Friday, December 6, 2013

Three Jerks Jerky - Chipotle Adobo

three jerks jerky
Three Jerks is a new brand of filet mignon beef jerky, based out of Venice, CA. It was launched by three friends who were inspired to do something new and unheard of before.

I had actually introduced them before on Best Beef Jerky this past Summer while they were running a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. The sent me some samples back then and I published my initial thoughts but didn't want to assign ratings until I could taste the actual production jerky.

This Chipotle Adobo flavor is described as a "fusion of east and west, our Chipotle Adobo flavor unites a traditional Filipino style marinade with our Mexican inspired Chipotle glaze. Sweet, pungent adobo seasoning blends with smoky, peppery chipotle spices, creating a piquant balance. Our tender filets are marinated to magnificence and glazed to glory, offering a truly one of a kind jerky. We may be jerks, but this worldly jerky is spirited, yet refined."

Ingredients

Beef filet mignon, tomato ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, molasses, red pepper sauce, olive oil, garlic, dried chipotle pepper, salt, spices, worcestershire sauce, dehydrated onion, dried pasilla chile, paprika, mustard seed, bay leaf.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light chile pepper flavor and sweetness.  There's a faint garlic and saltiness coming in.

The chewing brings in a light saucy flavor with an Asian-style flair.  The chile pepper flavor increases a little, while a faint smokiness is noticeable.  There's light touch of heat identifiable.

For being marketed as "Chipotle Adobo", it seems to hold up.  I do taste a light chipotle flavor, more strongly in the natural chile pepper flavor than the smoked and dried chile flavor.  It also has a somewhat Asian-style character, enough to where it imparts that Filipino-style Adobo.  I think the vinegar from the pepper sauce and ketchup helps create that effect.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky overall starts largely with the combination of ketchup, pepper sauce, and chile peppers.  You get that tangy tomato-paste character, but spiced up with chile peppers and livened up the vinegar from the pepper sauce.  After that, there are lighter amounts of garlic, sweet, and black pepper noticeable.

There's a light bit of heat to this.  On my personal heat scale, I'd rank this as "mild-medium" (level 2 out of 5), though others of lesser tolerance might see this as moderately hot.

Overall, the ingredients combine really well to create something tangy, sweet, tomatoey, and full of chile pepper flavors, that go very well with beef jerky.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, run through some kind of tenderization process, sliced into slabs of medium thickness.

It's dry jerky having a semi-moist surface feel. There's a lot of flexibility in these slabs. Biting off chunks is easy and chewing is very easy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling meaty with little chewing resistance. It quickly and easily chews down and immediately takes on a more steak-like feel. By the time it's chewed to a soft mass, it feels like soft, tender pieces of filet mignon.

I can see some streaks of fat on these pieces, and they do contribute a little to the overall flavor. I don't really find any stringiness in the chewing, nor any other unchewable tissues. It feels very meaty.

As for clean eating, it seems to be mostly clean with little to no residue on my fingers. I do get some bits of black pepper falling off, though.

chipotle adobo beef jerky

chipotle adobo beef jerky


Snack Value

Three Jerks sells this Chipotle Adobo filet mignon beef jerky from its website at a price of $14.99 for a 2.5oz package. That works out to $6.00 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $6.00 per ounce price, it's a weak value. Compared to other brands of beef jerky, this filet mignon jerky maybe more tender than most, but the price of $6.00 per ounce is extremely high compared to other standard beef jerky.  Even though it has a great flavor and chewing, there are still other brands of exceptional quality that cost far less.

As a filet mignon beef jerky, at the same $6.00 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm not able to find any other filet mignon jerky brands based in the United States, so it's tough to compare. But it does offer a good overall flavor, good chewing texture, and meat consistency.

Rating

three jerks jerky nutrition
I'm giving this a good rating.

This Chipotle Adobo variety of filet mignon jerky from Three Jerks has a very delicious flavor, with a rich, tomatoey base, a tangy chewing from the vinegary ingredients, and the great flavor of chile peppers.  It actually does impart an Asian-style character reminiscent of filipino Adobo, but it doesn't burn your mouth.

Considering it's made from beef filet mignon, it has the soft, tender chewing that filet mignon is known for, and still chews and feels like real filet mignon steak, once you get it chewed down.  But while being made from filet mignon is a great marketing point, I think the Chipotle Adobo recipe used in this jerky is it's best feature.

I wasnt, however, able to get enough of the natural meat flavors in this perhaps due to the heavier seasonings and marinade.

Rating: Good

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