Friday, July 23, 2010

Da Bomb Jerky - Spicy Teriyaki

Da Bomb JerkyDa Bomb Jerky is owned and made by Brian Jacoby of Colorado Springs, CO. The brand has been around locally for over ten years, selling through flea markets, car shows, and other events. They just started selling online in 2008.

The company, which also appears to market itself as "Sticky Jerky" due to the sticky coating of flavorings, offers several flavors including their Original, a Mild Teriyaki, and several other hot varieties.

Jacoby sent me samples of all their flavors, but only this Spicy Teriyaki came in a large enough quantity to write a detailed review. As it turns out, this flavor is said to be the brand's "most exciting flavor".

Ingredients

Beef (round steak), soy and teriyaki sauces, garlic, peppers, spices and natural flavors.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface is a thick sweetness, followed by a soy sauce flavor. A good deal of spicy heat starts building up.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased soy sauce flavor, and a stronger saltiness. There's some light natural meat flavors.

For being labeled "Spicy Teriyaki" it seems to hold up. It does have a lot of spiciness in the form of heat, which I'd rate as medium on my personal hot scale. As for the teriyaki, I do get a good teriyaki flavor, mostly as a thick sweetness and soy sauce flavor. There's also a noticeable tanginess in there, and maybe just a subtle pungent contrast.

The surface flavor is largely dominated by the spicy teriyaki coating, which only appears on side of the surface. The other side is dry. Meanwhile, the chewing flavor seems dominated by a soy sauce flavor, with a strong saltiness. If you were to chew through this right away the teriyaki sauce remains noticeable for perhaps five to ten seconds and then becomes overwhelmed by the soy sauce and saltiness.

The natural meat flavors make only a light showing, mostly as a cooked flavor, like a well-done steak. Even that too is overpowered by the stronger soy sauce and saltiness.

Overall, what you're going to notice in this jerky is an initial thick sweet teriyaki flavor with a good deal of spicy heat mixed in. Once you start chewing, a strong soy sauce and saltiness takes over. You might pick up some natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced to a medium thickness, and in medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky but with a wet sticky surface on one side, and totally dry on the other. The pieces have a fair amount of crispiness to them, being just a bit crunchy when I bite off a chunk. Biting off a chunk seems easy on some pieces, and rather chewy on others. Overall, chewing seems fairly easy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff and brittle, and seems to chew down to a soft mass easily and quickly enough. The overall texture at that point seems to be a 50/50 mix between crumbly and like a real steak. There still seems to be enough of that steak-like chewing that the crumbly quality doesn't become too noticeable.

I do see a few small streaks of fat on these pieces, but not tendon or gristle. I encountered a fair amount of stringiness which required a bit more effort to bite off chunks. I didn't find any unchewable wads of tissue however.

As for clean eating, these pieces leave behind a thick coating of teriyaki sauce on my fingers, which require several seconds of finger licking to make clean.

spicy teriyaki beef jerky

spicy teriyaki jerky
Snack Value

Da Bomb Jerky sells this Spicy Teriyaki beef jerky from its website at a price of $29.99 for a one pound package. The shipping is free. That works out to a price of $1.87 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.87 price per ounce, it seems to provide a good value. I'm getting a good deal of snackability for its good overall flavor and fairly easy eating. That price is about the same as what major brands of jerky sell for in grocery stores, but yet this jerky seems to provide better snackability overall.

As a Spicy Teriyaki beef jerky, also at the $1.87 price per ounce, it's also a good value. I get a well noticeable spiciness in the form of heat, and a good overall teriyaki flavor in copius amounts, and probably more so than what I'd get from the major brands.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Spicy Teriyaki beef jerky from Da Bomb Jerky does offer a good deal of spicy heat mixed with a thick sweet teriyaki flavor. But that teriyaki becomes easily overwhelmed by a stronger soy sauce and saltiness once you start chewing.

In fact if not for that thick coating of teriyaki sauce on side of these pieces, the higher saltiness in this jerky would wear me out far more quickly. But even then, the saltiness still builds up intensity over several bites and starts wearing on me.

But I still find it better than your average lot of jerky, with a touch of natural meat flavors, and relatively easy chewing, and even some steak-like chewing. Just be prepared for a lot of finger-licking.

For my recommended beer pairing, go with something refreshing to quench the saltiness, like a honey blonde ale or american blonde ale.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

3 comments:

  1. To tell the truth, I really didn't fell like sending you some packages. I thought about it and couldn't decide anything other than the fact that I was going to take that web address: bestbeefjerky.org 2 years ago and didn't. And that you were getting free bags of jerky from alot of companies LOL! , until someone saw it on your website and requested me sending you some samples.

    Brian Jacoby

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  2. Great review!

    Sad response from the person claiming to be the company owner though. (Let's hope its not)

    You know I was thinking on registering google.com 20 years ago... but then decided not to do it :S

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  3. I have been getting his Jerky for a few months now, and I am a fan of the hot stuff. I have tried every jerky on e-bay, used to go for the Lucas Jerky which is still pretty good, but this stuff is awesome. I see that these other posts are from several years ago, but wanted to say that he just came out with a reduced sodium recipie that take much of that saltiness away while leaving the flavor intact. I usually get 4-5lbs every couple weeks from him and eat it all myself. Very good Jerky IMO, if you like hot lean jerky I would recommend this!

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