canyon below, and be thankful for the steer that gave its life for my personal enjoyment.

Rating: Best

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Jedidiah's Jerky - Premium Hickory

Jedidiah's Jerky - Premium HickoryJedidiah's Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, based out of Laughlin, NV. It's been around since 2005.

The business was founded by David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky marketing business since 1984, having spent many years at Polley's Beef Jerky, and having started another brand, River Run Jerky.

The Jedidiah's brand focuses on finding unique recipes and styles of jerky to meet a growing demand from gourmet jerky lovers. Thus far the brand offers two lines of jerky, this Premium line, which appears to be their standard jerky, and a Private Reserve line, which is soft and tender beef brisket jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, hickory smoke flavor, garlic, sodium nitrite.

Taste

A combination of salt and smokiness are the first tastes that hit me right away. That's followed by a faint garlic flavor, and a faint sweet flavor. There's some natural meat flavors that show up after I start chewing.

For being a hickory variety, there is indeed a strong hickory taste and aroma to this jerky.

The saltiness is well pronounced. It's probably the most dominant flavor in this, with the hickory smoke flavor coming in a close second. After about four pieces of this, it's starting to scorch my mouth.

The faint garlic flavor I described above actually becomes more noticeable as I continue to eat more pieces, and as I allow each piece to soak in my mouth for several seconds.

And that sweetness I also mentioned is even more faint. It's not something that stands out, I wouldn't normally notice it if I weren't writing a detailed review. It's there in the background, like ambiance.

Lastly, the natural meat flavors are there, but are not well defined. I'd say the heavy salt flavor does a good job at masking it.

If you were to allow a piece to soften up in your mouth, what you'd find is the hickory smoke flavor dominating, with the garlic, and the "spices", adding background touches. Once you chew into the piece, the salt leaches forth and blots out every other taste.

Overall, this jerky is packed with a lot of flavor, mostly as salt however, but with plenty of hickory smoke flavor too. The garlic and sweet background gives this jerky some added taste dimension. It's a great jerky to just suck on and enjoy the flavors.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be made from whole pieces of meat, sliced into medium and thick widths, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This jerky is dry, retaining some flexibility, but will crack and break if bent too far. Most of the pieces are moderately easy to tear apart, with some offering a lot more resistance. I found one piece that was pretty hard. Chewing requires a moderate amount of effort, and some more in the tougher pieces. But like I said, there's enough flavor in this you'd want to suck a piece for awhile before chewing.

Some of the pieces are very lean, with nary a bit of fat, while others have some good fat marbilization. I can't really see the fat on these, but I can certainly taste it. But I find nothing chewy in the way of tendon or gristle.

Overall, this is a dry jerky requiring some effort to tear and chew, but providing a lot of lean meat.

Jedidiah's Jerky - Premium Hickory

Jedidiah's Jerky - Premium Hickory
Product Value

Jedidiah's sells this Premium Hickory variety from their website at a price of $5.99 for a 3.5oz bag. That works out to $1.71 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

I'd say that this offers a so-so value for general jerky eating purposes. It's got a lot of flavor that lasts throughout the chew, and some snackability, but offering enough effort in tearing and chewing that you'd find it somewhat distracting. The heavy salt flavor is also something that wears me down after several pieces.

But as a hickory variety, it offers a great value because it does offer plenty of hickory taste and aroma.

Rating

Jedidiah's Jerky - Premium HickoryI'm giving this an average rating.

This hickory smoked variety from Jedidiah's offers a lot of hickory smoke flavor with some garlic and faint sweet notes, in a mixture of lean and fat-marbilized meat consistency.

But the heavy salt flavor, and with enough pieces requiring some effort to tear apart and chew, takes away from this jerky's snackability. With a few pieces left to go in writing this review, I don't feel enthused about the eating the rest.

While the toughness can be mitigated by just letting each piece soften up in your mouth, and you can enjoy more of the flavors that way, you're still left with salty jerky. That might be ok with some folks, but it's just my preference to avoid heavily salty jerky.

