Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Casa Blanca Beef Jerky - Plain

casa grande beef jerky
Casa Blanca Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Joseph & Rosella Quintana, based out of Santa Fe, NM.

The company makes beef jerky from its own USDA inspected facility.

Casa Blanca Beef Jerky is sold throughout the State of New Mexico, found mostly in convenience stores and drug stores. It's often sold along with other jerky brands including, Old Santa Fe Trail and another labeled as "Delicious Beef Jerky". Casa Blanca offers Plain, Peppered, Green Chile, and Red Chile varieties.


Ingredients

Beef, salt.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a faint meaty flavor, and then a light saltiness after a little sucking.

The chewing flavor brings in a little more of a natural meat flavor, and just a touch more saltiness.

For being marketed as "plain" beef jerky, it's about as plain as it can get. No other seasonings, no spiciness, no heat, no sweet, no smokiness, no nothing else.

Otherwise, the primary flavor of this jerky is a light natural meat flavor with a fair amount of saltiness. The natural meat flavor has that taste of fresh sliced roast beef from the deli. Some of the pieces have significant streaks of fat that do add a little bit extra to the flavor.

But to sum it up, this is a mild, no frills, no seasoning, jerky with a light natural meat flavor.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into medium to large slabs, and sliced thin.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. The slabs are quite stiff, but due to the thin slices, it tends to be brittle, offering a light crunch. Chewing tends to be easy at first, but after eating a few slabs, my jaws feel tired.

The chewing texture starts out dry and crunchy, offering no real chewing resistance. But as the chewing starts, the meat takes on that meaty, almost steak-like texture. By the time it's chewed down to a soft mass, it feels just like chewing a real piece of steak, but more dry like well-done.

There are plenty of small to large streaks of fat on these slabs, adding a little extra to the flavor. Much of it seems to chew down fine, though I did encounter some light chewiness. I don't, however, see any gristle, nor felt any stringiness or unchewable tissues.

As for clean eating, it's very clean, leaving no residue on my fingers, and bits falling off as I tear pieces apart.

casa grande beef jerky

casa grande beef jerky

Snack Value

I paid $8.99 for a 3oz package at a Shell Station in Sandia Park, NM. There wasn't any state sales tax added. That works out to a price of $3.00 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $3.00 per ounce price, it's a weak value. Considering there's little flavor to this jerky, though decent meat consistency and good chewing texture, it doesn't offer much for a price that is considerably higher than other gourmet jerky brands.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Plain beef jerky from Casa Blanca offers a fair amount of snackablility due to its light natural meat flavor, light saltiness, and good chewing texture.

It won't win over critics due to its bland taste, but it still does offer enough meaty flavor to be enjoyable. But it's thin sliced, dry, crunchy nature actually gives it a snack factor that seems to work. If it could add a little garlic or celery salt into the brine, it could be better.

But compared to other brands of jerky found convenience stores and drug stores, it's still a better chew. That price, however, at least where I bought it, seems rather high however.

Rating: Average

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