World Kitchens - Hot & Spicy, 3.5oz

World Kitchens is one of those bargain brands of jerky that shows up in some grocery stores and convenience stores. They seem to be known mainly for their large 1 pound bags. I had actually reviewed their 1 pound bag of teriyaki jerky, which I gave a "dog treats" rating.

Last month, I found some smaller 3.5 ounce bags of World Kitchens at a QFC store in Seattle, WA, and noticed the meat consistency looked a lot different than the 1 pound bags. So I picked up a bag of the teriyaki and this hot & spicy. A couple of weeks ago, I gave the teriyaki variety a "fair" rating, an improvement over their 1 pound bag, on the basis that the flavor was better because of the different meat consistency.

Now, I wanted to continue with my review of their 3.5 ounce bags with this hot & spicy variety. I have to warn you that I am partial to hot & spicy jerky, so there's a good chance that this jerky might actually get a better rating.

Ingredients

Sliced beef, brown sugar, water, salt, red pepper, black pepper, papaya juice, garlic powder, monosodium glutamate, oregano, citric acid, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The flavors I pick up off the surface of these pieces starts off with fair amount of sweetness, and a good deal of red pepper taste. A spicy tingle is already building up in my mouth. I can even pick up some faint saltiness. Moving into the chewing, more of the salt leaches out, along with some black pepper taste.

I can tell you now that I'm liking this stuff better than the brand's teriyaki variety.

I get a clear, perhaps strong, red pepper taste. That is, not just the spicy bite of the red pepper, but the flavor of the red pepper. I'd rate the hotness as a mild-medium on a single piece basis, and building up to a medium over several pieces. Those of you with lesser-tolerable tongues might see this as medium to medium-hot.

The sweetness on the surface is enough that World Kitchens could legitimately market this as a sweet & spicy variety. But it's not overly sweet. It still seems to take a backseat to the red pepper. But combined with the red pepper taste, the sweetness creates an pleasing flavor for me.

The black pepper is also noticeable in this, mostly during the chewing. However, eventually the red pepper burn takes over and seems to mask the black pepper.

As for natural meat flavors, I don't taste any at all.

The level of saltiness doesn't taste all that high to me. I'd put it around moderate.

I don't really notice much garlic in this, but it seems like I can detect some traces of it in the background.

I find the red pepper making up the dominant taste of this jerky, followed by the sweetness, followed by the salt.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced into average thickness, in small to medium sized pieces. I'll note that there's probably a full ounce of smaller crumbled pieces in the bottom of the bag.

It's a dry jerky overall. The lone exeception was one medium sized piece that seemed out of place, being more moist, but having a different color, a different taste, and with no pieces of red pepper stuck to it.

The pieces break apart pretty easily by bending them with the grain. They chew and eat fairly easily as well. The chewing experience starts off with a crumbly nature, breaking up into chunks with little of the fibrous nature you expect with a steak. Once you get it hydrated enough, it takes on just some of the steak-like characteristics, but also a bit of a mushy nature too.

It's fairly clean eating, leaving no residue on my fingers, no fragments on my lap. But I did note that there are a lot of crumbled pieces in the bottom of the bag. I also found these pieces mostly lean, with no tendon, gristle, or connective tissue.




Snack Value

I paid $5.49 for this 3.5 ounce package at a QFC store in Seattle, WA. That works out to a price of $1.57 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it provides a good value. I really like the flavor of this hot & spicy variety, and I also found a great deal of flavor intensity. The chewing texture is subpar, but just as something to snack on, it provides a great deal of snackability for me.

As a hot & spicy variety, it's also a good value. If you can find this at a lower price, it only becomes a great value. Not only do I get a decent amount of hotness, but I also get a good deal of red pepper flavor.

Rating

I'm giving this jerky an average rating.

Even though I really like the flavor of this jerky, and appreciate the flavor intensity, and it seems to back up its "hot & spicy" advertisement, I'm still missing the natural meat flavors, and I'm still not thrilled about the chewing texture. But overall, it provides a great snackability with its delicious taste and easy to eat consistency.

It's that stronger red pepper taste, with its medium level hotness, and the moderate level sweetness that really did it in for me with the flavor. The addition of the black pepper taste, at least in the first couple of pieces, also adds some complexity to the taste. It would have been better to get some good meat flavor, but then again, for just general jerky snacking, it's good enough.

A good companion beer might be a honey blonde ale.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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World Kitchens - Teriyaki Beef Jerky, 3.5oz

During my visit up to Seattle earlier this month, I was walking through a QFC store to see what local brands of jerky they might have, and saw this 3.5 oz package of World Kitchens beef jerky. What really caught my eye was the pieces of meat viewable inside the package.

If you read my original review of World Kitchens that I did in May 2006, I gave them a dog treats rating. That was their "one pound" sized bag. The meat tasted somewhat rancid, as if it were mixed with some kind of internal organs, maybe liver, I dunno. I got the sense that it was a chunked beef jerky, because they were all small bite-sized chunks, but with other chopped stuff mixed in. The meat crumbled apart in my mouth, and didn't really give me a meat-like chewing satisfaction.

But this 3.5 oz bag had different looking meat inside. I'm not sure if the meat in this 3.5 oz bag is an updated meat consistency, or if it's always been different than their one pound bag. Nonetheless, it's a different jerky than the one I reviewed before.