Rating: Average

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Winchester Jerky - Spicy Ham

Winchester Jerky - Spicy HamWinchester Jerky is a licensed product distributed by Bric-A-Brac, Inc., out of Las Vegas, NV.

The name "Winchester" is meant to be the same name as the brand of gun. This package of jerky uses the same trademarks and images of the famous rifle that "won the west". The Olin Corporation, which owns Winchester, licenses its brand out to several consumer product manufacturers for a wide array of stuff.

Winchester Jerky is not typically found in the United States, with the exception of asian food stores found in various asian communities. Rather, it's largely sold overseas in Japan, and in airports around the world where asian travellers tend to make stops.

Bric-A-Brac knows that the Japanese have a love affair with America's "old west", and beef jerky has gained cult following there as a snack, and thus a product named after the rifle that became synonymous with the old west is a way to boost marketability.

This jerky is actually manufactured by Monogram Meat Snacks, LLC, the same company behind the Jeff Foxworthy Jerky, Trails Best Jerky, and the NASCAR branded hot dogs and meats. Winchester Jerky includes several varieties of beef jerky and ham jerky.

Ingredients

Pork (ham), brown sugar, water, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, spices, hydrolized soy protein, dextrose, soy sauce, hydrolized soy and corn protein, autolyzed yeast extract, sugar, maltodextrin, flavoring, natural flavors, sodium nitrite.

Taste

There's a sweet initial taste upon putting a piece into my mouth, and that sweetness morphs into a "ham" taste. The saltiness comes on pretty strong, along with its associated soy sauce flavoring, and then I can feel the "tingle" of spiciness in the back of my mouth. As I start the chewing, I can taste more of the ham flavor.

The ham flavors in this are pronounced, though I can't say it's a strong ham taste. Most of the ham taste comes from the surface of these pieces, perhaps in the sugar. I can continue getting that ham taste during the chew, but it's not a strong one.

I'd say that the "spicy" advertisement on the package is warranted, because I do sense some spiciness in this. I'd rate it as mild-medium, or maybe just medium at best. I can taste the chili pepper seasoning in this, and I get it even more when I bite into a chili pepper seed.

The soy sauce flavor that I described above only seems to be detectable when I let a piece soak in my mouth for several seconds, and then I extract the juices. It tastes more like the chinese style soy sauce rather than the japanese.

The saltiness is heavy. It wears me out after pieces, and detracts from this jerky's snackability.

Overall, this spicy ham jerky is very flavorful, with plenty of taste throughout the chew. The flavors that dominate this is the saltiness, the medium-level spiciness, soy sauce, and ham flavors. The sweetness is only dominant in the first few seconds.

Meat Consistency

This is a chopped & formed jerky, with medium to thick thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

The pieces are dry, and are somewhat on the tough side. They tear apart with some ease, perhaps due to the chopped & formed consistency, but require some effort in chewing. It's better to eat this slowly, allowing the pieces to soften up in your mouth.

I don't find any tiny bits of "hard stuff", like bone or cartilage in this jerky, considering it's chopped & formed, and nor does it have an oily texture which many such jerkies have.

Overall, this has a good meat consistency, if it was easier to chew, I might call it a great consistency.

Winchester Jerky - Spicy Ham

Winchester Jerky - Spicy Ham
Product Value

I paid $6.99 for this 5oz bag at a Mitsuwa Market in San Diego, CA. That works out to a price of $1.40 per ounce, making this average priced.

For general purpose jerky snacking, I'd say that this offers a good value. You're getting a jerky with lots of flavor that lasts throughout the chew, with a good meat consistency, and decent amount of snackability. The high level of saltiness, for my own purposes, make it hard for me to snack on. But perhaps it's ok for others.

As a "spicy ham" variety, I'd say it also offers a great value. It tastes exactly that, offering a noticeable ham flavor that has been spiced up with a noticeable chili pepper seasoning.

Rating

Winchester Jerky - Spicy HamI'm giving this a good rating.

This spicy ham variety from Winchester Jerky offers a sweet ham flavor with a medium-level chili pepper seasoning in a good meat consistency.

