Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Steve's Original Chicken Jerky - Buffalo Wing

steves original chicken jerky
The newest jerky offering from Steve's Original is this Chicken Jerky in a buffalo wing recipe. See my previous reviews of Steve's Original here.

Steve's Original is the creation of Steve Liberati, the founder of Steve's Club, a fitness center for disadvantaged youth, based in Camden, NJ. Steve's Original is a line of fitness foods based on the "Paleo Diet". Proceeds from the sales of Steve's Original goes towards Steve's Club.

This Chicken Jerky is made from breast meat using free range chickens, free of hormones and antibiotics.

Ingredients

Chicken breast, sea salt, apple juice concentrate, paprika, pineapple juice concentrate, beet powder, black pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, vinegar, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a meaty flavor, followed soon after by a peppery flavor, more like paprika/cayenne. There's a light bit of saltiness too.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased natural meat flavor, more seasonings, and a light to moderate level of heat. I can also detect the black pepper, and trace bits of garlic.

For being marketed as Chicken Jerky with a buffalo wing recipe, it holds up pretty well. It definitely has the natural chicken meat flavors, and it definitely seems to have the spiciness of a buffalo wing recipe, but more like the seasonings and less of the sauce.

And in fact, that's largely what defines the overall flavor of this jerky, the natural flavor of chicken breast combined with the fiery seasonings of buffalo wings. In terms of heat, it ranks as "medium" on my personal heat scale (level 3 out of 5).

Considering the apple juice and pineapple juice concentrates listed in the ingredients, this doesn't taste fruity or sweet at all.

The level of saltiness in this feels to be at a moderate level.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, cut into strips of about two to four inches long, and sliced medium thickness.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel, having a just a little bit of flexibility. Biting off chunks is somewhat easy, requiring a little bit of biting and gnawing. Chewing is a little tough, but not too bad.

The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff, with a good deal of initial chewing resistance. Several chews later, and it starts to break down. It tends to feel quite meaty, and by the time it chews down to a soft mass, it takes on the feel of real chicken breast, just more dry and chewy than roasted or fried chicken.

These pieces appear to be very meaty, with no fat, gristle, or other tissues visible. I don't encounter anything crunchy or unchewable.

In terms of clean eating, it's mostly clean. I don't find any residue on my fingertips and don't see any fragments of meat or seasoning falling off.

chicken jerky

chicken jerky
Snack Value

Steve's Original sells this Chicken Jerky from its website at a price of $5.50 for a 2.9oz package. You can get a five-pack for $27.50, with shipping to California for $6.00. That works out to a price of $2.31 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.31 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a good flavor overall, with good meat consistency, and good chewing despite a little toughness. Compared to major brands of jerky sold in grocery stores, it's priced considerably higher, but still manages to deliver a better snackability.

As a chicken jerky, with buffalo wing seasoning, it's also a good value. I'm getting a good deal of natural chicken breast flavor, and a chewing that resembles chewing real chicken breast meat, along with spicy, buffalo wing seasonings.

Rating

steves original chicken jerky nutrition
I'm giving this a good rating.

This Chicken Jerky with buffalo wing seasoning offers up a good deal of flavor, living up to its namesake with a good deal of natural chicken breast meat flavor combined with a spicy blend of buffalo wing seasonings. It's very meaty with what appears to be slices of pure meat. The fact that its free range, preservative free, with no hormones, is bonus.

Considering this this is the first chicken jerky I've reviewed here on Best Beef Jerky, it's pretty good. I think I like this chicken jerky better than turkey jerky, at least Steve's Original brand of chicken jerky.

As a fitness snack, how can you go wrong with 28g of protein in a 2.9oz package, with zero carbs and zero sugar?

I did, however, find this jerky somewhat tough to chew. If you can get over that, then perhaps all is well.

Rating: Good

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