Enjoy Beef Jerky - Peppered

Enjoy Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Enjoy Foods International, which has been around since 1971. For quite awhile Enjoy produced some of the best commercial jerky in business, and was one of the biggest brands on the market.

In 2000 & 2001 it hit financial difficulty and eventually fell into the hands of a receivership. Today, it continues to operate under Saab Enterprises, which does business as "Enjoy Foods International". Saab makes the jerky themselves in their own meat processing unit, and also produces the "Hickory's Best" brand.

The Enjoy brand is still being sold in select convenience stores and markets in rural areas, as well as in large urban areas within such stores like Sam's Club, Smart & Final, and Food 4 Less.

It's also made without preservatives.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, garlic, pepper, lemon juice, smoke flavoring.

Taste

The first taste I get off the surface is the smoke flavoring, with maybe a slight bit of black pepper taste. Moving into the chew, I can get a good deal of salty flavor, some soy sauce flavor, some of the natural meat flavors, and more of the black pepper.

The surface taste is mostly dominated by the smoke flavoring, which is not really a strong flavoring either. Otherwise, the surface presents little taste. It's when you get into the chew that all the flavor comes out.

The chew is largely dominated by the salty and soy sauce flavors. The salty comes out right away, while the soy sauce becomes more discernable half-way into the chew. Some of the natural meat flavors are there, but are largely hidden behind the salty and soy sauce.

For being preservative-free, the meat doesn't have a stale taste, though its flavors are not necessarily of any pleasing variety either. It'd be like going to a barbecue shack and ordering the "all you can eat beef ribs", and finding out it's all the low quality stuff.

For being advertised as a peppered variety, it certainly does offer a good deal of black pepper taste. However, most of that peppery goodness is realized as a strong aftertaste in the back of my mouth. But there is some pepper to be enjoyed on a piece-by-piece basis. I'd say it does live up to its billing as a peppered variety.

There's also very slight "waxy" aftertaste in my mouth, that you might experience after sucking on a Crayon. I'm wondering if that's produced by the liquid smoke.

Overall, this is a salty and soy sauce flavored jerky, with more emphasis on the salty. With the natural meat flavors being light on taste, you're largely buying this for those two flavors, but enhancing it with the spiciness of black pepper.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's a thin dry jerky that retains quite a bit of flexibility when bent against the grain, but will easily crack apart when bent with the grain. I find that stripping off some grains requires some effort to do. Chewing can be tough it's a bit more easy if you take your time. You can't really bite this stuff off against the grain.

I do see some spots and streaks of fat here and there, but not in any significant amounts. I didn't encounter any chewy tendon or gristle.

For the most part it's a lean jerky, in thin slices, but is rather tough.




Product Value

I paid $5.99 for this 3.65 ounce package at a general store in Pine Valley, CA. That works out to a price of $1.64 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, I'd give this a decent value. It does offer plenty of taste, mostly during the chew. However, the snackability of this jerky is compromised by the tough meat consistency, and the salt-scorching I get after several pieces.

As a black peppered variety, it presents a good value. You'll definitely enjoy a strong pepper aftertaste in the back of your mouth, though the peppery flavor on each individual piece is not as strong.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

I couldn't quite get a good deal of snackability out of this due to the tough meat consistency, and with the high level of salt wearing me down. I could have given this a higher rating had it offered an exceptional taste, but it didn't. It's largely a soy sauce taste. There's enough black pepper here to be enjoyed, and enough to break up the monotony of salty soy sauce, it's just that the tough chew and salt scorching takes a lot away from its snackability.

Moreover, it doesn't present much natural meat flavors either. Had it offered a good tasting meat flavor, and a well discernable one, that would have brought this jerky above its negatives, to perhaps a good rating.

Otherwise it appears that Enjoy Foods International is still doing well enough on the strength of its brand name to get its products into the hands of distributors and into the display racks of small town convenience stores.

