Bovino Crispy Grass-Fed Beef Jerky is a new beef jerky brand that launched in 2017 by Trisha Paternite based out of San Francisco, CA. It's thin-style jerky for those who like it dry and crispy.
The idea came about when Trisha and her husband would frequently visit his Dad in Cleveland, OH and enjoy samples of his homemade jerky. Whey they brought some of it home to their friends in California, and learned how so many people craved it, they realized there was a business waiting to happen. Trisha and her husband took his Dad's recipe, but sliced it more thin with the idea of making it crispy. Since then, their business has been one of those worthy enough to make it into La Cocina, San Francisco's food-business incubator, and are currently selling it from their website.
Bovino Crispy Grass-Fed Beef Jerky is marked as, "no sugar", "no preservatives", and "gluten-free", along with, of course, "grass fed". It also uses all organic ingredients, though at this time it's not marked with a certified-organic label.
Ingredients
Organically raised 100% grass-fed beef, tamari, apple cider vinegar, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, sage, black pepper, cayenne
Review
The first flavors to show up on the tongue is a light natural meat flavor, followed by a light salt and garlic. The chewing brings on the tamari sauce, and a significant black pepper. A complex seasoning blend, similar to Allspice, comes in. The natural meat flavors pick up towards the end, while a light spiciness starts to roll in.
For being marketed as a thin and crispy style, it's definitely thin and crispy. It's not hard-crispy like a tortilla chip, but more delicate, like a thin-sliced potato chip, perhaps closer to a baked potato chip than fried. The texture is initially crumbly, yet just into the first few chews, it meshes together like real meat, and by the time it's chewed down soft, takes on a steak-like texture.
Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a dried, crispy natural meat flavor, perhaps closer to roasted beef, but well seasoned most notably with salt, garlic, and black pepper, but definitely having some additional spices. There's a light level of heat in this, rating as "mild medium" on our heat scale (level 2/5).
The meat consistency looks well-marbled, comparable to beef round sliced against the grain. They're very to easy to chew, and as we noted above, takes on a steak-like texture once chewed down soft. No stringiness was noted, and nothing unchewable felt.
Verdict
Bovino Crispy Grass-Fed Beef Jerky is like crack for meat addicts. The crispy crunch from these thin slices of dried beef is light and soft, more like a delicate potato chip, yet it meshes together into a steak-like chewing texture once chewed down soft. The seasonings have enough of the familiar salt, garlic, and black pepper combo, yet throws in level of unexpected rosemary, thyme, sage, and marjoram to create a profile not found in any other brand. While it has a bit of spicy heat, it's not hot and still very much tolerable for most audiences. The absence of sugar is certainly noticeable for someone who eats a lot of different jerky brands, but is easily welcomed in the same way you'd eat a steak fresh off the grill. But being so dry and crispy, there's a lot of small bits of jerky that sits in the bottom of the package, but I found makes a great topping on steamed rice. And while they're available (currently) only in 1 ounce packages, there's actually a fair amount of pieces due to how light each piece is.
Rating: Best (5/5)
Excellent and very thorough review Steve. We're glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteWould love to get this but it's 4.50 for just shipping.... Is there anywhere to buy local?
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley. We are happy to give new customers free shipping. Contact us for the discount code.
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