Monday, April 21, 2008

Alien Fresh Jerky - Cowboy Jerky

The Alien Fresh Brand of beef jerky is a familiar brand to those living in Southern California and Las Vegas, for the simple fact that it's hard to miss their freeway signs on Interstate 15.

The image of a cute little alien wearing a cowboy hat, sitting atop a horse, and rounding up a herd of cattle seems to evoke a sense that if anyone has the superior technology and know how to make a really killer batch of beef jerky, aliens from outer space have it.

This variety called, "Cowboy Jerky", is Alien Fresh's peppered variety. For the most part, Alien Fresh Jerky is indeed one of the better brands of jerky I've had, and this particular variety doesn't disappoint.

Taste

The ingredients list shows the following: whole slices of beef, soy sauce, water, garlic, spices, and smoke flavoring.

Most of what I taste with this variety is soy sauce, some black pepper, and the natural beef flavors. After eating several pieces, I can taste more of the saltiness.

For a peppered variety, there is a good amount of black pepper taste, and a good amount of black pepper to be seen. Some pieces have a lot of pepper on them and as a result the pepper flavor is more dominant. But even still, I can't say that every piece has a dominant pepper taste. For the most part, it's more like an enhancement to the overall flavor.

The natural beef flavors are very evident, even upon the first bite. I love beef jerky that retains a lot of natural beef flavors, and this doesn't disappoint.

Meat Consistency

These are real cuts of beef, sliced thick, and sliced into medium sized pieces.

These pieces are on the dry side, and are rather chewy. This somewhat resembles older-style jerky, back when it was a man's snack food. Most pieces require some effort to tear off with your teeth. If you want soft and tender jerky this isn't it.

Most pieces appear to have some fat marblization, but not much.

I found many pieces to have some chewy tendon, and at least one piece with a very dry and very tough piece of cartilage.

Product Value

Alien Fresh Jerky sells this at $8.00 for a 4 ounce bag, making it $2.00 per ounce. That's on the high side. But they also offer a deal where if you buy three bags, of any variety, you get them for $20.00 total, or making it $1.67 per ounce, an average price.

What this jerky has to offer in terms of value is it's abundance of natural beef flavors. The black pepper and soy sauce flavorings are quite evident, and will provide plenty of satisfaction if you savor each piece.

Probably the best way to get your money's worth out of this variety of "Cowboy Jerky", is to soften up a piece with your molars, and then suck on it for awhile, extracting out the juices, before chewing it up and swallowing. You get lots of great natural beef, pepper, and soy sauce, flavors.

Rating

I'm giving a "good" rating.

This is definitely a jerky to enjoy for its merits, something I'd take with me to the backyard patio, sit down in a chair, and enjoy while listening to the birds sing. It does have great snackability, but you might miss out on how good this jerky is if you're concentrating on something else.

While some folks love drier, chewier, jerky, I still prefer it more soft and more tender than this. It would have also been preferable to taste some other kind of flavoring aside from just soy sauce and pepper.

But the natural beef flavors that come out in this, is enough to make this better than average. And let's not discount the fact that Alien Fresh Jerky did not use MSG, sodium nitrite or other artificial flavorings and preservatives. Kudos to them!

Rating: Good (4/5)

0 comments:

Post a Comment