Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Crazy Cow Jerky - Smokey Teriyaki

crazy cow jerkyMoving along in the series on Crazy Cow Jerky is this Smokey Teriyaki. See our previous reviews of Crazy Cow 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 Smokey Teriyaki is described by the company as "a bold, robust, yet dignified palet teaser", going on to say that, "there's no second hand smoke in this Jerky! We put it in, right from the start!"


Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, water, smoke flavoring

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light soy sauce flavor. A light smokey flavor is noticeable.

The chewing flavor starts with a more defined teriyaki sauce flavor, while the smokeiness perks up a bit more. There's also a light natural meat flavor towards the end.

For being labeled "Smokey Teriyaki", this seems to hold up well. I do get a teriyaki sauce flavor, similar to the company's Teriyaki Ginger and Spicy Hot Ginger varieties. I also get a noticeable smoky flavor too.

While this teriyaki sauce is similar to company's Teriyaki Ginger and Spicy Hot Ginger varieties, it's still different in that it doesn't have the ginger. The ginger is part of what defines authentic Japanese style teriyaki, in my opinion.

Otherwise, the teriyaki sauce and the smokiness is what largely defines the overall flavor of this jerky. There's still a light natural meat flavor towards the end of chewing, but it's light enough that it's often lost in the teriyaki and smokiness.

Overall, this is a mild flavored jerky, with a mild flavored teriyaki, and light bits of smokiness.

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.

smokey teriyaki beef jerky

smokey teriyaki jerky

Snack Value

Crazy Cow Jerky sells this Smokey Teriyaki 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 decent value. I'm getting a snackable flavor, a great meat consistency, and decent chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold in stores, this provides similar flavor, better meat consistency, though comparable chewing.

As a Smokey Teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $1.99 per ounce price, it's a decent value as well, providing an overall good teriyaki sauce flavor, and a noticeable smokiness, similar to what competing brands would charge.

Rating

crazy cow jerky nutrition
I'm giving this an average rating.

This Smokey Teriyaki beef jerky from Crazy Cow offers a good teriyaki flavor with a noticeable smokiness. Aside from a light natural meat flavor, there's isn't much else to this.

The teriyaki sauce is missing the ginger ingredient, which I've always felt adds a bit of tangy, pungent contrast that helps define authentic Japanese style teriyaki. As a result, it makes this teriyaki taste more bland, similar to what's found in the major brands of teriyaki jerky.

The smokiness is there to a noticeable level, but after you've had hundreds of other jerky brands that used liquid smoke versus real wood smoke, you can really tell the difference, and it tends to make this jerky taste much like the hundreds of others.

While the meat consistency is pretty good with its slices of pure meat and easy chewing, the chewing texture didn't fully feel like real pieces of steak. It still had a meaty feel however, just more dry and slightly crumbly.

Rating: Average

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