Nomad Jerky - Chipotle Curry

Next in the series on Nomad Grass-Fed Beef Jerky is this Chipotle Curry variety. See our other review of their Black Pepper beef jerky.

Nomad Grass-Fed Beef Jerky is a relatively new brand based out of West Des Moines, IA. The company was founded by Bill Van Werden, who had been making jerky for 15 years for friends and family. The recent "Paleolithic Diet" caused Van Werden to focus on using grass-fed beef, sourced from cattle in Dorchester, IA.

Thus far the company produces only two flavors, this Chipotle Curry, and the Black Pepper I reviewed earlier.

Ingredients

Beef, sea salt, onion powder, red chipotle powder, black pepper, garlic powder, curry powder, natural hickory smoke flavor, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a smokiness followed by a light black pepper.

The chewing flavor starts with a light curry flavor, while the smokiness increases a touch. I can also pick up the chipotle to a light degree. Some of the onion and garlic is noticeable. A light bit of heat can be felt too.

For being marketed as "Chipotle Curry", I'd say it holds up. I do pick up a noticeable curry flavor in the chewing, along with a light chipotle flavor. If anything, there's a clear smokiness to this, which you could attribute some to the chipotle. There's also a light bit of heat.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky the most is the smokiness, followed by black pepper. I can detect the onion and garlic seasoning the next, with the curry and chipotle taking up lighter flavors.

There's a touch of natural meat flavor noticeable in this.

The level of heat in this is light, ranking a mild-medium on my personal heat scale (level 2 out of 5).

Overall, this Chipotle Curry variety seems to taste similar to the Black Pepper variety I reviewed earlier. But just touches of Chipotle and Curry flavoring.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into strips of about four to five inches in length, and sliced thick.

This a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. The strips have little flexibility in that they crack open easily. Biting off chunks requires a little gnawing and pulling, while chewing seems to be overall moderate to chewy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling dry and woody with a fair amount of initial chewing resistance. But it seems to break down quickly after several chews. Once chewed down to a soft mass, it seems to have a steak-like texture, similar to one cooked medium-well.

I can see small streaks of fat on most strips, though I didn't notice any gristle. But I do feel quite a bit of stringy tissues in the chewing.

As for clean eating, I don't get any residue stuck to my fingers, though a small amount of black pepper falls from these strips while trying to bite off pieces.

Snack Value

Nomad Jerky sells this Chipotle Curry variety at a price of $7.00 for a 2oz package. If you buy 11 packages, shipping comes to $7.95. That works out to a price of $3.86 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $3.86 per ounce price, it's a weak value. Even though I'm getting a satisfactory flavor, and good meat consistency and decent chewing texture, it's priced very high even compared to other gourmet brands, and that price is much higher than what snackability this jerky offers.

As a Chipotle Curry flavored beef jerky, at the same $3.86 per ounce price, it's also a weak value. While I do get a light chipotle and curry seasoning in this, the flavor is still light enough that it doesn't seem to offer enough value for the price, if tasting the chipotle and curry were important to you.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Chipotle Curry variety from Nomad Grass-Fed Beef Jerky offers light amounts of chipotle and curry seasoning against a much stronger smokiness, black pepper, and garlic and onion.

This jerky is actually much like the Black Pepper variety I reviewed earlier, where the smokiness and black pepper seasoning are dominant, allowing just light touches of chipotle and curry flavoring to show through.

The meat consistency and chewing texture is also the same, feeling mostly dry, but still having a steak-like chewing.

This could still be well worth the value if having grass-fed beef is important to you, and you may not find many other Chipotle Curry combos in grass-fed beef jerky. It's also gluten free and sugar free.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.nomadjerky.com/