Thursday, December 27, 2012

Crazy Cow Jerky - Teriyaki Ginger

crazy cow beef jerkyNext in the series on Crazy Cow Jerky is this Teriyaki Ginger variety. See our previous review of their Spicy Hot Ginger beef jerky.

Crazy Cow Jerky is a brand of MadCow Beef Jerky Co., based out of Carmichael, CA.  The company, started by Lon McPherson in 2007, has grown throughout Northern California filling store shelves in several high profile outlets including Raleys, Bel Air, Nugget Markets, and others.

This Teriyaki Ginger is described by the company as "Savor the unusual delight of natural ginger in our Teriyaki ginger Beef Jerky".


Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, water, ginger, black pepper.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a soy sauce flavor with faint touch of sweet. There's a light bit of ginger noticable.

The chewing flavor starts with a more defined teriyaki sauce flavor and an increased ginger. There's a very light natural meat flavor towards the latter part of chewing. The black pepper is coming in faint.

For being labeled "Teriyaki Ginger", it holds up well. I get a well-noticed teriyaki flavor, weighted more towards the soy sauce with a light bit of sweet. It has more of the authentic Japanese flavor with that fermented character from the mirin wine. The ginger, seems to add to the authenticity of the teriyaki, but stands out considerably enough to warrant the "ginger" part of this jerky's name.

Otherwise, there aren't much of any other flavors to define this jerky. At first, this tends to taste like a soy sauce marinade, but the chewing brings in enough of the sweet, mirin wine, and ginger to help round it out into a well-defined teriyaki sauce.

There is a light black pepper, however, that colors the back of my mouth with a little bit of a spiciness. And then of course, a very light natural meat flavor, to make this taste just enough like honest-to-goodness beef jerky.

The level of saltiness in this feels medium high despite the slightly lower sodium content.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs of thin to medium thickness, and in small to medium sizes.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. There's a little bit of flexibility in these pieces, though they're mostly stiff. Chewing seems overall easy, with a little bit of chewiness.

The chewing texture starts out feeling dry and stiff, with a little bit of initial chewing resistance. It breaks down after a few chews and then takes on a meaty feel. By the time it breaks down to a soft mass, it feels meaty, though not exactly steak-like. It tends to feel crumbly a touch.

I don't see any bits or streaks of fat, gristle, or tendon. I encounter only minimal stringiness, and no unchewable wads of tissue.

As for clean eating, it's very clean, leaving no residue on my fingers, though light bits of seasoning and meat on my desk.

teriyaki ginger beef jerky

teriyaki ginger jerky

Snack Value

Crazy Cow Jerky sells this Teriyaki Ginger beef jerky from its website at a price of $5.99 per 3oz package. If you buy a box of 15, you get free shipping, and would work out to a price of $1.99 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.99 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a good flavor, a great meat consistency, and decent chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold in stores, this provides better flavor, better meat consistency, though comparable chewing.

As a Teriyaki Ginger beef jerky, at the same $1.99 per ounce price, it's a good value as well, providing plenty of its marketed flavor with a teriyaki having an authentic Japanese character and noticeable level of ginger.

Rating

crazy cow jerky nutrition
I'm giving this a good rating.

This Teriyaki Ginger beef jerky from Crazy Cow does what it promises, giving you a teriyaki sauce flavor with a noticeably higher level of ginger. The teriyaki seems to have more of the authentic Japanese flavor with the sweet, soy sauce, fermented wine flavor and pungent ginger contrast.

But you also get a little bit of black pepper spice in the background plus a light natural meat flavor to impart the classic American beef jerky flavor.

The meat consistency helps with the snackability with its small, thin cut slabs. It's relatively easy to chew, though some pieces felt quite chewy. Otherwise, it's mostly all meat and no fat, with little stringiness and nothing unchewable. The chewing texture didn't fully feel like real pieces of steak, however. Just more dry and slightly crumbly.

Rating: Good

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