Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Teriyaki

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky is a product of Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. of Lebanon, PA. The company has been making beef jerky and other meat snacks since 1990.

The company got started when five snack distributors decided leverage their collective knowledge of the snack food industry by offering a whole-muscle type of beef jerky back when there was still quite a bit of chopped & formed jerky on store shelves.

Since then, the company has grown to become one of the fastest growing 5,000 companies in the United States, as named by Inc. Magazine in 2007.

This "Western Cut" represents the company's dry and thin cut jerky, as contrasted against their "Country Cut", representing their soft and tender variety. You can read my previous review of their Country Cut Teriyaki for comparison here.

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, liquid smoke, sodium nitrite.

Taste

There's a definite smokiness that I taste right away on this. That's soon followed by a slight sweetness and then some of the natural meat flavors. With some chewing, more of the natural meat flavors come out, and then I can taste the teriyaki sauce back there.

As a teriyaki variety, I'd say that it does offer a good taste of teriyaki, but it's not a strong taste. For the most part it's light to medium. On some pieces, the teriyaki is in the background, but in others it's more defined.

In comparison to the company's Country Cut Teriyaki variety, this Western Cut has more of a teriyaki taste, while the Country Cut has a stronger soy sauce taste. I'm assuming it's the same teriyaki sauce used on both cuts, but for whatever reason this Western Cut provides a taste that's more familiar to me as teriyaki. However, the Country Cut offers a stronger taste, while the Western Cut is lighter.

After a few pieces, I'm getting a black pepper aftertaste in my mouth. These pieces don't offer a defined black pepper taste for the most part. However, I note that on some pieces the black pepper is more defined, particularly because the way the surface contour of these pieces have crevices and folds that trap extra pepper. They also trap extra teriyaki sauce, which explains why some pieces give off a stronger taste than others.

I also notice quite a bit of fat marbilization on these pieces that provide more of a "beefy" taste.

The natural meat flavors come out well, mostly after some chews. I'd probably say that it's the natural meat flavors that sits in the foreground with this jerky. The teriyaki is largely what enhances it, but doesn't last long throughout the chew.

Overall, it's a mild tasting jerky that mostly features the natural meat flavors, with a black pepper aftertaste, and where the teriyaki taste presents itself in the first few chews and then makes it exit.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of real meat, sliced thin, and in the small to medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, but one that's still easy to eat. I can tear most pieces with only little effort, though some do require a little more. They chew just about the same.

For the most part, I found no tendon or gristle in this review sample. I say "for the most part", because I found a small piece in the bottom of the bag which was largely a piece of gristle. As noted earlier, there's some good fat marbilization in here, providing a more "beefy" taste.

Overall, the meat consistency in this sample is pretty good for being a dry, thin cut jerky, allowing me to enjoy to flavors with no distraction.




Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. sells this jerky from their website at a price of $3.29 for a 1.75oz bag. That works out to $1.88 per oz, putting this into the average price range. You can get this for $1.57 per oz if you buy their larger 3.5oz bag.

I'd evaluate this as good buy, in that you're getting a jerky that tastes good, offers good snackability, provides some good natural meat flavors, and is easy to eat.

As teriyaki variety, you'll get some value from this, but not a lot. I'd say this the teriyaki is there mostly to enhance the natural meat flavors, and doesn't last throughout the chew. But the taste of teriyaki is by all means discernable.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

It has the snackability that a beef jerky should have in that it kept me wanting to eat more, and the meat consistency in this review sample didn't detract my attention away from the enjoying the taste. Good snackability always takes it up to an average rating in my book.

But I first looked at this as a general beef jerky, and compared it as such with all the other jerkies that I've reviewed, and found that it did stand above all those that I had given "average" ratings to. It offers a pretty good taste, with its natural meat flavors, the black pepper seasoning, and the light-to-medium presence of teriyaki.

But as a teriyaki beef jerky, it's average compared to the other teriyaki brands. I prefer a jerky that really belts out its advertised flavor, and while this still does offer a teriyaki taste, it's a moderate one.

I also like taste complexity, and found that this wasn't just a teriyaki variety, but also a black pepper one. Combine that with the natural meat flavors, and the smokiness, and you have a beef jerky that you can appreciate, and not just snack on.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.choochoorsnacks.com