I'd recommend a light tasting beer that goes down easy, like a honey blonde ale.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• http://www.enjoybeefjerky.com

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Enjoy Beef Jerky - Hot

Enjoy Foods International is a business that has been making meat snacks since 1971 under the "Enjoy" brand.

In 2000 & 2001 it hit financial difficulty and eventually fell into the hands of a receivership. Today, it continues to operate under Saab Enterprises, which does business as "Enjoy Foods International". Saab makes the jerky themselves in their own meat processing unit, and also produces the "Hickory's Best" brand.

The Enjoy brand can be found in select convenience stores and markets in rural areas, as well as in large urban areas within such stores like Sam's Club, Smart & Final, and Food 4 Less.

It's also made without preservatives.

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, spices, brown sugar, garlic, liquid smoke.

Chile pepper is obviously an ingredient, being clearly visible on the pieces.

Taste

Probably first notable is the soy sauce on these pieces, with its accompanying saltiness. I know the ingredients list says teriyaki sauce, but tastes more like soy sauce. The chile pepper makes itself known pretty soon after. I can also sense the liquid smoke additive very quickly too. There is also a sweetness found on the surface of these pieces, but not detected during the chew.

I can detect the natural meat taste to a moderate degree, and for being preservative free, this does have a slighty stale, slightly rank taste. The meat tastes like it's just starting to turn.

As for being a "hot" variety, this definitely has a spicy kick to it. My taste buds are wanting to call this "medium", but I can understand someone else wanting to call it "hot".

This is probably too salty for my preference, I don't necessarily get a salt-scorch from these pieces, but it's salty enough that it seems to take over the other flavors.

The flavor doesn't last very long throughout the chew, however.

Overall, it's a good taste. You really can't go wrong with soy sauce, some sugar, a little garlic, and a dousing of chile pepper. The meat ought to have a fresher taste, though.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of meat, sliced thin, and in small pieces. Note that I bought the 1oz bag, which doesn't leave much room for large pieces. If I had a larger bag, I could probably get a better sense of the taste and meat consistency.

The company says they use only top and bottom rounds.

This is a dry jerky, one that retains a flexibility. Being that it's sliced pretty thin, it's fairly easy to eat. It has a consistency that if sliced more thick, it would become very difficult to eat.

Because this jerky is cut into small bite-sizes, some pieces don't contain any visible bits of chile pepper, and don't offer much hot taste.

I did find some bits of tendon, but no gristle, and very little fat.

Overall, the meat consistency in this tiny 1oz bag provides for a good beef jerky experience. Perhaps a larger bag with bigger pieces would give me better information.





Product Value

I paid $1.99 for this 1oz bag at the Pine Mountain General Store in Pine Mountain Club, CA. That's right on the border between average and expensive. If you bought this from Enjoy's website, you can get the 1oz bag for $1.48, and you can get it cheaper per ounce if you buy it in larger bags.

But for what I paid, I'd say that it offers "so-so" value in enjoyment. For that price, you're not getting a great jerky. You'd have to buy the larger 3.65oz bag to push the price down to about $1.35 per ounce, and then you'd have a good value.

As a hot variety, it lives up to that billing, though not very hot. I could stand to get some more chile pepper seasoning, however. People who don't care much for hot foods, usually don't buy something labeled, "hot". So then, why do companies continue to label something as hot, and only make it somewhat hot? If only hot food lovers buy hot foods, then obviously they have the tolerance for something hotter.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

It has a great snackability as a general purpose jerky, and general purpose snack food. But nothing else stood out as being exceptional. The taste was good, but not necessarily remarkable compared against the other jerkies I've had. I found it on the salty side, and the natural meat flavors have a slightly stale taste.

However, this is the kind of jerky that would do well to satisfy your snacking habits while performing other tasks, like driving, typing away, or watching a movie. The meat consistency in these small pieces offers little to detract your attention. If you can buy this in a larger sized bag, it might be cheap enough to warrant such use.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.enjoybeefjerky.com

Read More