Sunday, April 27, 2008

Walgreens Steakhouse Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Walgreens Steakhouse Beef Jerky - TeriyakiThe Steakhouse brand of beef jerky is owned by the Walgreens drug store chain. It's actually made by Mirab USA, the world's largest manufacturer of private-labeled beef jerky.

All of the Steakhouse brand that I've seen thus far consists of "formed beef jerky", that is, ground up pieces of beef leftovers that gets pressed and formed into jerky shapes. While technically still beef, I don't really like to call it "jerky". It's about as "factory" as beef jerky gets these days. But it's a way for the meat industry to use every last piece of the animal, and waste nothing.

Taste

The ingredients list shows: beef, water, sugar, soy sauce, salt, maltodextrin, seasonings, apple cider vinegar, MSG, paprika, sodium tripolyphosphate, black pepper powder, citric acid, sodium erythorbate, disodium inosinate, sodium nitrite.

It's probably the teriyaki flavor that I taste the most. It's not a strong taste by any means, but it's definitely noticeable. There is some saltiness in this, not too bad though. There's also a slight sweetness, normally associated with the teriyaki flavor.

I don't really taste any of the natural beef flavors. I can't confirm that this stuff was actually made from meat (muscle). All the package says is "beef", but as we know "beef" can mean any part of the cow or steer beneath the skin.

This stuff doesn't even smell like beef jerky. It doesn't smell bad, but I can't describe what it smells like. It's probably all those ingredients that end in "te".

Meat Consistency

Again, this is formed jerky, made from pieces of beef, which may include muscle, but can also include any other part of the animal. Looking at some pieces carefully, I can see little streaks of stuff that appear to be "meat". The pieces are riddled with tiny dark spots, who knows what that stuff is.

The pieces are in medium thickness, and are largely soft and easy to tear off and chew. Like formed jerky always is, the pieces don't chew like meat, they crumble apart in your mouth instead.

Product Value

Walgreens sell these at $5.00 for two bags, with each bag at 3 ounces. That works out to $0.83 per ounce. Cheap. If you bought one bag only, it'll cost $2.99, or $1.00 per ounce.

Honestly, I don't find much value in this as a beef jerky. Being formed jerky, it starts out very low in expectations, and this particular variety doesn't disappoint in that regards. It does offer some teriyaki flavor, but that's about where the value ends.

As for general snacking, I wouldn't reach for a second piece. If you just needed to replenish your body with needed proteins, then perhaps. But if that's all you want, then get yourself a Snickers bar.

Walgreens Steakhouse Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Walgreens Steakhouse Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Rating

I'm rating this as "dog treats".

Again, formed jerky is always at a disadvantage in my book. It would have to offer outstanding flavor, and provide great snackability. This stuff just doesn't stand out at all.

Rating: Dog Treats

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