Wild Bill's is a popular brand of jerky sold in the Eastern USA, owned and manufactured by Monogram Food Solutions, based out of Memphis, TN. Monogram owns several other jerky brands, including Trails Best, Uncle Buck's, and others.
I had reviewed a few other Wild Bill's jerky varieties earlier, click here to read.
Recently, the folks at Wild Bill's sent me a package of this Teriyaki, which was stamped with "More Teriyaki Taste", indicating a revised recipe. I haven't actually reviewed their teriyaki before.
Beef, seasoning (sugar, tapioca maltodextrin, soy sauce, fructose, salt, yeast extract, hydrolyzed corn gluten, onion powder, garlic powder, sodium erythorbate, spice extractives, extractives of paprika), brown sugar, sodium nitrite. Sprayed with potassium sorbate.
Taste
The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light sweet with a light soy sauce mixed in. A touch of garlic and onion is noticeable.
The chewing brings in a bit more of the soy sauce, and maybe a touch more of the garlic and onion. A faint black pepper is noticeable in the background.
So does this have "More Teriyaki Taste" as the stamp on the package says? Well, what I taste is really sweetened soy sauce, not so much teriyaki. I'm not getting the tangy, mirin wine, sake, or vinegar component, nor the pungent ginger component. The garlic and onion seems to mimic some of that, overall it doesn't really have that authentic, Japanese teriyaki flavor.
However, this does have a good deal of flavor in general, supported primarily by the sweetened soy sauce. The light garlic and onion seasoning provides some depth, as well as a light black pepper that becomes more noticeable after eating several pieces. There's a touch of natural meat flavor towards the end.
Overall, this comes off as lightly spicy with the black pepper in the background, and boosted by that light garlic and onion seasoning as well. The soy sauce tantalizes the savory and salty taste buds while the noted sweetness tempers things and satisfies the sweet tooth. Then, that touch of natural meat flavor towards the end, finishes it off.
Meat Consistency
These are slices of whole meat, sliced into strips of two to three inches in length, and sliced medium thickness.
This is a dry jerky with a slightly moist, lightly sticky, surface feel. The strips are rather stiff, and chewing can be a little labored at first. Some strips are a little brittle.
The chewing texture starts out feeling rather stiff, almost tough, but manages to break apart after a few chews. From that point, it seems chew down moderately easy, and by the times its rendered into a soft mass, it feels somewhat steak-like and somewhat crumbly.
I don't see any bits of fat on these strips, and no gristle or tendon. I did not encounter any stringiness or unchewable wads.
As for clean eating, it's mostly clean. My fingers do pick up a fine stickiness, but not enough to require a licking and wiping before touching the keyboard.
Wild Bill's sells this Teriyaki beef jerky from its website at a price of $5.25 for a 3oz package. No shipping fees were noted. If you bought six packages, it would work out to a price of $1.75 per ounce.
For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.75 per ounce price, it's a decent value. I'm getting a satisfactory flavor, a decent meat consistency, and fair chewing texture. Compared to other major brands of jerky sold in stores, it has a similar snackability for a similar price.
As a teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $1.75 per ounce price, it's a fair value. I don't find this as authentic teriyaki, it's really just sweetened soy sauce, without regard to the other components that define quality teriyaki. But, it seems comparable to the other major brands.
Rating
I'm giving this an average rating.
This Teriyaki Beef Jerky from Wild Bill's actually packs in a lot of flavor, generating enough snackability through a pleasing taste and good meat consistency to keep me eating more.
The teriyaki flavor in this, however, doesn't quite meet my expectations of what I consider to be good teriyaki, this tastes more like sweetened soy sauce. But if I take it at face value, it's still a good flavor mixing together sweet, soy sauce, garlic, onion, black pepper, and a touch of natural meat flavor.
The meat consistency is good in terms of being all meat with no fat or chewy tissues. However, it's somewhat tough, and some pieces were actually brittle to a degree. That tougher, brittle texture made it feel somewhat crumbly, taking something away from its steak-like chewing.
Rating: Average
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