Monday, February 10, 2014

Jeff's Famous Jerky - Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper

jeffs famous jerky
The newest flavor from Jeff's Famous Jerky is this Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper. See previous reviews from Jeff's Famous Jerky.

Jeff's Famous Jerky officially opened for business in 2010 and is owned and operated by Jeff's Famous Foods, Inc., led by founder Jeff Richards and CFO Mike Aggarwal, out of Mission Viejo, CA. The company offers ten flavors of jerky, all hormone-free, American beef, without added MSG or preservatives.

This new Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper beef jerky is said to be made from a hot chili pepper sauce they imported from friends on the island of Guam. The sauce is made from the Donne Sali Pepper, also known in Guam as Dinanche. The packaging claims this jerky to be "Medium Hot".

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, chile sauce, Pacific Red Hot ground chili peppers, balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, cayenne pepper, liquid smoke, granulated garlic, granulated onion, cumin.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a chile pepper flavor, with a significant sweetness. There's also the combination of soy sauce and worcestershire coming in right away, along with a tanginess much like vinegar.

The chewing brings in a more tasty sauce flavor, but with more of the chile pepper and vinegar and touches of fruit-like character. The garlic and onion is noticeable too.

For being marketed as "Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper", this seems to hold up well, particularly when described in the product literature as having a unique hot sauce ingredient. I can definitely taste a chile pepper flavor and I also get a fair amount of chile pepper heat too. But there's also a hot sauce flavor in this, perhaps helped along by the vinegar and garlic components.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky starts largely with a strong sweetness, and a chile pepper sauce with a noticeable chile pepper and vinegar taste, and a light fruity character. That fruity character resembles something tropical, maybe mango or guava, but it has a tanginess (which is likely from the vinegar), and perhaps the natural flavors of the Donne Sali Pepper.

After that, the remaining flavors that seem significant is the soy sauce and worcestershire combination and the garlic and onion seasoning.

As for the heat, I'd rank this on my personal heat scale as "medium" (level 3 out of 5), though keep in mind my heat tolerance is a little more than average.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, looking similar to beef brisket, and sliced into strips and chunks.

This is a semi-moist jerky with a slightly sticky surface feel. Biting off chunks seems easy to do, while chewing overall is easy to moderate.

The chewing texture starts out feeling tender, offering only a little chewing resistance. It starts to take on a meaty, though lightly mushy feel. I can also feel some unchewable tissues in much of these pieces. Once chewed all the way down to a soft mass, it feels meaty, not quite steak-like, more like chopped steak cooked medium.

I see some small flecks and streaks of fat on these pieces, but otherwise no visible gristle or tendon. I do, however, encounter a fair amount of stringiness, some of which mats down to unchewable wads.

As for clean eating, it's largely clean, with just faint bits of sticky residue on my fingers, still clean enough to touch my keyboard.

red hot chili pepper jerky

red hot chili pepper jerky


Snack Value

Jeff's Famous Jerky sells this Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper beef jerky from its website at a price of $74.95 for a 12-pack, at 3oz per pack. With shipping & handling added, it works out to a price of $2.44 per ounce.

Compared to major brands of jerky sold in stores, it's a good value. It's priced a little higher, but offers far better flavor, better meat consistency, and better chewing.

As a Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper beef jerky, at the same $2.44 per ounce price, it's also a good value. I'm getting a a fair amount of chile pepper flavor and a flavor that resembles hot sauce, in amounts more than the major brands.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper beef jerky from Jeff's Famous Jerky dishes out a very delicious flavor of the Donne Sali pepper, but livened up with a dose of vinegar, garlic, onion, and a lot of sweetness, to create a tangy, sweet, spicy hot sauce flavor. Add to that the company's already famous jerky marinade, and it really belts a lot flavors that touches all zones of the tongue.

The meat consistency and chewing is overall good, though we encountered a fair amount of unchewable tissues, largely resulting from the membranous covering surrounding beef brisket meat. Otherwise, it's easy to chew and overall provides a meaty chewing experience.

We love jerky that can assault the palate on all levels, and this seems to do it. The sweet, tangy, spicy, salty, and savory components all there in this new Pacific Red Hot Chili Pepper jerky, with a medium level of heat, and in a semi-moist, easy to chew, style.

Rating: Best

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