Buffalo Bob's Jerky - Exotic Meats

Buffalo Bob's is a brand owned by Mark Matthews, based out of Petaluma, CA. The brand's has enjoyed some great success developing a line of exotic meat jerky pressed into long strips that sell anywhere from $1.00 to $2.00 at country stores and other retail markets all across the country.

The jerky is manufactured by Zick's Specialty Meats, Inc., based out of Berrien Springs, MI, but the two companies are separately owned entities. The popularity of the brand stems from the low price and the novelty of exotic meats.

Buffalo Bob's Jerky is all chopped and formed and mixed with beef. It all comes pressed into these long strips.

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House of Jerky - Western Ostrich

House of Jerky is a brand you'll often find along roadside stands and in specialy shops nestled inside touristy areas. It's a husband-and-wife business that has grown to become well respected among beef jerky afficionados. The company makes jerky from a wide variety of animals, including ostrich.

Ostrich grew quickly in popularity because it was seen as a way to produce leaner red meat, that tastes very much like beef, but with less cost. Ostrich produces more meat for less feed compared to cattle. On top of that, ostrich hide produces a more durable leather than cattle, and in fact the hide is the primary use of farm-raised ostrich, with meat being second. The economics were such that it spurned the growth of small family-run ostrich farms all over the country.

Because ostrich is so much more lean than beef, it tends to be more tough.

But for whatever the reasons are, ostrich is still an exotic meat, and is something you rarely see sold in mainstream restaurants and grocery stores.

Ingredients

Ostrich, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, white pepper.

Taste

The first tastes that come out of this is the black pepper, a sweetness, and the smokiness. The soy sauce makes itself known after a few chews, and then from behind those layers of flavorings, the natural meat taste comes out.

Even though the package doesn't label this as being a black pepper variety, this is effectively what this is. The liberal spread of black pepper on these pieces gives it a strong peppery taste that perhaps overshadows the ostrich flavor. If you love peppered jerky (which I do), you'll love this.

The natural meat flavors can be tasted in this, but with the way ostrich is, it's tastes very much like beef. I'll go on to say that the meat flavors are more subtle in this jerky than with House of Jerky's beef varieties. I think that is largely due to ostrich being so much more lean than beef; I tend to believe the real flavor that Americans love about beef is the marbilization of fat.

Being free of preservatives, this jerky still retains a fresh taste.

Overall, this ostrich is packed tightly with flavor, just as with all of House of Jerky's varieties. I keep getting lots of flavor as I continue to chew a piece. I find this particularly enjoyable just softening up a piece in my mouth for 30 seconds, and then chewing lightly and extracting the juices.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be real cuts of meat, sliced thin, and in small, medium, and large sized pieces.

This is mostly a dry jerky, but with a layer of stickiness due to the brown sugar and teriyaki sauce. The pieces tear apart easily, some maybe with a little more effort, and they chew fairly easily.

I didn't find any amount of fat, tendon, or gristle on these pieces.

Overall, the meat consistency is such that it provides an excellent eating experience, allowing you to put all of your attention on the flavor.




Snack Value

House of Jerky sells this online at a price of $13.50 for a 4oz bag. That works out to $3.38 per oz. That price includes the shipping.

As an ostrich jerky, at the $3.38 price per ounce, it offers a good value. I'm getting a good deal of snackability out of this for a good overall flavor, good meat consistency and chewing texture. I'm picking up some natural meat flavors, though it still seems to taste like beef. But considering ostrich jerky is not nearly as common as beef jerky, it's still a good jerky for the money.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

House of Jerky has obviously found a great recipe for success with its jerky, and this ostrich variety carries that on. It's packed with flavor, it's easy to tear apart and chew, and retains some good natural meat flavors. The fact that it's free of preservatives and still offers a fresh taste is a bonus.

Even though the combination of black pepper, soy sauce, and sugar is a very common seasoning blend, there is so much taste packed into these pieces of meat that I didn't necessarily find this to be ordinary.

