Last up for review in the series on JW's Beef Jerky is this Cajun variety. See my previous of review of their Medium variety.
JW's Jerky is a brand owned by Jerry Wilkinson of Oklahoma City, OK. The brand has been selling in trade shows, fairs, and festivals for the past 10 years throughout Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.
JW's doesn't quite have a website yet, though they are working on one at www.jwsjerky.com, but for now they are online via Facebook, and orders can be placed by phone or e-mail. Jerry makes all the jerky himself, trims it by hand, and marinates the beef in vacuum tumblers. Orders placed via phone or e-mail are made fresh to order. Currently he has three flavors, this Medium, a Cajun, and an Original. He can also do Ghost Pepper upon request.
Ingredients
Beef, soy sauce, water, lime juice, spices, sodium benzoate.
Taste
The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a saltiness and soy sauce flavor. There's a light bit of sweetness mixed in, and some light cajun seasonings.
The chewing flavor starts with a bit more definition from the soy sauce along with a light bit of natural meat flavor. Meanwhile, the cajun seasonings produce a little bit of heat.
For being marketed as "Cajun", it seems to hold up. I get a seasoning flavor that does seem to resemble something that could be described as Cajun. The black pepper is perhaps the dominant of the cajun seasonings. There's even some burn, supported by the visible flakes of red pepper. I would rate the heat as "medium" (level 3 out of 5) on my personal heat scale, but I can imagine others may see it a bit more hot.
Otherwise, the flavor that seem to define this jerky is primarily the soy sauce. It's a soy sauce flavored jerky with a little bit of sweetness, a moderate level of cajun seasonings, and a light to moderate level of burn. It's also rather salty, at what I would consider to be at a high level.
I can detect some natural meat flavors, but they're just barely noticeable.
Overall, it tastes similarly to JW's Medium variety I reviewed earlier, except with added cajun seasonings and a medium level of heat.
Meat Consistency
This are slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and cut into medium to large sized slabs.
It's a semi-moist jerky with a moist, sticky surface feel. The slabs have a lot of flexibility, being able to bend back on themselves without cracking. Biting off chunks against the grain is somewhat chewy, but it tears easily with the grain. Overall, chewing varies from somewhat easy to somewhat chewy.
The chewing texture starts out with a fair amount of chewing resistance, and requires a bit more chewing considering how thinly sliced this meat is. Once chewed down to a soft mass, however, it does take on the feeling of steak, one cooked well-done.
I can see small spots and streaks of fat one these slabs, and can even see some lines of gristle running through some. I also find a fair amount of stringiness, some of which reduces down to an unchewable wad.
In terms of clean eating, it leaves a some stickiness and seasoning on my fingers, enough that I have to lick them and wipe them before touching my keyboard.
Snack Value
JW's Jerky sells this Cajun variety at a price of $15.00 for an 8oz package, with a flat rate shipping of $6.00 up to two pounds. If you bought two of these packages, it would work out to a price of $2.25 per ounce.
For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.25 price per ounce, this seems to offer a decent value. I do get a satisfying flavor overall, enough to create some snackability. The meat consistency is decent, while the chewing texture is good overall.
As a "Cajun" variety, at the same $2.25 per ounce price, it's a good value. I do get identify a Cajun-style seasoning along with a medium level of burn.
Rating
I'm giving this an average rating.
This Cajun variety from JW's Jerky serves up a seasoning blend that seems to resemble something Cajun, and even goes on to give you a decent amount of heat. It's packed with flavor, and provides a little bit of natural meat flavor.
Aside from that, it's actually very much like the company's Medium variety I reviewed previously, except with some Cajun flavorings. I found the overall flavor to be mostly soy sauce, and quite salty at that. It has a good chewing texture, and overall a decent meat consistency, though I often ended up with small wads of unchewable tissues.
The first few bites are actually quite tasty, and I like that light bit of sweet mixed in. But after that, the saltiness became too much and wore me out. The medium level of heat also seemed to exacerbate the salt scorching. Otherwise, I think it's actually a little bit better than the major brands of jerky, particularly in the Cajun category. But compared to the 200+ brands of jerky I've reviewed, it still seems to sit in the 3-star rating.
Rating: Average
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