Friday, April 17, 2009

Dad's Jerky - Teriyaki

Dad's Jerky - TeriyakiNext up in the series on Dad's Jerky is this Teriyaki variety. See my previous reviews of their Hot Turkey and Original Steak varieties.

Dad's Jerky is a brand of Dad's Jerky, LLC, based out of Lake Isabella, CA. I assume Dad's makes their own jerky because their website goes into detail about how they make jerky. But the USDA stamp suggests it came from Border View Foods out of Chazy, NY, the folks who make Backwoods Jerky. Perhaps Dad's purchases meat from Border View, and has it shipped out to California.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice from concentrate, chopped garlic, spices.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a soy sauce flavor, followed by a slight bit of sweetness, with the saltiness coming on slowly. In the chewing, what I taste is a more defined soy sauce flavor.

As for being billed as a teriyaki jerky, I don't think it lives up to that billing. What I'm tasting instead is soy sauce, and teriyaki is far from just soy sauce. I do get some sweetness in this jerky, but it's a light sweetness. Teriyaki should have a heavier sweet. It should also have some tangy and pungent flavors from sake and ginger, but I don't really taste those components.

As for the primary flavor of this jerky, that goes to the soy sauce. I taste it on the surface of these pieces, and it continues through much of the chewing. The saltiness goes hand-in-hand with the soy sauce, and this jerky indeed has a good deal of it. I'd rate the saltiness as having a medium-to-high intensity.

I also pick up a garlic flavor from this, in a medium intensity, and in fact I'd rate it as the second-most dominant flavor.

I don't find any natural meat flavors.

The lemon juice noted in the ingredients isn't really noticed on its own, in case you're wondering. It perhaps has other effects.

Overall, this isn't a teriyaki jerky. It's a soy sauce & garlic jerky. It's still quite enjoyable on its own merits, and in fact provides a strong flavor intensity. But if you're looking for a true teriyaki flavor, you won't find it here.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced to a medium thickness, and in small pieces.

This is a dry jerky, but one having a slight moist feel on the surface. These pieces have bit of flexibility, but will crack open with some more bending. They tear apart with my fingers fairly easily, and are rather chewy to eat.

The chewing texture starts out with a good deal of rubbery resistance. With about 20 seconds of sucking and light biting, it softens up and I can chew it down to a soft mass in another 15-20 seconds. At that point, it has a steak-like chewing texture, more similar to a medium cooked steak. There's maybe a tad bit of gummy like character, but not mushy or crumbly.

I found a few pieces with small bits of fat, but otherwise this jerky appears to be quite lean, with no signs of tendon or gristle, and no chewy sinews.

It's also quite clean eating. Because of its bite sized pieces, there's no need to tear pieces apart, and there's no residue picking up on my fingers.




Snack Value

I purchased this Teriayki 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 the $2.13 price per ounce, it seems to provide a decent value. I am getting a good deal of snackability from this, mostly for its good overall flavor, and good flavor intensity. The bite sized pieces creates some extra snackability, though the chewing texture is rather rubbery, but still has a steak-like chew. I think the $2.13 price per ounce is not quite out of the ballpark for what snackability I'm getting back, but is still at the high end.

As a Teriyaki variety, and at the $2.13 price per ounce, it's a weak value. I just don't see this as having a teriyaki flavor. It's clearly a soy sauce flavor. I do get some sweetness in this, but it definitely does not marry into the soy sauce, and I don't get the sake and ginger flavors at all.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Teriyaki variety from Dad's Jerky does offer a good overall flavor, though clearly not teriyaki. Rather, it offers a strong combination of soy sauce and garlic, and a light amount of sweet. It's also easy to eat with its bite sized pieces, and the strong flavor intensity lends itself to being sucked on and savored in between chews.

But while it's a good overall flavor, I just didn't find it to be good enough to be considered above average. The flavor is still rather simple, and doesn't even offer any natural meat flavors. Add to that the rubbery chewing texture, and you have some negatives that balances out what positives this jerky offers.

But don't discount this jerky. If you love a strong garlic flavor in jerky, give this one a try.

My recommended beer pairing for this, a red ale.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

0 comments:

Post a Comment