Crazy Cow Jerky - Spicy Hot Ginger

Crazy Cow Jerky is a brand of MadCow Beef Jerky Co., based out of Carmichael, CA. The company, started by Lon McPherson in 2007, has grown throughout Northern California filling store shelves in several high profile outlets including Raleys, Bel Air, Nugget Markets, and others.

The brand's jerky is made from top round beef and contains no preservatives, MSG, or "unpronounceable ingredients" as McPherson states. They currently offer five flavors, including their signature flavor "Cowafornia", which we'll be reviewing later.

This Spicy Hot Ginger variety is described by Crazy Cow as being "perfect for those that want a little tingle on their tongue".

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, water, red pepper flakes, ginger, black pepper.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a moderately salty soy sauce flavor. There's a touch of sweet hidden in there, and faint notes of ginger. A tiny bit of heat raises its head.

The chewing flavor brings in a more defined teriyaki flavor along with an increased ginger. There's a little bit more sweetness coming in, along with a light chile pepper flavor, and a light natural meat flavor. The heat continues to increase while a spicy black pepper becomes noticeable.

For being labeled, "Spicy Hot Ginger", this seems to hold up. I definitely get a spiciness from the chile pepper and black pepper flavors, as well as a noticeable level of heat. The ginger is also easily identifiable, adding to the spiciness and creating some tangy, pungent contrast to the teriyaki.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky is primarily the teriyaki sauce. It actually starts out as a soy sauce flavor, and then takes shape as teriyaki once the wine and sweetness comes in. The ginger is next most noticeable, and actually adds to the teriyaki to create a more authentic Japanese flavor, though is stronger than typical Japanese-style teriyaki. The chile pepper flavor rounds out the next most influential flavor component.

The natural meat flavor and black pepper are light, or very light, but still just enough flavor to highlight the overall taste.

The level of burn in this rises up to a medium rating (level 3 out of 5) on my personal heat scale.

Overall, it's very flavor-packed jerky, marked primarily by a teriyaki sauce, a noticeable ginger, and some nice chile pepper flavor and heat.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs of thin to medium thickness, and in small to medium sizes.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. There's a little bit of flexibility in these pieces, though they're mostly stiff. Chewing seems overall easy, with a little bit of chewiness.

The chewing texture starts out feeling dry and stiff, with a little bit of initial chewing resistance. It breaks down after a few chews and then takes on a meaty feel. By the time it breaks down to a soft mass, it feels meaty, though not exactly steak-like. It tends to feel crumbly a touch.

I don't see any bits or streaks of fat, gristle, or tendon. I encounter only minimal stringiness, and no unchewable wads of tissue.

As for clean eating, it's very clean, leaving no residue on my fingers, though light bits of seasoning and meat on my desk.

Snack Value

Crazy Cow Jerky sells this Spicy Hot Ginger beef jerky from its website at a price of $5.99 per 3oz package. If you buy a box of 15, you get free shipping, and would work out to a price of $1.99 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.99 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting some good flavor, a great meat consistency, and decent chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold in stores, this provides better flavor, better meat consistency, though comparable chewing.

As a Spicy Hot Ginger beef jerky, at the same $1.99 per ounce price, it's a good value as well, providing plenty of its marketed flavor with a medium level of heat, a nice spice blend, and fair amount of ginger flavor.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Spicy Hot Ginger beef jerky from Crazy Cow is packed with flavor, starting with a teriyaki sauce base a little more weighted on soy sauce, and then bolstered with a seasoning blend of red pepper, black pepper, and ginger.

The medium level of burn meets the tangy, pungent ginger, delivering on this jerky's advertised flavor, but creates much of its savory snacking satisfaction with a good teriyaki marinade. The natural meat flavors seem quite faint in this, but are there just enough to keep it tasting like jerky.

While the meat consistency is pretty good with its slices of pure meat and easy chewing, the chewing texture didn't fully feel like real pieces of steak. It still had a meaty feel however, just more dry and slightly crumbly.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://crazycowjerky.com/