Gourmet Jerky - Natural Turkey

Gourmet Jerky is a brand of jerky produced by the company of the same name, based out of Claremont, CA. It's been in operation since 1992. Their focus is on making "mouth-watering jerky products to the world's most discriminating customers", placing customer satisfaction as their number one concern.

The brand uses no sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate, and no sugar.

Their jerky is sold in specialty shops and farmer's markets throughout Southern California, as well as through their website.

Ingredients

Turkey, soy sauce, water, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper.

Taste

I get a slight soy sauce taste right off the surface, followed by a black pepper taste, and then by some turkey taste. Going into some chewing, I can pick up more of the turkey flavor, while the black pepper continues to work on my palate. In the background, I can maybe sense some of the garlic, and feel a very slight spiciness.

Turkey jerky continues to enjoy a strong following in this country, I think mainly because people think it's more healthy than beef jerky. But in fact, it really isn't, mainly because beef jerky is already extremely lean, and offers about the same amount of fat and cholesterol. Therefore, you buy turkey jerky for the taste of turkey.

And the taste of turkey is definitely what I get in this variety from Gourmet Jerky. It has a rather fresh taste that reminds me of a piece of breast meat straight from the dinner table. For the most part, it's the dominant flavor of this jerky, which I was even able to pick up from the surface of the pieces as well.

Salt is perhaps the second strongest flavor, but is not overly salty, it's about just right for my preference. The black pepper is noticeable, and I'd say is the third strongest flavor. Those two seem to do a great job of coloring the natural turkey flavors into something more snack-worthy.

That soy sauce flavor I described at the top only seems to be there initially, from the surface, and doesn't really last throughout the chew. Or perhaps put another way, the soy sauce seems to migrate into a salt taste within a matter of seconds.

That slight spicy tingle I also mentioned continues to be there in the background, but doesn't really have any specific taste to it. It just seems to be there to provide some "life" to this jerky. On a hot factor, I'd still rate this jerky as mild.

Overall, this is a great tasting turkey jerky that gives you a strong turkey flavor, and highlights it with some seasonings.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in medium to large pieces.

This is a thin dry jerky, being fairly brittle, but still having some degree of flexibility. If bent too far, they crack and break. For that matter, it's very easy to tear or break off a piece, and easy to chew.

It's also a clean jerky, leaving no sticky, oily, or powdery residue on my fingers.

I found no amounts of fat, tendon, gristle, or connective tissue on these pieces either.




Product Value

Gourmet Jerky sells this Natural Turkey Jerky variety from its website at a price of $7.00 for a 4 ounce package. That works out to a price of $1.75 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this offers a great value because of its great taste and great meat consistency. It makes it highly snackable.

As a turkey jerky, it's also a great value because of its strong turkey flavor that tastes fresh, and resembling a real piece of turkey breast meat.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This Natural Turkey variety from Gourmet Jerky does an excellent job of emphasizing the natural meat flavors of turkey, one by giving you a strong taste of turkey, and two by using the right amount of seasonings that add interest to the meat without overpowering it. It also has an excellent meat consistency making it easy to enjoy.

I'll also note that there's no added sugar in this, which will satisfy some of the jerky purists out there, and helps keep the calories down.

A good beer with this would be a wheat beer (hefeweizen).

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.thegourmetjerky.com

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Gourmet Jerky - Teriyaki Beef Jerky

Gourmet Jerky is a brand of jerky produced by the company of the same name, based out of Claremont, CA. It's been in operation since 1992. Their focus is on making "mouth-watering jerky products to the world's most discriminating customers", placing customer satisfaction as their number one concern.

The brand uses no sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate, and no sugar.

Their jerky is sold in specialty shops and farmer's markets throughout Southern California, as well as through their website.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, soy sauce, honey, red pepper, white pepper.

Taste

A good deal of sweetness is what I taste right away off the surface, which migrates into something a little bit more like teriyaki. Moving into the chew, I continue to taste the same thing, plus some additional fatty taste.

As you can see in the photos below, there's quite a bit of fat marbilization on these slices. I get a good deal of that fatty taste. It doesn't have a rancid taste, however. I actually do like having some fat in jerky, but in such heavy quantities as this, it gives the jerky a less than desirable experience. I can feel a coating of grease in my mouth.

But there are other pieces in this package that have very little fat, or none visible at all. I do pick up some of the natural meat flavors in this, though the heavy sweetness masks some of those flavors. Being free of preservatives, I don't pick up any kind of stale taste.

For being a teriyaki variety, there is a resemblance of teriyaki, but it's a very sweet one. For the most part, it's a heavily sweetened soy sauce taste. I don't taste any ginger, which I feel is a necessary component of teriyaki, and in fact it's missing on the ingredients list.

The saltiness is very light. The red and white pepper in the ingredients list don't really make a showing in this. It's completely mild.

For the most part, what I'm eating is a sugar jerky, with a slight taste of teriyaki, and just a wee bit of the natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in medium to large pieces.

