Next in the series on Empire Jerky Works is this Teriyaki beef jerky. See my previous reviews of their Original and Peppered varieties.

Empire Jerky Works is a brand of Empire Jerky Works based out of Citrus Heights, CA. The company has been selling jerky since 2007.

The company was started by Brian Ingraham who started making his own jerky in 1975 using an old family recipe, and for many years shared it with friends and business associates. Due to positive feedback he hired a USDA inspected meat processor and got into the business of selling jerky. Today Empire Jerky Works is sold through casinos, taverns, stores, and motorcycle rallies throughout Northern California, as well as its own website.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce solids, salt, natural spices and flavoring, hydrolyzed soy protein, monosodium glutamate, garlic powder, guar gum, polysorbate 80, caramel color powder, spice extractives, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a fair amount of sweet, along with some smoky flavor. Some saltiness comes in later on.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased saltiness. The sweetness continues on, but tends to wear off half-way into the chewing, and by that time a soy sauce flavor becomes more noticeable.

For being labeled as "Teriyaki", it seems to hold up somewhat. I don't get what I would consider to be actual teriyaki sauce, in that I don't pick up the subtle overtones from sake, mirin wine and ginger that define good teriyaki from just sweetened soy sauce. I do get a good deal of sweetness, and a noticeable soy sauce flavor, but that's really all the teriyaki I taste.

And for the most part, that sweetened soy sauce flavor is the primary flavor of this jerky. There's a light natural meat flavor that comes in towards the very end of chewing, just before I swallow it down, as the other flavors wear off.

This jerky also takes on a slimy feel in my mouth. Perhaps it's the guar gum or the polysorbate 80 in the ingredients? I'm not sure what makes it slimy that way.

The level of saltiness in this feels like it's between a medium to high level.

The garlic is just barely noticeable.

Last month when I reviewed the company's Original flavor, I said that it tasted something like a teriyaki beef jerky. In comparison, this Teriyaki variety is more sweet, and actually more mild tasting. The Original has a little more of a spicy bite.

Overall, what you're going to taste in this is a sweeteneed soy sauce flavor, where the sweetness is more noticeable in the first half of chewing, while the soy sauce get stronger in the latter half. It does't really taste like actual teriyaki sauce, the kind you'd expect at a Japanese restaurant.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced to a medium thickness, and cut into strips ranging from three to seven inches.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel, but still having a lot of flexibility, being able to bend all the way back on itself without cracking. Biting off chunks requires some chewing and twisting, while chewing is chewy, and just a bit laborious.

The chewing texture starts off feeling quite chewy and stiff, with a good deal of initial chewing resistance. Some chewing is required before it starts to break down, but once it breaks down, the chewing becomes very easy and chews down to a soft quickly. At that point, it has a meaty feel, but not like a real piece of steak. It still has a gummy, slimy texture.

I don't see any visible signs of fat on these strips, nor do I see any gristle or tendon. I didn't encounter any stringiness in the chewing, and didn't end up with any unchewable wads of tissue.

As for clean eating, my fingers don't pick up any residue. Biting off chunks does drop a few tiny fragments of meat however.




Snack Value

Empire Jerky Works sells this Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $6.00 for a 4oz package. If you bought four packages, and had it sent to Southern California, the shipping works out to $5.95 plus sales tax of $1.86, for a total cost of $31.81. That's a price of $1.99 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.99 per ounce price, it's a fair value. I'm getting a good snackability for an overall satisfying flavor, good meat consistency, easy eating, and average chewing texture. Compared to the major brands of jerky you find at grocery stores, it's pretty much the same price and offering a comparable snackability.

As a Teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $1.99 per ounce price, it's a weak value. I don't really see this as true teriyaki beef jerky, in that it doesn't taste like real teriyaki sauce. It's just a sweetened soy sauce flavor without the subtle overtones that define good teriyaki from subpar teriyaki.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Teriyaki Beef Jerky from Empire Jerky Works doesn't really offer a good or great teriyaki flavor, but still seems to provide a snackable combination of sweet and salty, and still generates an overall satisfactory taste for snacking purposes.

In comparison with other teriyaki jerky brands I've reviewed, this doesn't stand out of the crowd at all, and doesn't seem to go any further than what I would get from teriyaki offerings from Jack Link's or Oberto.

I also found the meat to have a slimy feel in my mouth, perhaps having something to do with the guar gum or polysorbate 80 in the ingredients. But overall, it's clean eating, and still provides a satisfying enough flavor for general jerky snacking.

For my recommended beer pairing, I'd go with a lighter tasting ale, like an amber ale. I'd suggest an Alaskan Amber, or Fat Tire Amber.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://empirecigarandjerkyworks.com/