Rating: Best (5/5)

Originally reviewed: July 2, 2008

Buy this online:

• https://www.houseofjerky.net

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Big Bird Jerky - Ostrich Biltong - Western

There's an ostrich farm just on the outskirts of Escondido, CA, south of where I live, and there's also a number of roadside stands around there selling this brand of Big Bird Jerky. I don't know if the farm is behind the Big Bird brand, however.

The brand is apparently owned by Stehly Ranch and Feeding Co., based out of Chowchilla, CA. A lookup of the company shows that it's a one-man operation. I tried to call him up, but got no answer. The jerky itself is manufactured by Glenoaks Foods, Inc., based out of Sun Valley, CA. Glenoaks owns the J.C. Rivers brand of jerky, and they also make the Ring of Fire brand of jerky that I reviewed earlier.

Interestingly, this package of Big Bird Jerky has the words "Ostrich Biltong" on it. If you read my previous review of Big Bird's teriyaki variety of the same, you'll know that I really didn't find anything about this resembling true biltong, though I'll condition that by saying the lines separating biltong from jerky are blurred. I think however, ostrich is perhaps more associated with biltong than it is with jerky.

Ingredients

Ostrich, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, white pepper.

Taste

The taste I get from the surface of these pieces starts with a slight sweetness, followed by a faint bit of the soy sauce. Moving into the chew, the black pepper comes through first, with some natural meat flavors coming next. Sucking out some of the juices, I can get more soy sauce flavor.

Overall, it's a tasty jerky, with a good concentration of flavor. But I'm not sure I'd call this biltong. This has a very classic jerky taste, nothing that resembles biltong.

Being that this is advertised as a "Western" variety of jerky, it's difficult to determine what exactly it ought to taste like. But as with the "cowboy style" of jerky, it should have an intense flavor, lots of salt, smoke, garlic, pepper, and natural meat flavors. You gotta figure the cowboys and lawmen of the old west era had burnt out their tastebuds from too much tobacco and whiskey. So they need a jerky that offers a ton of taste.

While this jerky is indeed peppery, and has a good deal of soy sauce flavor, it's light on everything else. I'd say the soy sauce is the primary flavor of this jerky, followed by the pepper, and then I'd give the surface sweetness the third most prominent taste.

The natural meat flavors are slight, and being preservative free, it's still a fresh taste. Ostrich tastes pretty much like beef, it's just lower in fat. But still, considering it's ostrich, you'd expect to get a lot of natural meat flavors just so that you can enjoy ostrich. Otherwise, why would anyone buy it? It is indeed lower in fat, but in this 1 ounce package you won't realize much health advantages.

The saltiness is moderate at best. The garlic powder mentioned in the ingredients list is also very slight, I don't really taste much of it, except maybe as part of the soy sauce. I don't even get much smokiness.

Overall, it's another good tasting jerky, nothing bad to report here. But it's another jerky that doesn't really come out and grab my attention. It's mostly a novelty jerky for being ostrich and being labeled as "biltong".

Meat Consistency

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

This is a dry jerky, but one that retains a lot of flexibility. It also requires a bit of effort to tear off a strip, and is somewhat on the chewy side.

It doesn't quite provide a chewing experience like a real steak, but it's not mushy at all. Instead, it gets slightly gummy.

It's for the most part a clean jerky, leaving no residue on my fingers, but it does drop a fair amount of black pepper resulting from the effort exerted in tearing off a strip.

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




Product Value

I paid $3.49 for this 1 ounce package at a roadside stand located between Valley Center and Escondido, CA, along Valley Center Pkwy. That makes this a very expensive jerky.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a poor value. And that's largely due to its high price. Otherwise, it provides a good taste, and I actually do find it snackable. The meat consistency is ok, though somewhat tough, and somewhat gummy.

For being advertised as biltong, it's a poor value. I don't really see this as biltong, everything here suggests it as classic jerky in both taste and consistency.

Even as a western style of jerky, it's a poor value because I don't quite see this having the "western" or "cowboy style" characteristics that other similarly named jerkies have.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

I actually rated this one notch higher than the brand's teriyaki variety, and that's only because this provides more taste with the black pepper and soy sauce. Aside from that, I think this jerky really misses the mark for being advertised as biltong, and doesn't quite live up to my expectations as a "western style" of jerky. The meat consistency is also not that great.

