Tuesday, April 27, 2010

McDonald's Meats Teriyaki Smokey Dried Turkey Strips

Mcdonald's meats turkey jerkyNext in the series on McDonald's Meats are these Teriyaki Smokey Dried Turkey Strips. See my previous reviews of their jerky.

McDonald's Meats is a full service butcher shop in Clear Lake, MN, in operation since 1914. It's a family-run business originally founded by John Leo McDonald, who passed it to his son Richard in 1954, who then passed it to his son Dave in 1989.

While they run a full service meat shop and wild game processing, they known well for their jerky. Boasting some 22 varieties in all, they make jerky in their own USDA inspected facility, smoking them over wood.

Ingredients

Turkey, water, seasoning mix (sugar, soy sauce powder, salt, hydrolyzed soy protein, monosodium glutamate, torula yeast, spices, garlic powder, onion powder, oleorisin paprika), soy sauce, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light sweetness, and a light smokiness, as well a light meaty flavor.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased natural meat flavor, and a light saltiness.

For being advertised as "Teriyaki Smokey Dried Turkey Strips", I don't really taste any teriyaki. The best I get is a light sweetness on the surface, and maybe a touch of soy sauce, but not much. Otherwise, there's nothing in here that tastes like teriyaki to me.

But it is smokey, not heavily though.

As for the turkey part, I do get a good deal of natural turkey meat flavor. The smokiness is in there and enhances the flavor quite well. It's not going to taste like roasted turkey breast, but more like smoked turkey leg. I don't know if this jerky comes from breast meat or what.

The level of saltiness in this seems moderate. It's well into the meat and is a primary chewing flavor.

The garlic and onion seasoning listed in the ingredients doesn't really show up well. I think I do taste subtle hints of it.

Overall, what you're going to taste in this is largely a smokey, salty, natural turkey meat flavor. The teriyaki is not even noticeable, aside from a light sweetness on the surface, and just traces of soy sauce.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced very thick, and in strips of about 2-3 inches in length. These strips are short largely because I obtained the smaller 3oz package.

This is a semi-moist jerky with a semi-moist surface feel. The strips have some rubber-like flexibility but will crack apart if bent far enough. Biting off chunks seems easy to do, and chewing seems easy as well.

The chewing texture starts out feeling rubbery and pliable. But just a light amount of chewing causes it to break apart easily, and it doesn't take long to chew it down to a soft mass. At that point, it chews just like real turkey meat, comparable to dry breast meat.

These strips appear to be all meat too. I didn't find any fat, tendon, gristle, and nothing unchewable or stringy.

It's also fairly clean eating, despite the semi-moist surface feel, they don't leave any residue on my fingers and no meat fragments falling off.

turkey strips

smoked turkey jerky
Snack Value

McDonald's Meats sells these Teriyaki Smokey Dried Turkey Strips from their website at a price of $19.99 for a 16oz package. Shipping costs only $3.00 flat rate. Together that works out to a price of $1.43 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes at the $1.43 price per ounce, it seems to provide a good value. I'm getting a good deal of snackability from a good overall flavor, excellent meat consistency and chewing texture. The $1.43 price is considerably less than what you pay for turkey jerky from the major brands at a grocery store, yet it has a better flavor and meat consistency.

But as a teriyaki turkey jerky, at the same $1.43 price per ounce, it's a fair value. Albeit I can't really taste any teriyaki flavor in this, I still get a light sweet on the surface, and a hint of soy sauce. But that price is still cheaper than the major brands of jerky, and it's still a better turkey jerky period.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

If you love the flavor of smoked turkey, I think these Teriyaki Smokey Dried Turkey Strips could be a favorite of yours. I don't really taste any teriyaki in this, just a light sweet surface flavor, and a hint of soy sauce. Otherwise, it's the flavor of smoked turkey meat, with a fair amount of saltiness, that really shows through.

But it also has an excellent meat consistency, being of pure meat, in a semi-moist, easy-to-eat chew, and chewing like real turkey meat.

I didn't give it a five-star rating because it didn't really give me any "wow" factor, even though it offers a wonderful smokey meat flavor. I also docked it another rating because it has no sense of teriyaki flavor. I mean, if someone bought this because they love teriyaki, they'd be disappointed. It's still better than some other turkey jerky brands I've had, but overall it still comes off as bland, and plain.

For my recommended beer pairing, some kind of German-style wheat beer would go well with this. Try a Schneider Weisse, or a Spaten Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier.

Rating: Average

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