It's largely a thin dry jerky, except these have a moist sticky coating on the outside. This teriyaki variety doesn't have the slight bit of crunchiness that the company's natural variety has, mostly because of that moist sticky coating. The pieces with a lot of fat marbilization also have an oily touch.

It's very easy to tear off a piece, and easy to chew.

In addition to the heavy fat marbilization on some pieces, I also found one piece with a thin streak of gristle. It still chewed ok, however. I didn't find any other tendon or connective tissue.




Product Value

Gourmet Jerky sell this Natural Beef Jerky variety from its website at a price of $7.00 for a 4 ounce package. That works out to a price of $1.75 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it offers an "ok" value. It still presents a snackability with the ease of eating, and the fact that it doesn't have a bad taste. If you love sweet jerky, then you'll find this to have a greater snackability.

But as a teriyaki variety, it has a weak value. I get just a bit of teriyaki taste, and a bunch of sugary sweetness. I might even question that what I'm tasting is actually a sweet-salty combination as opposed to sweet-soy sauce.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

Despite all I've written, it still presents a snackability, which guarantees at least an average rating. And being that jerky is first and foremost a snack food, this teriyaki variety from Gourmet Jerky holds up to that basic standard. It's ease in eating is largely what has me reaching for more, rather than it's taste.

But it doesn't taste bad however. It's just largely a sweetened soy sauce taste, that's heavy on the sweetened part. Those pieces with the excessive amounts of fat do drag down the taste, although.

The reason why I can't give this a higher rating is largely because I don't see this as having a teriyaki taste in any significant amount. It's mostly just sugar I'm tasting. Also because the natural meat flavors are hard to find in this.

A good beer with this is a pungent, hoppy, IPA.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.thegourmetjerky.com

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Gourmet Jerky - Natural Beef Jerky

Gourmet Jerky is the name of a beef jerky manufacturer based in Claremont, CA. It's been in operation since 1992. Their focus is on making "mouth-watering jerky products to the world's most discriminating customers", placing customer satisfaction as their number one concern.

The brand uses no sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate, and no sugar.

Their jerky is sold in specialty shops and farmer's markets throughout Southern California, as well as through their website.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, water, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper.

Taste

Most of the flavor from this jerky comes from the chew; there isn't much surface taste from this to enjoy. When I pop a piece into my mouth and suck on it for awhile, all I got is a slight smoky flavor. Then as soon as I chew down, the natural meat flavors leach out along with a bit of saltiness.

Black pepper is another flavor that I get, but it's presence seems to vary. It's mostly when my teeth crack open a pepper chunk that I get a burst of peppery flavor. After several pieces, I'm getting a good black pepper aftertaste.

There's also a bit of spiciness to this, as evidenced by the red pepper listed in the ingredients list. It's only slight, however. I feel just a bit of a burn in the back of my tongue, but I'd rate this as mild, or perhaps mild-medium, for those of you with tender tongues.

The natural meat flavors is largely what dominates the taste of this jerky. It has a taste that's very similar to a grilled steak, like a rib eye or porterhouse. And for being void of preservatives, it retains a fresh taste.

As for the other seasonings listed in the ingredients, there's perhaps only a slight presence. The soy sauce is detectable, but is largely represented as a saltiness. The garlic and onion powder is perhaps not well noticed on their own, but contribute to the overall flavor of this jerky.

And as for the saltiness, I don't see this jerky as being salty by any means. There's just enough in there to enhance the natural meat flavors.

Overall, it's a very tasty jerky that largely emphasizes the great taste of real beef, and throws in the added taste dimension of black pepper, and a bit of red pepper kick.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in medium to large sized pieces.

This is a thin and dry type of jerky, one that is a little bit brittle. It's very easy to tear a piece apart and very easy to chew. It has a crunchy nature to it that adds to the overall snacking satisfaction.

This jerky is also a little oily to the touch. It leaves a thin film of oil on my fingers. It's perhaps due to the vacuum sealed package drawing the oil up from the meat.

The meat itself appears to be pretty lean. I found no chunks of fat, though I can see some decent marbilization. But nothing chewy in the way of tendon or gristle.

Overall it's a great meat consistency.




Product Value

Gourmet Jerky sell this Natural Beef Jerky variety from its website at a price of $7.00 for a 4 ounce package. That works out to a price of $1.75 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes this offers a great value at this price. It's very snackable with its emphasis on natural meat flavors, enhanced with salt, red and black pepper, along with a great meat consistency that offers a bit of crunchiness.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

I really liked the strong natural meat flavors that come out in this highlighted by the seasonings. The soy sauce, red & black pepper, garlic and onion make just enough of a presence to give you some added enjoyment. And the bit of crunchiness that I mentioned actually provides some extra snacking satisfaction.

However, I just felt that it was still rather light on seasonings, hence why I didn't give this a higher rating. When I popped a piece into my mouth, I really didn't get much flavor at all until I started chewing. I'd like to get something that goes right to work on my palate.

Simplicity is a word that comes to me with this jerky. Folks who don't like sugar in their jerky will really like this stuff.

A creamy stout beer would go nice with this.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.thegourmetjerky.com

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