I could have given it a good rating if it only had more natural meat flavor.

But it's still a tasty jerky for its black pepper and soy sauce, and it's also preservative free if that's important to you. But unless you can find this priced in the low $1.00 range, I wouldn't buy it again.

But if you happen to have some of this jerky, my beer recommendation is a brown ale.

Rating: Average

Where to buy:

• Good luck finding it!

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Big Bird Jerky - Ostrich Biltong - Teriyaki

Big Bird Jerky is a brand of Stehly Ranch and Feeding Co., of Chowchilla, CA. They're behind this line of Ostrich Biltong which I've seen around in many places here in Southern California.

Biltong is of course, an African version of jerky. It can be made from any meat, and can involve any variety of seasonings. The difference is largely in the cure, where biltong relies on vinegar, jerky tends to rely on salt. Coriander is a popular spice used in biltong, yet is not often used in jerky. Salt is often used in biltong, but mainly as a taste as opposed to a preservative. Biltong is typically cut into very thick strips, whereas jerky is largely sliced into slabs.

In looking at the ingredients list for brand of biltong, I don't really see vinegar mentioned, except as included within in the soy sauce. Moreover, I don't see coriander either. It appears to be standard ostrich jerky, but advertised as "biltong" perhaps to help Stehly Ranch corner the biltong market.

Ingredients

Ostrich, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic, powder ginger.

Taste

There's a slight sweetness that hits my tongue immediately, and then the teriyaki flavoring comes on soon after that. Going into the chew, I get a taste of the natural meat flavors, and a slight bit of saltiness.

For being a teriyaki variety, this has a mild teriyaki taste. There's enough of it there to definitely be called teriyaki, but not overpowering. Moreover, it's clearly teriyaki as opposed to being soy sauce with sugar added.

The natural meat flavors of the ostrich are there, but not very strong either. It's mild tasting meat flavor. Ostrich generally tastes very much like beef, but is much more lean. You're largely eating ostrich for its leanness.

As for the other seasonings mentioned in the ingredients list, they too are very subtle. I don't really taste any of the black pepper. I don't really notice much of the garlic. The ginger is noticeable, mostly as a component of the teriyaki.

This biltong is largely bland. The dominant taste in this is the teriyaki sauce from the surface of these pieces. Moving into the chew, the teriyaki gives way, and I can actually taste more of the ginger. But the taste that dominates the chew is the natural meat flavors. Still, all of the flavors are mild; you're not getting anything here that knocks you on your butt.

Meat Consistency

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

This is largely a dry biltong, with a sticky layering of teriyaki sauce. Tearing a piece apart takes a bit of elbow grease, but isn't really all that bad. Chewing is a little tough. But overall, I don't find this consistency to get in the way of enjoying the flavors.

Some of these pieces, mainly the thinner sliced ones, have a rubbery-like flexibility.

I don't see any bits of fat, tendon, gristle, or connective tissue. It's just pure meat.

Overall, it's a good meat consistency.




Product Value

I paid $5.99 for this 2 ounce package at a roadside fruit stand just south of Valley Center, CA. That works out to a price of $3.00 per ounce, making this very expensive.

For that price, this has a poor value. First, the natural meat flavors are weak, I don't get a strong taste. It's largely bland on taste. And most importantly, this doesn't taste like biltong. It's just plain ostrich jerky.

As a teriyaki variety, it's also a poor value, because while this product does give out a decent teriyaki taste, paying $3.00 per ounce just to get a teriyaki fix is still way too expensive.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

This ostrich biltong is not really biltong at all, but ostrich jerky. This doesn't appear to have been cured through vinegar, just salted and dehydrated. Had they advertised this as jerky, I might have given it a higher rating.

Moreover, it doesn't offer much on taste. I can get a decent taste of teriyaki and some taste of the natural meat flavors, but it's still largely a bland snack. That takes a lot away from its snackability.

However, it's not bad by any means. Just not anything exciting, and not anything resembling biltong.

A good wheat beer, or hefeweizen, might pair well with the sweetness of the teriyaki flavor.

Rating: Fair

Where to buy:

• Good luck finding it!