It's largely the heavy salt flavor that prevents me from giving this a higher rating, with it's tough chewing to back that up. Otherwise, I actually like the flavor of this, with the ham, the sweetness, and the chili pepper seasoning. Just tone down the saltiness please!

As for those Japanese business travellers, who find this package of jerky at an airport terminal shop, go ahead and pick it up. It'll make a great snack on your trip over the Pacific. As you look out the window at 30,000 feet, you'll imagine how the gun-slingers back in the old west used to grind up pieces of leftover ham, marinate them in soy sauce and hydrolized corn proteins, and form them into pieces that look like meat.

Rating: Good

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy Teriyaki

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy TeriyakiJedidiah's Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV.

The brand, which has been around since 2005, is the idea of David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky industry since 1984, having worked for several different brands. He created the Jedidiah's brand to represent a higher quality of beef jerky than most major brands, and to offer something unique and special to the beef jerky lover.

The "Private Reserve" line of beef jerky represents Jedidiah's beef brisket jerky, which results in a very soft and moist jerky. The brand also offers a "Premium" line, which represents standard beef jerky.

Ingredients

Beef brisket, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, chili peppers, pineapple juice, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, honey, pepper, ginger.

Taste

Upon putting a piece into my mouth, the very first taste that presents itself is a strong sweetness. A spicy hot bite from the chili peppers follows very quickly, as well as a saltiness.

Being advertised as "hot & spicy", it certainly lives up to that billing. I find it hot enough to moisten my scalp, and leave a good burn on my tongue. I'd rate this as being "hot". But after eating several pieces, my eyes are watering, my nose is running, and I'm having to reach for a swig of water after each swallow.

The package also advertises this as being a teriyaki variety, and there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this. But I think the teriyaki sauce is heavy on the sweet. This is more like "meat candy", than it is teriyaki flavored. But I can still sense the unique teriyaki flavoring that I think it does warrant the advertisement on the package.

The natural meat flavors are not well evident in this jerky, however. First, there's a lot of flavors competing for my attention, with the sweetness, the spiciness, and the saltiness. I let a piece sit in my mouth for several seconds, and extracted out the juices, but still couldn't really get a good sense of the meat flavors. There is indeed a "meat aroma" to this, but I can't really taste the unique beef flavors.

In terms of saltiness, this is definitely on the salty side. There is still plenty of sweetness to this that it offsets a lot of it, however.

Overall, this jerky is just brimming with flavor, with both the sweet, the spicy, and the saltiness dominating the taste throughout the chew. As a spicy variety, this will set your tongue on fire.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be slices of real beef brisket, sliced thin, and in strips of about 8-10 inches long, and 1 inch wide.

This is a soft and tender variety of jerky, being semi-moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. Some strips do provide a little more resistance to tearing, but still nothing that a toddler can't eat.

Being cut from beef brisket, I can see some fat marbilization, and I do get some chewy material, probably membrane and/or tendon. Otherwise, I found no gristle.

Overall, this jerky provides an excellent meat consistency.

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy Teriyaki

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy Teriyaki
Product Value

Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks sells this Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it offers a decent value, considering it's extremely flavorful, and very easy to eat.

But as a hot & spicy variety, it's a great value, because it's really hot and spicy. If you found other brands of hot jerky to be disappointingly mild, you'll be happy with this variety from Jed's.

Then as a teriyaki variety, it's a weak value. While there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this, it's heavy on the sugar side, and less on the soy sauce. And at a price of $2.19 per oz, you can find more teriyaki flavor in lesser priced brands.

Rating

Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy TeriyakiI'm giving this a best rating.

This Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from Jed's Private Reserve is packed with flavor, offering flavor combination of spicy hot chili pepper and sweet teriyaki, all in a very easy to eat meat consistency.

It also lives us to its advertised flavor, mostly as a hot & spicy variety, and less as a teriyaki variety. There's still plenty of teriyaki taste, but a heavily sweetened one, and one that is overshadowed by the chili pepper seasoning. While the saltiness is on the strong side, it's offset by the strong sweetness, and doesn't really wear you down.

While the natural meat flavors are very difficult to find in this, I still found the intense flavors to make this extremely snackable.

Rating: Best

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