Thursday, October 23, 2008

Texas Best Beef Jerky - Hot & Spicy

Texas Best Beef Jerky - Hot & SpicyThe Texas Best Meats story is probably the classic story of how the entrepreneurial spirit can take a small piece of America and turn it into a successful family business.

It started back in the 1980s when Troy Collier, a Texas native, began recreating the same beef jerky that his mother used to make. He launched the "Texas Best" brand name in 1989 after his customers said it was the best jerky in Texas. Since then he's gone on to produce sausages using the leftover trimmings from the jerky, and that's how he came up with name "Texas Best Meats" for his company.

Now days, he runs a BBQ catering service and a family-style restaurant, all featuring his famous meats produced from his own USDA inspected facility. He also sells his meat wholesale around the world. But it's still Collier's jerky that makes the Texas Best brand name famous.

Ingredients

Beef, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic pepper, onion powder.

Taste

The first taste I get from the surface is a slight bit of the worcestershire sauce, and a meaty taste, plus a bit of the chili pepper taste. The burn from the chili peppers starts coming through. Moving into the chew, I get some good natural meat flavors, and a slight salty taste.

For being labeled as a "hot & spicy" variety, it's fits the billing. I'm getting a medium burn, just enough to tingle my scalp with a bit of moisture. I can even taste the chili pepper's unique flavor to a small degree.

The predominant flavor of this jerky, however, is the natural meat flavors. It's got a bit of smokiness (the package says mesquite smoked). It has a smooth meat flavor, something that reminds me of the taste of pot roast.

In terms of saltiness, it's very light.

I don't really taste a whole lot of the worcestershire or soy sauce within the meat itself. I'd say it's largely tasted off the surface.

Overall this is a great tasting jerky that puts some good emphasis on the natural meat flavors, with a light salt taste, and good deal of chili pepper. It's not hot, but still hot enough to give you a decent burn, and even throw in the chili pepper's natural flavors.

Meat Consistency

These are strips of whole meat, cut into varying lengths, and cut very thick, about 1/2 to 1 inch widths.

For the most part this is semi-moist jerky, though some pieces being more moist than others. A couple strips were more on the dry side. The thicker cuts are rather tough to bite through; I found it easier to pierce with my canine incisors and then pull apart. The smaller cuts are much easier to bite through. Chewing is perhaps easier since the surface flavors will have you sucking on this for a bit before you chew.

And in terms of chewing, it doesn't exactly chew like a real steak, though somewhat. It tends to have a softer consistency once it moistens up in my mouth. I found a couple pieces that were borderline "mushy". But I also found other pieces were more similar to steak. If anything it's more like pot roast that has dried out a bit.

It's a fairly clean jerky also, leaving no residue on my fingers, but only some bits of chili pepper seeds falling on my lap and desk.

These strips appear to be very lean, I didn't really find any pieces of tendon, gristle or fat. There does appear to be a bit of a chewy ball that gets left behind in the chewing, but nothing that can't be swallowed.

Texas Best Beef Jerky - Hot & Spicy

Texas Best Beef Jerky - Hot & Spicy
Product Value

Jerky.com sells this hot & spicy variety at a price of $18.99 for two bags of four ounces each. That works out to a price of $2.37 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range. Keep in mind that price also includes the shipping.

I think even at the higher $2.37 price per ounce, you're still getting a decent-to-good value with this jerky. I find it snackable with its natural meat flavors, it's chili pepper taste and medium burn, and the light taste of worcestershire sauce from the surface. Even the thick cuts of lean beef provide a layer of satisfaction for the meat snacker.

In fact it has a great value for jerky dieting. The 160mg of sodium per ounce is the lowest I've seen to date, and the same goes for the 45 calories per ounce.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Hot & Spicy variety from Texas Best has its strength in its natural meat flavors, but then adds a plentitude of chili pepper seasoning, and a bit of worcestershire sauce taste off the surface. Those three flavors provide enough variety to maintain a great deal of snackability without creating a sense of blandness.

But while it's a really good tasting jerky, I still didn't get a sense of awe in eating this. It's a good tasting jerky all the way around, but nothing struck me as being exceptional enough to grab the "best" rating.

And while the meat consistency has its strengths and weaknesses, it's still more strong than it is weak. It's very lean cuts, and thick cuts at that, still provide a great jerky experience despite some pieces being rather tough to bite off, and the chewing not always providing a steak-like quality.

For my beer recommendation, a creamy stout would work well with this.

Rating: Good

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2 comments:

  1. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED TX. BEST JERKEY SINCE DAY ONE. I LOVE THE LIQUID SEASONING IN THE BOTTLE. THE LAST PLACE I FOUND IT WAS AT SIKES MALL BUT, I DONT KNOW WHERE TO BUY IT ANY MORE. DO YOU STILL SALE THE LIQUID ? & IF SO WHERE ?

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  2. you can buy the jerky at the Texas Best BBQ & Burgers resturaunt on the corner of maplewoor and southwest. Also you can buy it at the Texas Best Meats plant just outside wichita falls on old seymore highway. Additionally, you can buy it at a lower price on the texas best meats web site, http://www.texasbestbeefjerky.com/

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