Longview Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Moving on in the series with Longview Beef Jerky is this Teriyaki variety. See my reviews of their other beef jerky 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, teriyaki sauce, worcestershire sauce, sugar, spices, prague powder, sodium erythorbate.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a faint bit of worcestershire sauce. Not much else.

The chewing flavor starts with a just a tad more definition of worcestershire sauce, and a light bit of saltiness.

For being labeled "Teriyaki", this has no teriyaki flavor at all. It's so lacking in teriyaki flavor, I'm wondering if the company packaged this jerky with the wrong package. I'm not tasting any soy sauce, and very little sweet, and largely nothing having a Japanese or asian character.

Otherwise, this jerky actually has little flavor at all. Mostly what I'm getting is a very light worcestershire, a light saltiness, and just a light touch of sweet.

Unlike with the other flavors from Longview Beef Jerky, I can actually pick up a very light natural meat flavor, but it comes at the last few chews, once all the other flavors have worn off. I think because this jerky has such little flavor to begin with, it lets what natural meat flavors are in it to show through.

Overall, it's just a very light worcestershire sauce you'll notice in this, mixed with a light saltiness, and a touch of sweet. No teriyaki flavor to speak of.

Meat Consistency

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

This appears to be a semi-moist jerky, but some pieces appeared to be on the dry side. The surface has a lightly oily feel. It's still quite soft and flexible, however with a good deal of stringiness making it more difficult to tear apart. Overall, chewing seems relatively easy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling rubbery with some initial chewing resistance. After several chews it breaks down and renders into a soft mass in about 20 seconds. At that point, it has a steak-like feel, but on the mushy side. It's more like a steak-cooked medium-rare.

I'm finding a good deal of stringiness in each piece I chew. 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. 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 low level of flavor intensity. I'm not really feeling inspired to keep eating, though it's not bad. 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 Teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $2.12 price per ounce, it's a poor value. I'm finding no teriyaki flavor to speak of, not even a soy sauce flavor.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

This Teriyaki variety from Longview Beef Jerky doesn't seem to have any teriyaki flavor. I don't really pick up any soy sauce, but only a light touch of sweet, and nothing having an asian or Japanese character.

Overall, this jerky is pretty light on flavor, with largely a light worcestershire sauce to make up the primary flavor. There's a light saltiness, and a touch of sweet that I mentioned above. Because it's so light on flavor, I can actually pick up a faint bit of natural meat flavor towards the last few chews, once all the other flavors have worn off.

Even though it tends to have a steak-like chewing texture, it's somewhat mushy, and there's a good deal of stringiness, and even some gristle to inject a rubbery quality. It's nice that it's a soft easy chew, but too much other tissue getting in the way of the meat.

I'm only keeping this above a one-star rating just because I still found it tolerable, just not snackable.

For my recommended beer pairing, I'd go with a simple IPA. The higher degree of hops should help bring out the flavors in this jerky. Try the Stone IPA or the Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• http://www.longviewjerky.com/