Interestingly, there are two USDA Establishment numbers on this 3.5 oz bag, one for Knauss Foods, and another for Bruce Pac in Woodburn, OR. Bruce Pac is the actual distributor, and owner of the World Kitchens brand. This bag is also stamped, "Natural Style", where as the one pound bag I reviewed before doesn't have that stamp. But it's still stamped, "product of Brazil" on the bottom.

Ingredients

Sliced beef, water, brown sugar, sugar, salt, hydrolyzed soy protein, spice, papaya juice, vinegar, monosodium glutamate, powdered onion, powdered garlic, citric acid, soy sauce powder, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The tastes I pick up from the surface of these pieces is a medium level sweetness, and I think a hint of soy sauce flavor. Moving into the chewing, I can get more of a salty taste, and a pungent taste that resembles something of the ginger in teriyaki sauce.

Well, it's certainly a better jerky than the previous stuff I reviewed back in May 2006.

It doesn't have that liver-like meat taste that it used to have. In fact, it doesn't have any meat taste at all; I suppose that's better than tasting like liver. Well, I can taste some slight hints of meat, but it's something I have to think about to find.

In terms of teriyaki flavoring, I wouldn't totally consider this as having a teriyaki flavor. I can taste the sweet, and that pungent taste normally produced by ginger, and a slight bit of soy sauce. But I don't see those components marrying together as teriyaki. At least, if I were snacking on this as opposed to analyzing this, I wouldn't get the sense that I'm having teriyaki beef.

I'd say the dominant taste of this jerky is that pungent quality. I'm guessing that it's produced by the onion and ginger, or maybe in conjunction with another ingredient. But it's not a strong taste.

Coming in second, is the sweetness from the surface, and the third strongest flavor is that slight bit of soy sauce plus salt. And even in terms of saltiness, I don't really see this as being salty despite the 580mg of sodium per serving.

But all of those tastes are not strong. Overall, this jerky has a low-to-medium level flavor intensity. It doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't offer much enjoyment either.

Meat Consistency

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

This is a soft and tender style of jerky, with a slight bit of moisture. It's very easy to tear apart, particularly with the grain, and very easy to chew.

It has a rather mushy chewing texture, even the drier pieces tend to be more mushy than they are fibrous.

For the most part it's a clean jerky, leaving no residue on my fingers and no pieces on my lap. But I do note that there is a good deal of crumbled pieces sitting in the bottom of the bag.

I found no pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle.




Snack Value

I paid $5.49 for this 3.5 ounce package at a QFC store in Seattle, WA. That works out to a price of $1.57 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this offers a decent value for the price. But that's about all it offers, a decent amount of snacking value. It offers a low-to-medium level flavor intensity, and a lackluster chewing satisfaction. But overall, it doesn't taste bad.

As a teriyaki variety, it offers a poor value because I didn't get a sense of teriyaki flavor. If you're looking to spend money on a jerky that will give you a strong teriyaki flavor, you're not going to get much mileage from this.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

I think this 3.5 oz bag of World Kitchens teriyaki beef jerky is a better jerky than their one pound bag. I don't know if their one pound bag still has the same jerky that I reviewed two-and-a-half years ago, or if it's just like the stuff in this 3.5 oz bag. But overall I'd consider it below average in terms of taste and meat consistency. First, it doesn't offer much taste with its low-to-medium level flavor intensity. Second, it doesn't live up to its teriyaki advertisement. And third, it has a mushy chewing texture.

I could overlook the mushy chewing texture if the flavor was exceptional. But considering this jerky is somewhat light on taste to begin with, it needs a quality meat consistency to help push this up to a higher rating.

While I wouldn't buy this jerky again, it's at least something I can still eat and not pass off to my dogs. Though, it wouldn't bother me to at least share it with them!

A good beer to have with this would be a brown ale.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com
  

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World Kitchens Beef Jerky

Note: I originally wrote this review in May of 2006 on Junk Food Blog. I'm reprinting it here.

I don't normally do taste tests here at Junk Food Blog, but this is one of those rare times that I will.

Summary: Barf!!!

World Kitchens is a brand of beef jerky I found at the supermarket yesterday. I'm always buying beef jerky and sunflower seeds as my blog staple of choice, and I needed to replenish.

I bought this particular bag of jerky because it contained a full pound (16oz) of jerky, compared to the 4oz you often see with other brands. Moreover, it only costs $9.99, compared to $5.99 for the 4oz competitor brands. What a deal I thought!

I bought the Teriyaki flavor.

The very first taste told me right away something was wrong. It didn't taste like jerky. Yes, it did have a teriyaki flavor, but it was almost like this stuff was very old. I checked the expiration date, it was dated for "09/20/07", still plenty fresh.

I gave the piece some chews and it crumbled apart into pieces. It's obviously not real chunks of meat. The package does say, "BEEF JERKY", and the ingredients does say, "sliced beef", but beef could be from any part of the animal. There's beef hearts, beef tongue, beef liver, beef kidney, etc.

Chewing further on, this stuff started tasting like liver. Honestly, I don't know what this stuff is made out of.

The package says the jerky is actually made in Brazil, and distributed to the USA by BrucePac, apparently the company that owns the World Kitchens brand.

Interestingly, the company has published a long list of customer comments from its most loyal of fans.

I think I'll save the rest of it for my dogs. I hope they'll understand.

Note: Check out another review I did for my dog blog.

Rating: Dog Treats

Buy this from Amazon.com: World Kitchens Beef Jerky

Update: (Apr 2, 2008), a couple months after publishing this review on Junk Food Blog, the people at World Kitchens actually send me a check refunding the price I paid at the store. So, hats off to them for being stand-up people!

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