Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Carter's Deep Woods Style Beef Jerky

carters deep woods style beef jerky
Mark Carter has been making jerky for a decade out of his facility in Indio, CA. He markets it via word of mouth and sells it locally. After putting more effort into designing a label and brand, he's ready to go global.

Carter's Deep Woods Style Beef Jerky is made from London Broil and a special marinade that was perfected over the years. After marinating the meat, Mark brushes on another layer of sauce before smoking it over two types of woods. He also does venison and elk with the same recipe, but mostly for folks who bring him the meat.

He's currently looking for a jerky company that wants to license his recipe.

Ingredients

None provided.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a rich smoky flavor. There's a saltiness coming with a marinade that resembles soy sauce and worcestershire, but with some sweetness added.

The chewing flavor starts with a more defined marinade, bringing out more of the worcestershire character. I can also pick up the natural meat flavors as well. After eating several pieces, it's definitely more of a sweetened worcestershire than soy sauce.

As for being marketed as a "Deep Woods Style" jerky, I'm not exactly sure how to qualify that. But I will say that this jerky looks and tastes like it was hand crafted with years of experience. The way it's cut, with a real wood smokiness, and a simple flavoring, seems to give it a back country-like feel and taste.

Otherwise, the flavor that seems to dominate this jerky is largely worcestershire with added sweetness, and clearly a real wood smokiness. It's not too sweet, but still enough sweet to notice. Aside from that, there's the natural meat flavor in a light amount.

Overall, it's a mild flavored jerky in that there's no spiciness or heat, but still packs a lot of taste. The saltiness feels light to moderate.

Meat Consistency

These are strips of whole meat, cut into lengths ranging from 4 to 8 inches, and sliced thick. Biting off chunks is mostly easy while chewing seems moderately easy.

This is a dry jerky with a very slight moist surface feel.

The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff with some initial chewing resistance. But it feels very meaty, and as you chew into this, it really takes on the feel of real steak. By the time it's chewed down to a soft mass, that's what it feels like, real chunks of steak.

I don't see any fat on these strips, nor do I see any gristle or tendon. In the chewing, I do feel a light amount of stringiness, though I didn't encounter any unchewable tissues.

As for clean eating, it's very clean. My fingers have maybe a very fine layer of stickiness, but still dry enough to touch my keyboard.

carters deep woods style beef jerky

carters deep woods style beef jerky

Snack Value

Mark Carter charges $10.00 for a 6oz package. He says he adds $2.00 for shipping if you buy one or two packages. If you buy more, he'll pay the shipping. So, if you bought four packages, and assuming he pays the shipping, that works out to $1.67 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.67 per ounce price, it's a great value. I get a lot of snackability for its good flavor, excellent meat consistency and great chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold in stores, it costs substantially less, but is clearly a more superior jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

Carters Deep Woods Style Beef Jerky has a nice, rich, real wood smokiness that grabs your attention right away, while the thick slices of beef has you salivating with anticipation. The flavoring seems simple, largely worcestershire sauce with added sweetening. Perhaps there's more to it than that, but that's mostly what I taste. I can also pick up a light natural meat flavor as well.

But while the flavoring seems simple, it's really the trio of real wood smokiness, an excellent meat consistency and great chewing texture that makes this jerky fantastic. Holding a strip in your hand, smelling the smoky aroma, and seeing the thick cut prepares your expectations and doesn't disappoint. The first taste is that smoky flavor, while the chewing feels just as you'd expect from thick slices of beef, while the sweetened worcestershire creates enough interest to heighten your enjoyment of real smoked meat.

If I could make any improvements to this, I'd experiment with adding some kind of pungent spice to create contrast from the sweetness and give it more of a steakhouse character, perhaps finely chopped ginger or crushed coriander seed.  But it still has enough "wow factor" to warrant the five-star rating.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:
  • Contact Mark Carter deepwoodsjerky47@yahoo.com

1 comment:

  1. This jerky is absolutely amazing. I bought 6 packages for a fishing trip, I know the boys are going to go right through them. If you have a chance, you have to try this stuff out!

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