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OSTRIM Jerkee - Pepper

OSTRIM is the brand name for an ostrich/beef blend of jerky, produced by Protos, Inc. of Greensburg, PA. The product has been on the market since 1997.

It's marketed as a sports snack, and advertised to fitness buffs and body builders. You typically find it in stores that offer healthy foods, vitamins, and diet aids.

The package says it's "95% Fat Free" and that it's a "High Protein Snack". The company's website shows photos of young good looking men and women exercising and buring off fat. Even the name, "OSTRIM" contains the word "trim" suggesting it's something to keep you looking your best.

Interestingly, OSTRIM is probably the only meat jerky I've seen thus far containing non-fat dry milk.

Ingredients

Beef, ostrich, filtered water, nonfat dry milk, and contains 2% or less of salt, citric acid, potassium chloride, potassium lactate, natural flavor, sodium, erythorbate, sodium nitrite, sucralose.

Taste

It has something of a salty taste right away, as well as a smoky taste. There is also a slight bit of a tangy taste in the chew. Finally, I can get a wee bit of the natural meat flavors.

The predominant taste in this is the salt and smoke. It's not overly salty, but enough to drown out every other taste in this. The smokiness is mild.

The natural meat flavors are hard to find in this. I pretty much had to think about what I was tasting in order to find the meat flavors. It's easy to confuse the smoke flavor for being a meat flavor.

As a pepper flavored variety, I don't taste any pepper. It's worth noting that the package does not describe this as "peppered", but rather "pepper flavor". But it might be better to advertise this as a "salty & smoky" variety instead. Perhaps if I compared this to their regular variety, I could find the pepper flavor.

This jerky tastes very much like your garden variety chopped & formed jerky, except it's rather limited to a salt and smoke flavor. It's not a bad tasting product, but not very inspiring either.

Meat Consistency

This is a chopped & formed jerky, molded into strips of about 10" in length and about 1/2 inch in width.

It's rather dry, and somewhat brittle. You couldn't bite through this like a meat stick, it's too hard. Instead, grab the end with your canine tooth, and pull the stick away. It breaks off somewhat easy.

For being chopped & formed, it's got a meaty texture. I couldn't find any tiny bits of hard stuff like ground bone. And it's rather dry to the touch as opposed to being greasy like other chopped & formed jerky.

Overall, the meat consistency is good for being a chopped & formed product. I'd call it great if it were softer, and easier to tear off.




Product Value

I paid $1.75 for a 1.05oz package at a Smoothie King in Murrieta, CA. That works out to a price of $1.67 per ounce, putting this in the average price range for jerky.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it has a so-so value. It doesn't offer much on taste aside for salty and smoky, very little meat flavor, and somewhat tough to tear apart. It offers only a little snackability.

As a "health jerky", or as a low fat, high protein snack, it has a so-so value as well. If you look at the nutrition facts below, you'll see that it does offer some advantages over most standard jerky, but not a significant advantage. In fact, if you compare this to Wal-Mart's own store brand of peppered beef jerky, you'll see that it's comparable with OSTRIM, with Wal-Mart being lower in fat, but higher in carbs, the same cholesterol, the same protein, and higher in calories. But Wal-Mart is twice as cheap, and tastes better.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

What this pepper flavor of OSTRIM Jerkee provides is a good taste of salt and smoky flavor. While it doesn't taste bad, it doesn't offer much great taste either. It doesn't even live up to its "pepper flavor" advertisement.

Even as a healthy alternative to standard jerky, it's weak. You can find plenty of beef jerky out there that will provide even less fat per serving, the same protein, and the same cholesterol. I do agree however, the OSTRIM is very low in carbs, about 2gm versus 3-6gm for standard jerky, and lower in calories than most jerky. But is that enough to justify the lack of taste?

That's why OSTRIM is marketed as a sports snack and muscle builder. You're not supposed to like the way it tastes, you're just supposed to eat it and feel as if you're doing something good. Personally, I'll take that bag of Wal-Mart Peppered Beef Jerky instead.

As for my beer recommendation? Come on, you don't suck down a beer after working out do you? Ok, how about a Bud Light Lime?

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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