Longview Buffalo Jerky

Last in the series on Longview Beef Jerky is this Buffalo Jerky. See my reviews of all their other 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

Bison, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, spices, sugar, prague powder, sodium erythorbate.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light smoky flavor followed by a light bit of sweet. Sucking on a piece yield a light saltiness as well.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased saltiness, followed by a seasoning that resembles garlic & onion. It also has that light bit of rosemary that I found common throughout Longview's beef jerky varieties.

For being labeled as "Buffalo Jerky" I don't pick up any of the natural meat flavors. This could just as well be beef jerky and I wouldn't know the difference.

Otherwise the flavor that seems to define this jerky is that garlic & onion seasoning. There's also a saltiness in the seasoning that starts out feeling at a medium level of intensity but builds up strength over the course of eating several pieces.

I pick up that light bit of rosemary, which is most notable on the very first piece I eat and then seems to fade away as the saltiness increases.

The teriyaki, soy sauce, and worcestershire ingredients are difficult to identify on their own in this jerky. Mostly what I pick up is the saltiness.

Overall, what you're going to notice in this buffalo jerky is mainly a salty, garlic & onion seasoning. You won't get any of the natural bison meat flavors.

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. Ease of chewing is moderate.

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, comparable to one cooked medium. A couple of pieces ended up feeling a bit more soft and mushy, but still having a meaty feel.

I'm finding a lot of stringiness in this bison meat, so much so that it becomes difficult to tear or bite off a chunk, and that stringiness eventually compacts into a decent sized unchewable wad. I also felt some gristle in the chewing creating a rubbery texture. 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 Buffalo 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 not getting much snackability out of this due to an uninteresting flavor and a highly stringy meat texture. 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 Buffalo Jerky, at the same $2.12 price per ounce, it's a poor value. I don't taste any of the natural bison meat flavors, and therefore is no different than eating Longview's beef jerky. At least Longview sells this buffalo jerky at the same price as their beef jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

This Buffalo Jerky from Longview Beef Jerky seems to taste exactly like their beef jerky in that neither one offers any natural meat flavors and both seem to be seasoned and marinated with the same ingredients.

The garlic & onion seasoning, which seems to make up the dominant flavor of this jerky, is not really anything unique and doesn't seem to create any excitement for me.

On top of that, this bison meat is quite stringy, I want to say perhaps more so than the company's beef jerky I reviewed previously. The stringiness makes it difficult to bite or tear off chunks, and then it compacts into an unchewable wad of sizeable proportions. Some pieces were not that bad however, but overall that's my impression.

For my recommended beer pairing, I'd go with something light bodied and refreshing, try a simple pale ale like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, or a Stone Pale Ale.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• http://www.longviewjerky.com/