Friday, July 30, 2010

Longview Beef Jerky - Pepper

longview beef jerkyNext up in the series on Longview Beef Jerky is this Pepper variety. Read my reviews of their other varieties.

Longview Beef Jerky is a brand of Longview Meat & Merchandise Ltd., based out of Longview, Alberta, Canada. The company has been making their jerky for the past 30 years. They claim their beef jerky is made from Canadian grown cattle. You can't buy Longview Beef Jerky in the USA, but you can find it at gas stations and stores throughout Canada.

The company sent me samples because it's trying to capitalize on the number of Americans visiting the Calgary, Alberta area for the Calgary Stampede.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, marinade sauce, worcestershire sauce, spices, liquid attamate, sugar, black pepper, prague powder, sodium erythorbate, rosemary extract.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light saltiness followed by a garlic & onion seasoning flavor. After sucking on a piece for several seconds, some black pepper flavor comes in.

The chewing flavors start with a more defined garlic & onion seasoning, and a stronger saltiness. The black pepper also seems to gain a little more flavor.

For being marketed as a "Pepper" beef jerky, it does have an easily noticeable black pepper flavor, not too light and not too strong. It tends to show up more as an aftertaste rather than tasting it directly in each chew.

Otherwise, the flavor that seems to dominate this jerky is the garlic & onion seasoning, with a fairly high saltiness coming in second. It actually tastes very much like the company's Original variety, but with the addition of some black pepper.

There's also that light touch of rosemary in there too.

There are no natural meat flavors that I can find.

Overall, you're going to find a strong flavor comprising mostly of garlic & onion seasoning and salt. The black pepper has a moderate showing, perhaps overshadowed by that garlic & onion and salt, and then just a faint bit of rosemary.

Meat Consistency

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

This is a dry jerky, with a lightly oily surface feel. The pieces are very flexible, like soft rubber, able to bend all the way around with minimal cracking. Tearing pieces apart with my fingers require some effort due to considerable stringiness. Chewing is relatively easy, however.

The chewing texture starts out feeling rubbery with just a little chewing resistance. It seems to break down easily enough however, and rendered into a soft mass in about 10-15 seconds. At that point, it tends to feel mushy with just a little bit of a steak-like texture.

I'm finding a good deal of stringiness in each piece. I also found some significant streaks of gristle in the larger pieces that gave this a more rubbery chew. Otherwise, no visible signs of fat.

In terms of clean eating, my fingertips pick up a light bit of oiliness and stickiness. In some cases, I had to lick them off before touching my keyboard. I didn't find any fragments of meat flying off as I tore pieces.




Snack Value

Longview Beef Jerky retails for $5.98 Canadian Dollars in most stores throughout Canada, in a 80g (2.82oz) package. Under current US exchange rates, that's pretty much the same in US Dollars. That works out to $2.12 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.12 price per ounce (US or Canadian), it's a weak value. I'm getting a low level of snackability due to a higher saltiness and no natural meat flavors. That price is slightly higher than what you'd expect to pay for a Jack Link's or Oberto jerky here in the USA, and yet offers comparable or slightly less snackability.

As a "Pepper" beef jerky, at the same $2.12 price per ounce, it's also a weak value. I'm getting a moderate black pepper flavor, but one that's overshadowed by the other ingredients. I think I can get a better peppered jerky in the other major brands for a little less in price.

Rating

longview beef jerky nutritionI'm giving this a fair rating.

This Pepper beef jerky from Longview Beef Jerky offers a moderate amount of black pepper flavor, that would actually provide just the right amount of flavor, except the saltiness and garlic & onion seasoning are still stronger and seem to take over my taste buds.

When you consider this jerky has no natural meat flavor, all that's left is just the seasonings, and what I'm tasting is lot of saltiness and that garlic & onion. Even with the touches of black pepper and the more faint bit of rosemary, that salty garlic & onion seasoning is still rather strong.

It's an easy chew however, though rather stringy, and it doesn't really chew much like a real steak, feeling more on the mushy side. But again, the lack of natural meat flavors renders this down to a simple set of seasonings, and not much to get excited over.

For my recommended beer pairing, go with something light and refreshing to quench that salt scorching. Try a Stone Pale Ale or a Firestone Double Barrel Ale.

Rating: Fair

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1 comment:

  1. This looks more like? chopped and formed jerky
    to me also the coating and texture is very unappealing looks more like pieces of rubber!
    The price of $2.12 per ounce is way to high!
    Whats with the rosemary some of these guys are putting in their jerky, I personally don't find the taste of rosemary and jerky go together anywhere! Except on Chicken.

    Jerky Comber Connoisseur

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