Next up in the series on Ed's Roadhouse Jerky is this BBQ Chipotle variety. See my previous reviews of their Sweet Black Pepper, Devil's Tongue, and Lil Sweet Jalapeno Habanero varieties.

Ed's Roadhouse Jerky is a family run business based out of Buffalo Grove, IL, run by a guy named Ed Herman. Ed's been a BBQ fanatic since his childhood, and has been making his brand of jerky for about 20 years now. His jerky is made fresh to order, never sits on a shelf, and contains no preservatives. Ed recommends you refrigerate it as soon as it comes in.

This BBQ Chipotle variety is described as a "Wonderful blend of sweet tangy BBQ marinade and smoky chipotle peppers", and is one of eleven varieties of jerky Ed offers.

Ingredients

Angus beef eye of round, fresh chipotle peppers, water, tomato puree, vinegar, garlic salt, sugar, soybean, wheat, salt, molasses, natural flavoring spices.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a thick sweet flavor, followed by a tangy BBQ sauce flavor, and a light amount of chile pepper flavor, with a fair amount of spicy heat. There's a medium-level saltiness as well.

The chewing flavor starts with some natural meat flavors, with a continuation of the surface flavors, and some soy sauce flavor towards the end of chewing.

For being dubbed a "BBQ Chipotle" variety I have to say this holds up well. I do taste a bold BBQ sauce flavor on the surface, with a nice tangy zing, and plenty of sweet. It's even sticky like BBQ sauce. But I also taste that smoky chipotle flavor underneath the BBQ sauce, as well as the chile pepper burn.

The chile pepper burn seems to register on my hot scale as a medium, and that goes for an individual piece, as well as after having eaten several pieces.

Between the BBQ and the Chipotle, the BBQ sauce has the more dominant flavor, but the chile pepper burn cuts through and makes itself well noticed.

The natural meat flavors are much more noticeable when I suck on a piece for 15-20 seconds, and then start chewing. If I were to chew on a piece immediately after putting it in my mouth, the natural meat flavors tend to disappear behind the stronger BBQ sauce. But the surface flavors on this jerky are so good, you won't want to chew right away.

These pieces have some fat marbilization and I can taste it in this meat flavor.

The saltiness seems to be at a moderate level. The chile pepper burn seems to make the saltiness feel more intense than it really is.

There's a soy sauce flavor that comes through towards the latter part of chewing, perhaps becoming more noticeable as the BBQ sauce flavor wears off.

I can also pick up faint notes of garlic.

Overall, what you're going to notice the most in this jerky is a sweet, bold, tangy, BBQ sauce flavor, with a good deal of chile pepper burn. That smoky chipotle flavor is in there, but it's more noticeable if you spend the time to suck on the surface flavors. If you chew right away, you might miss it altogether. After that, you'll pick up some natural meat flavors in the chewing, and a soy sauce flavor towards the very end.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in small bite-sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, but with a good deal of stickiness on the surface, keeping it somewhat flexible. This jerky seems to tear apart with my fingers very easily, and they chew easily.

The chewing texture starts out feeling just a little bit stiff, with a light amount of rubbery resistance, but it breaks apart easily with some light chewing, and quickly chews down to a soft mass. At that point, it has a steak-like texture, comparable to one cooked well-done.

In terms of fat content, most of these pieces are well marbilized, and creates that marbilized beef flavor. But I don't necessarily see any chunks of fat, just marbilized streaks. I didn't encounter any gristle or tendon, and no stringy sinews.

But as for clean eating, my fingers pick up some stickiness, but overall it's not to the point where I'm having to lick my fingers with each handling, just only once in awhile.




Snack Value

Ed's Roadhouse Jerky sells all of their jerky varieties from its website at a price of $3.75 for a 2oz package. They also tack on $5.75 for shipping. If you can buy one pound of their jerky, in different varieties, it'll cost you $35.75. That works out to a price of $2.24 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.24 price per ounce, it's a good value. I'm getting a lot of snackability for its great overall flavor, good meat consistency and good chewing texture. At $2.24 per ounce, it's more expensive than the mass-market brands you find in the grocery store, but I'm getting far more snackability.

As a "BBQ Chipotle" variety, at the same $2.24 price per ounce, it's also a good value. I get a well-noticed, sweet, bold and tangy BBQ sauce flavor, with a lighter flavored chipotle pepper flavor, and a good deal of chile pepper burn.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This BBQ Chipotle variety from Ed's Roadhouse Jerky is thus far my favorite from this brand, albeit I've only had four of their eleven varieties. The BBQ sauce is well noticed, having a lot of sweet, a nice tangy zing, and the bold flavor you'd expect a BBQ sauce to have.

As I continued to enjoy the surface flavors, I could taste the smoky flavor of that chipotle, albeit in a light intensity, but it's associated chile pepper burn was easily noticeable, producing a medium-level burn. There's also some natural meat flavors in this, a soy sauce flavor, and faint garlic flavor. Overall, it has a complex flavor, and a strong flavor at that.

But it also wins with its meat consistency, being easy to chew, and in small bite-sized pieces. Even the chewing texture wins, feeling like a real piece of meat, more comparable to a well-done cooked steak.

My recommended beer pairing for this, try a porter.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.edsroadhousejerky.com/