At the time, Joe had been making his own jerky for over 20 years. He's share it with friends and co-workers from his contracting business. When Traci lost her secretarial position, the couple decided to make a go at running a jerky company. I have all four of the existing flavors, starting with this "Regular Joe".
The company describes it as, "This is no regular jerky", and claiming that it has, "a ton of flavor without the spice".
Ingredients
Beef, marinade (soy sauce, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, mirin, water, dehydrated garlic, spice, modified corn starch, sunflower oil), marinade (soy sauce, rehydrated onions, garic, caramel, vinegar, apple juice concentrate, carrots, celery, cabbage, parsley, turnips, parsnips, natural flavors, citric acid, malic acid).
Review
The first flavors I pick up on the palate is a noticeable sweet, with moderate salt, and a light soy sauce. The chewing brings on a bit more of the soy sauce, but mixes in something more like teriyaki, and shades of worcestershire. There's also a noticeable seasoning blend behind the scenes too complex to really dissect.
For being dubbed, "Regular Joe", it's not really all that regular. It actually has a good deal of flavor, and it's something that goes beyond the normal soy sauce-worcestershire-teriyaki blend. This stuff has a marinade flavor with hints of plum sauce, or maybe hoisin sauce, but still noticeably soy sauce. The seasoning blend is unlike the usual garlic-onion-pepper combo, and seemingly throws in a multitude of other flavors I don't often see from competing, "regular" brands.
The primary taste profile of this jerky starts with the soy sauce, but throws in some sweet, teriyaki, and worcestershire flavors, there's something uniquely Asian too, like the plum sauce or hoisin sauce I described above. It's mild in terms of spiciness, and average in terms of salt. I don't get much black pepper. I get a little more onion than garlic. Lastly, there's a light natural meat flavor that comes in the latter part of chewing, but also there's some noticeable fat flavors that mix in.
The meat consistency seems average compared to the large, national brands. I see a few spots of fat here and there, and I can even taste the flavor of fat in the chewing too. Chewing starts stiff and hard, slowly chewing down to something meaty, and somewhat steak-like. It's more like a steak cooked well done. I don't pick up much stringiness nor unchewable tissues.
Verdict
This "Regular Joe" from Joe's Wicked Beef Jerky actually stands out as something beyond regular. It has enough sweet, soy sauce, and seasonings, that it could be perceived as a bold-flavored Teriyaki variety, or something more vaguely named like, "Asian Style". In effect, it's like a soy-sauced jerky, but fixed up with lots of other flavors that it becomes interesting. The bits of fat I taste in the chewing actually add to the enjoyment, and make this taste more "real". Aside from the initial, tough chewing, it's actually a good overall jerky in terms of taste and meat consistency, and felt it was worthy of a five-star rating because it went above and beyond the call of "original".
Rating:
Best (5/5)Buy this online:
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I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.
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