Steak 'N A Bag - Teriyaki

Steak 'N A Bag is a brand of jerky owned and operated by Runnin Wild Foods based out of Norcross, GA. They've been in business for about 7 years now.

The company was launched by a couple of brothers originally producing steak seasoning blends. Not longer after the company launched, they began making jerky, and once they had the recipe perfected, the Steak 'N A Bag lineup was added to their inventory. Since then, they added a line of beef sticks dubbed, "Steak Sticks".

This Original variety of jerky is said to be "...Flavor so intense you might develop a swagger. Rich. Bold. Authentic smokehouse seasoning. Rip off a piece of Steak n' a Bag Teriyaki and just try to walk a straight line."

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, powdered soy sauce, maltodextrin and salt, hydrolyzed soy protein, dextrose, monosodium glutamate, natural maple flavor, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a moderate sweetness, with light saltiness coming in quickly. I can pick up faint bits of garlic later. There's a light soy sauce noticeable too.

The chewing brings in a stronger saltiness, with more of a soy sauce flavor, and a faint natural meat flavor.

For being advertised as a "Teriyaki" beef jerky, it doesn't quite hold up. I don't really taste a teriyaki flavor in this at all. What I mostly get is a soy sauce flavor, and a moderate sweetness, even touches of garlic, but it doesn't really combine into what I would consider teriyaki. Instead, it tastes more like soy sauce, with a little bit of sweet added. I don't pick up any of the fermented character that true teriyaki has, nor any of the pungent ginger.

Otherwise, the flavor that defines this jerky is strong saltiness with a soy sauce flavor. I get a secondary sweetness that tends to wear off quickly into the chewing, and then a light bit of garlic.

The ingredients seem to combine into jerky flavor that tends to mimic many of the other soy sauce-based brands, but with a higher saltiness. It doesn't have any of the Japanese or Asian characteristics that you expect in a Teriyaki style jerky. If anything it actually tastes a little more on the Texas barbecue side.

The level of saltiness in this feels rather high.

As for spiciness, there's no heat to this.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, cut into strips of three-to-four inches in length, and sliced medium thickness.

This is a dry jerky with a semi-moist surface feel, and slightly oily to the touch. The pieces have a plastic like flexibility to them, and are easy to bite off and chew.

The chewing texture starts out with a somewhat soft and tender feel, a little waxy, but somewhat meaty. They easily chew down to a soft mass and at that point, feels kinda mushy and not really like a piece of steak.

I do see some small spots of fat on these pieces, and I can taste them as well, leaving a light oiliness in my mouth. Otherwise, I don't see any gristle or tendon, and I didn't encounter any stringiness or unchewable wads of tissue.

In terms of clean eating, it's pretty clean aside from a very thin oily/waxy film on my fingers, but nothing requiring a licking or wiping.

Snack Value

Runnin Wild Foods sells this Teriyaki beef jerky from its website at a price of $5.99 for a 3.25oz package. They offer $10.00 flat rate shipping on all orders of $50.00 or more. If you bought 10 packages, it would work out to a price of $2.15 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.15 per ounce price, it's a decent value. Compared other other brands of jerky, it has an average flavor, not better and not worse than what you'd find on store shelves. It has a good meat consistency, chews easily, though not quite steak-like.

As a Teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $2.15 per ounce price, it's a weak value. I don't really get a teriyaki flavor from this, if anything it's largely soy sauce with some sweetness. But compared to other teriyaki brands, it's priced about the same.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Teriyaki variety of "Steak 'N A Bag" from Runnin Wild Foods doesn't really hit the mark on delivering the classic teriyaki flavor that you'd come to expect from most other brands. It's really more of a soy sauce flavor with some sweetness added that doesn't really mimic the flavor of Japanese teriyaki.

On its own merits, however, it's still a snackable flavor, much like other brands of soy sauce-based jerky, except this tends to have a little more sweet and a noticeable garlic. It does, however, taste high on the saltiness, but with a drink handy it's not that bad.

The meat consistency seems good, being mostly meaty with nothing stringy or unchewable, and offering a tender easy chew.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• https://www.runninwildfoods.com/