Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Cut & Dried Gourmet - Biltong

cut and dried gourmet
Cut & Dried Gourmet was founded by Stephen Kerford in 2014, based out of San Francisco, CA. Kerford had been managing the e-commerce businesses of Hearst Ranch and Niman Ranch.

He had been making "private reserve" batches of biltong while at both ranches. Stephen extended the practice of making biltong into his new company, Cut & Dried Gourmet.

The company currently offers three varieties of biltong, a "Natural Beef Biltong", a "Peri Peri Biltong" described as spicy, and a "Cajun Biltong".

Natural Beef Biltong


Ingredients: Premium Beef, cider vinegar, sea salt, black peppercorn, coriander, spices, sodium bi-carbonate.

The first flavors to hit the palate is a mild vinegar flavor, light saltiness, and a light coriander. Much of the same flavors are brought through the chewing. Here and there, I can get bursts of natural meat flavor along with some of the spots of fat. There's also a faint black pepper in the background.

How this biltong could be described is more of a mild tasting variety than compared to other brands I've reviewed. The light vinegar and coriander is really what drives much of the flavor, while the natural meat flavor and the faint black pepper completes the rest.

The meat consistency is classic biltong, thin sliced, bite sized pieces, with a slight bit of moisture, enough to create an easy chewing that eventually melts in your mouth. There's very light streaks of fat, just enough to add to the overall flavor, and even provide a little extra boost in taste.

Overall, it's a very delicious meat snacking experience that provides the classic flavor of biltong. It's very mild for all tolerance levels, and generates enough flavor to keep you reaching for more.

Rating: Good

Peri Peri Biltong


Ingredients: Premium Beef, cider vinegar, sea salt, black peppercorn, coriander, spices, sodium bi-carbonate.

The first flavors to his the palate are a mild vinegar flavor, a moderate saltiness, and a light coriander, much like the Natural Beef Biltong. There's a faint spicy tingle in the background. The natural meat flavors comes on in the chewing along with a touch of black pepper.

This Peri Peri variety actually tastes almost exactly like the Natural Beef Biltong reviewed above with the exception of a slightly higher saltiness, and perhaps a touch more garlic. I'm guessing there's cayenne in this, but it's doesn't really offer any flavor, just a light bit of heat.

The level of heat in this feels lights, like a mild-medium on my personal heat scale (level 2 out of 5).

The meat consistency is much like the Natural Beef Biltong, a classic biltong feel, thin sliced, bite sized pieces, with a slight bit of moisture, enough to create an easy chewing that eventually melts in your mouth. There's very light streaks of fat, just enough to add to the overall flavor, and even provide a little extra boost in taste.

Overall, you're getting a bit more salt and garlic with this Peri Peri than the Natural Beef Biltong, and a light bit of heat.

Rating: Good


biltong

biltong


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