Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Pemmican Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Pemmican Beef Jerky - TeriyakiPemmican is one of the top selling brands of beef jerky in the United States, manufactured by Con Agra Foods.

But "pemmican" is also an Native American term that identifies a type of food that resembles beef jerky. This food is not quite the same as beef jerky, but similar. Pemmican is pounded "beef meal" that is mixed together with other ingredients.

In that sense, the Pemmican brand of beef jerky might be similar to the original pemmican, because it has a similar consistency.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce, salt, less than 2% of monosodium glutamate, wine, vinegar, flavoring, brown sugar, succinic acid, maltodextrin, corn syrup solids, sodium nitrite, lemon juice solids, soy lecithin.

Taste

Being that this is a teriyaki variety, I expected to get a good taste of teriyaki, but I don't find a lot. I do indeed taste some teriyaki, just not a great deal.

Most of what I taste is a something of a meaty taste, but it doesn't taste much like actual steak. If anything it has something of a "old meat" taste, or a "rank taste" to it. I'm thinking its the tenderization process that gives it this strange taste.

There is a lot of salt taste in this, in fact that's what I probably end up tasting the most. I can also sense a bit of the soy sauce, but as an aftertaste.

Overall, this jerky has an "ok" taste. It's not a great taste, or even a good taste, it's just enough to pass muster.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be made from real cuts of beef muscle, sliced in medium to thick thickness, and in small pieces.

These pieces are very soft, in fact that's what strikes me the most with this sample of Pemmican, it's very tender. It's not necessarily moist, though some pieces are moist, it's just soft.

I also find this to be somewhat oily to the touch, but not too much that it requires cleaning. But I do find myself rubbing my fingers together to remove what layer of oil that got picked up.

I can see a fair amount of gristle in these pieces, but the tenderization process appears to have removed the toughness of the gristle. I do find a fair amount of fat.

Pemmican Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Pemmican Beef Jerky - Teriyaki


Product Value

I paid $4.99 for this 3.65 ounce bag at a Stater Bros market in Menifee, CA. That works out to $1.38 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

Probably the only value I'm finding in this is the high level of tenderness in these pieces. Otherwise, I don't consider this to provide a great beef jerky experience due to its high salt taste, somewhat strange meat flavor, and oily consistency. As a teriyaki variety, it doesn't even provide much teriyaki taste.

Rating

Pemmican Beef Jerky - TeriyakiI'm giving this a "fair" rating.

Just eating this, you get a quick sense of mediocrity from the strange meat taste and oily consistency. If all you need is a protein fix, maybe this will do, but then again, why bother with this when there are so many other better tasting brands?

The high level of salt is always turn off for me, and the fact that as a teriyaki variety it doesn't taste much like teriyaki. But it's still "acceptable" enough that I'd eat it, and not toss it to the dogs.

Rating: Fair

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11 comments:

  1. I really dislike this jerky, probably would have given it a worse rating, hahah. Can't figure out why everyone else likes it .

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  2. I agree Pemmican has weird taste.

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  3. Absolutely love the new style the have now!!! You gotta try those flavors.

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  4. I used to enjoy the smaller pieces that came in their smaller bags. )The original flavor was by far better than the teriyaki) BUT, they appear to have been sold to a foreign comapny, and I tried their latest "NEW STYLE". They really ruined the texture and flavor. Shame...

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  5. Hello all, I have to say, I bought a bag of this stuff today, as Pemmican is my favorite jerkey, and I found bags for 2 Dollars, great deal. The jerkey inside fit your desciption, but this is NOT the pemmican I used to eat, not even a year ago. Pemmican used to have more of a steak-ish texture to them, way less oil. Now it looks as though a company like bridgeford bought them out. I think pemmican has changed for the worse.

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  6. i hate the "new style" that they have, its hard to find them were i live cept on the base commacery, i used to love the old steakish feel and taste, so soft and tender, melt in your mouth in a sense, the flavor was by far the best ive had, now they look and taste like some jack links brand...wish they could go back to they way they use to be

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  7. yeah the NEW STYLE is not good at all! The old style was WAY better. I used to go to a certain store just to buy bags of this stuff, and now you might as well buy JACKS LINKS! PEMMICAN YOU RUINED YOUR ONE OF A KIND FLAVOR, BUT WORST OF ALL THE TEXTURE IS FATTY AND SLIMY! WAY TO GO! I will never buy it again.

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  8. Pemmican jerky is nasty now. I bought a bag last week, never again. The taste is foul and it was as hard as tire rubber. How does anyone stomach this crap?

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  9. I sent 4 proofs of purchaces, 2 per 1 month in July for pemmicans "you buy a bag. we buy a bag" promo. I fallowed their instructions to the letter. It's now Nov. 23/10 and I have received diddly. No responce from my inquiries to them. Great customer service! I'll buy none of pemmican brand products again, and I'll tell anyone about this disreputble company who'll listen.

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  10. This stuff is pretty awful. I picked up some on a road trip recently, as I'd never had it before (I'm a dedicated Slant Shack man). Oh, dear god, how awful it was. I should have gone for the Jack Link.

    You're spot on about the strange taste to the meat. And the bag I had was a mix of textures--some tender and some like a piece of rubber tire and damn near impossible to chew. I had the "Teriyaki" flavor as well and was struck by the lack of, well, teriyaki.

    Seriously, I think I'd buy a Slim Jim before I bought this stuff again.

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  11. Sorry to hear about the degradation of the Pemmican brand. It has always been my favorite because of the rich steak taste. I had been looking for some for my backpack supplies, but now I won't bother--I'll just make some myself instead.

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