Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Dad's Jerky - Hot Turkey Jerky

Dad's Jerky - Hot Turkey JerkyNext up in our series on Dad's Jerky is this Hot Turkey Jerky. See my previous review of their "Original Steak".

Dad's Jerky is a brand of Dad's Jerky, LLC, based out of Lake Isabella, CA.

It appears this jerky was actually manufactured by TM Jerky & Processing, Inc. of Monrovia, CA. TM Jerky also makes jerky for the Papa Dan's brand, and I notice that Papa Dan's also offers a Hot Turkey Jerky, but not having had Papa Dan's version, I can't verify if it tastes any different.


Ingredients

Turkey, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, water, pepper, garlic, liquid smoke, sodium nitrite, red chili.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a thick sweetness, followed quickly by some spicy heat. There's a bit of saltiness, and a light chile pepper flavor.

In the chewing, the first I taste is a light turkey meat flavor, followed by the continuation of the sweet, and a bit more saltiness.

For being labeled as "Hot", there indeed is a fair amount of heat in this. On an individual piece basis, I'd rate it as "medium" on my hot scale. Over several pieces, burn on the tongue seems to build up to a "medium hot", producing a prickly sensation on the scalp at best.

But I'd say the primary flavor of this jerky is the sweet. Perhaps it's part of the teriyaki flavor, but the sweet is so heavy, that the teriyaki flavor sits behind it. But I do taste the teriyaki in this, and it does seem to have a "truer" teriyaki flavor than the mass-market brands, presenting some of the tangy and pungent contrasts to the sweet and salty. But overall, it's still heavily sweet.

After that, the other flavors are light. I can taste a light chile pepper flavor, and I can also detect a light garlic flavor. The saltiness seems to have a light intensity as well.

The natural meat flavors can be detected, but are light, perhaps more light than the flavors noted above. It's more noticeable in that first piece I tried. After that, I can still taste it, but only when I'm focusing on that flavor.

Overall, it's a lot of sweet, some teriyaki flavor, and then some light touches of chile pepper, garlic, and turkey meat flavors that you'll get out of this. Oh, and the spicy heat continues at a medium level.

Meat Consistency

These are strips of whole turkey meat, in lengths of about 3-5 inches, sliced thick, and in widths of about 1/2 inch to 1 inch.

This a semi-moist jerky, soft, easy to tear apart, and very easy to chew. They have a lot of sticky sweet glaze on the surface. My fingers pick up the stickiness and require a licking and wiping on my pants with every touch.

The chewing texture starts out feeling soft. The heavy sweet flavor and light chile pepper, encourages me to suck on a piece for about 5 seconds before gently chewing. The piece falls apart rather easily in my mouth, and in just another 5 seconds I'm left with a soft mass. At that point, it tends to feel more mushy than like a roast turkey, yet it does retain some resemblance to turkey.

Looking at these pieces, they all appear to be very lean. I don't really see any chunks of fat, however I did find one piece with something chewy, I don't know what it was. But for the most part, it's mostly all meat.




Snack Value

I purchased this Hot Turkey variety from Dad's Jerky as part of their "Four Pack Special", where I got four varieties of their jerky, each in a 3.75oz bag, for $24.99. Add to that shipping fees of $6.93, that comes out to $31.92 for 15oz total, or what amounts to $2.13 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at this $2.13 price per ounce, it seems to provide a good value. I'm getting a lot of snackability out of this for it's great flavor, and easy eating. If you can buy this at a bulk discount, I'd call this an excellent value.

As a hot turkey jerky, also at the $2.13 price per ounce, I think it presents a good value also. I do get a good deal of spicy heat, though not necessarily a lot of chile pepper flavor. But I also get some light turkey meat flavor, and a chewing texture that resembles turkey meat somewhat. It's probably too high of price for the little turkey meat flavor that I'm getting, but because it does provide a good deal of heat, I think the "Hot Turkey" moniker lives up to its price point.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This Hot Turkey Jerky from Dad's Jerky is actually a sweet & hot variety, with a taste of teriyaki that seems to resemble true teriyaki flavor. There's perhaps more sweet flavor than there is teriyaki, but the teriyaki is clearly noticeable.

But it's also well represented as a hot turkey jerky, mostly for it's medium-level heat, and light chile pepper flavor. I can even taste the natural turkey meat flavors, though lightly. Throw in some noticeable garlic, and it creates a delicious turkey jerky.

But it's very easy to eat with its soft, semi-moist pieces. You can enjoy the flavors quickly, and it creates for increased snackability.

I think a good beer variety to have with this is a red ale.

Rating: Best

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1 comment:

  1. I only have one "beef" with Dad's Hot Turkey Jerky: The packaging.

    While most companies vacuum seal their beef jerky, Dad's "laminate" theirs.
    First of all, it's almost impossible to open the package without a razor blade. The product doesn't resemble what the picture in this review suggest. Once you labor through and finally open the package, you will realize the meat has melted into a resin like substance (no doubt due to the lamination process). What about the plastic safety and PET leaching into the meat?

    I bought 8 packages of the Hot Turkey Jerky and each and every packaging are sealed by lamination.
    I am thinking that the company must have begun laminating their product for preservation purposes, but if this is the case, then they have made a big mistake

    The taste of the meat is fine, but I cannot recommend this product at all solely due to the stupid ( &perhaps unhealthy) laminated packaging.

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