Tony Stewart's Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Continuing the series on Tony Stewart's Beef Jerky is this teriyaki variety. See my previous review of their Original variety.

Tony Stewart's Beef Jerky is a brand of Tony Stewart's Original, Inc. based out of Indianapolis, IN. It bears the name and likeness of the famed racecar driver, leveraging his star power to earn some extra income through the sales of jerky, salsa, and barbecue sauces.

The jerky itself was manufactured by Mirab USA, who makes jerky for hundreds of brands, including other sports figures. Interestingly, the back of this package reads, "This beef jerky has been personally selected by Tony himself", though it doesn't explain for what reason he selected it, be it taste or economics.

Tony Stewart's Beef Jerky includes only two varieties at this time, the Original variety that I reviewed before, and this Teriyaki.

Ingredients

Beef, water, sugar, soy sauce, salt, maltodextrin, seasonings (hydrolyzed corn gluten protein, onion powder, garlic powder), apple cider vinegar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, sodium tripolyphosphate, black pepper powder, citric acid, sodium erythorbate, disodium inosinate, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a medium-level sweetness, and some saltiness. In the chewing, I taste more of the same, sweetness and saltiness.

There's a strange flavor to this that I can't describe. I've tasted it in other Mirab jerky, a chemical-like flavor, or some heavily-processed flavor. It's noticeable on the surface and in the chewing.

For being billed as a Teriyaki variety, it hardly tastes like teriyaki. It has the sweetness of teriyaki, but doesn't have the soy sauce flavor, or the tangy and pungent qualities created by the sake and ginger. All I really get is sweet and salty.

Otherwise, I'd say the primary flavor of this jerky is the sweetness, which I taste prominently on the surface and about half-way into the chewing.

The saltiness is probably the second-most dominant flavor, noticeable on the surface, and in the chewing, but it becomes more prominent in the latter-half of chewing as the sweetness wears off. The saltiness should manifest itself as soy sauce, but it doesn't. It's just salty, at a medium-level intensity.

For the third-most dominant flavor, I'd give it to that strange chemical taste. It's strong enough in this that it makes me cringe a little to eat another piece.

There's black pepper visible on these pieces, but not really tasted.

The natural meat flavors are not noticeable at all.

Overall, you won't really taste any teriyaki in this. Instead, you'll just get a lot of sweet, and medium-level saltiness, along with that strange chemical-flavor. That's it.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced to a medium thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces. There's also a significant amount of small bits in the bottom of the bag, possibly a full ounce worth.

This appears to be a soft-and-tender jerky, being semi-moist. The pieces are very flexible, and have a moist feel. They tear apart very easily with my fingers, and are very easy to chew.

The chewing texture starts out feeling very soft, falling apart in my mouth like pot roast. It chews down to a soft mass in about 10 seconds, and at that point becomes quite mushy, and even crumbly, but in very fine meat granules. It doesn't really feel fibrous at all. A few pieces seemed to have a more fibrous feel, but still rather mushy.

I don't actually find much fat on these pieces at all. No tendon, and no gristle to be seen. And no significant amounts of chewy sinews. It actually appears to be quite meaty.

Because these pieces tend to tear, or fall apart quite easily, they tend to drop fragments of meat as I tear them apart. They don't seem to leave any residue on my fingers, but they do leave behind a strange smell that should probably be washed off if you're eating this at work.




Snack Value

I paid $5.95 for this 3.5oz package at a Bass Pro Shops in Ontario, CA. That works out to a price of $1.70 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at this $1.70 price per ounce, it provides a poor value. I don't get any snackability from this. It's flavor is rather bad. Not really bad, just rather bad. That strange chemical flavor is always there, in fact stronger than what I encountered in the Original variety. And the only other flavors this jerky provides is just sweet & salty. Pretty boring, actually.

As a Teriyaki variety, and the same $1.70 price per ounce, it's also a poor value. I just don't find any teriyaki flavor in this. It's just sweet & salty. That saltiness should be represented by a soy sauce flavor, but alas there's no soy sauce flavor in this. There's just no teriyaki flavor in this one bit.

Rating

I'm giving this a dog treats rating.

This Teriyaki variety from Tony Stewart's Beef Jerky offered me no snackability at all. I tried to decide if this jerky was still tolerable or not, and I decided it wasn't. I found myself not really wanted to eat more; I only did so for the benefit of writing this review.

This product from Mirab USA tastes just like the chopped & formed jerky that Mirab makes. There's something about their teriyaki jerky that seems to emphasize that strange chemical flavor. I note that the Original variety from Tony Stewart Beef Jerky was still tolerable. This isn't.

The mushy chewing texture also hurts this jerky's snackability.

For my beer recommendation, go with an IPA, to help get rid of that taste.

Rating: Dog Treats

Buy this online:

• http://www.tonystewartstore.com/