Slim Jim Beef Jerky - Jalapeno

Slim Jim is a well known brand of meat snack, made by a well known producer of foods, Con Agra Foods of Omaha, NE.

I've never been a big fan of Con Agra's brands of beef jerky, including their flagship Pemmican brand. But being that I'm here to review beef jerky, I figured I gotta give each brand an honest review.

I'm particularly intrigued with any variety of beef jerky that claims to have been spiced up with some kind of pepper or chile, in this case, jalapeno. So it was a pretty easy decision for me to buy up a bag.

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Wild Ride Beef Jerky - Gallopin' Pepper

Wild Ride Beef Jerky is a product of Distinctive Brands, Inc. of Boulder, CO. The company offers five beef jerky flavors in all, and for each flavor they also offer a Zero Carb variety and a Hormone Free/Antibiotic Free variety.

Jim Davis, the COO and founder of Distinctive Brands, has the advantage of growing up on his family's cattle ranch, and knew the secrets of making great jerky. He also has a nutrition degree from Colorado State University, and apparently that nutrition degree is the root of how Wild Ride Beef Jerky came about.

With all the rage over low-carb, high protein dieting, Davis saw a unique opportunity with meat snacking, and sought to create a market for beef jerky as a dieting aid. But since beef jerky largely has a reputation for being tough and chewy, it's something that dieters tend to stay away from.

To answer this, comes Davis' proprietary and patented process of making soft beef jerky. According to the packaging, he softens it with papain, an enzyme found in papayas. Wild Ride Beef Jerky is indeed soft.

Taste

The ingredients list shows the following: beef, water, corn syrup, dextrose, salt, potassium chloride, spices, garlic powder, citric acid, corn starch, turbinado sugar.

I have to commend Wild Ride Beef Jerky from excluding MSG, unlike 90% of the other jerky brands.

What I taste mostly is a combination of the natural beef flavors, salt, and pepper. There is a very subtle sweetness to it as well. The peppery flavor is very evident, as would be expected in a pepper variety.

Meat Consistency

It appears Wild Ride uses real cuts of beef.

The pieces are quite small. I'd say each piece is bite-sized, which may be perfect for popping into your mouth. But it seems to rob you from the carnal instinct of tearing off flesh.

I found many pieces to contain gristle, or tendon, making them rather chewy. Wild Ride uses cheaper cuts of beef, and relies on their flavoring and tenderization process to compensate.

The pieces are definitely tender. Some pieces I'd consider to be "too tender". That is, you pop one into your mouth and it just crumbles apart. The company's tenderization process seems to have made the meat somewhat mushy after it has been chewed. There are, however, other pieces in the bag that were tender but still offered some meaty chewiness.

Most of the pieces are cut very thick.

Product Value

I paid $3.50 for this four ounce bag at a Big Lots store in Murrieta, CA. That works out to $0.88 per ounce, putting this in the cheap category. Note that if you buy this online directly from Wild Ride, it'll cost $5.49 for the same bag, or $1.37 per ounce. That's on the lower-end of being average priced. Either way, it's priced low.

As a beef jerky, Wild Ride fails to impress me. But then again, Distinctive Brands appears to be marketing Wild Ride towards the low carb/high protein dieters, and for that reason, it might be a good value.

I also don't like the small pieces. I prefer to grab a large piece and tear it off with my teeth. Some pieces are just too soft, and I wonder "what the heck did I just put into mouth?"

There is what appears to be almost a full ounce of beef jerky crumbles sitting in the bottom of the bag. These are the tiny pieces of jerky you always find after eating all the big pieces. It appears the company's tenderization process made the pieces so tender, that they break apart in the packaging process.

As a peppered variety, you're definitely getting great peppery taste.

For general purpose snacking, it's good.

I also have to point out that Wild Ride Beef Jerky comes in smaller-than-normal bag, with still the industry standard 4 ounce size. That makes it more attractive to pack in a fanny pack or purse.





Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating. For general beef jerky purposes, it's really not that great. It's mostly the tenderization process. The meat tends to fall apart and it becomes somewhat mushy as you chew it. It's clear that what you just put into your mouth is beef that has been doctored up.

I can appreciate this company trying to simulate eating a real piece of steak, but when I put a piece of their jerky into my mouth, it's clear that I'm not eating a real piece of steak. If they had called this "beef chunks", or "beef tenders", then perhaps it would be well received as a new type of meat snack. As a diet aid, it may score very well.

It does offer great peppery taste, and you can definitely taste the natural beef flavors.

Rating: Fair

Buy this from Amazon.com: Wild Ride All-Natural Beef Jerky, Gallopin Pepper, 4-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)

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Albertson's Beef Jerky - Peppered

I picked up a bag of Albertson's own brand of beef jerky, the peppered variety, since peppered is one of my favorites.

I'm not sure who exactly makes their beef jerky, the packaging doesn't say. But for average-priced jerky, it's not bad not all.

Taste

The ingredients list shows the following flavorings: sugar, vinegar, salt, MSG, spice, and citric acid. Oddly it doesn't list pepper, being that this is the peppered variety.

For the most part, what I taste is the natural beef flavors. There is some salt taste, but nicely enough, the salt is just right, not overpowering at all.

As far as pepper is concerned, there is very little pepper to be seen. One might wonder if this is actually the "original" flavor that got put into the wrong bag. Most of the pieces have only a slight pepper taste, while a few pieces had a stronger peppery flavor.

There is also a subtle smoky flavor too. The package says that this jerky is smoked with genuine mesquite.

Meat Consistency

Albertson's appears to use real cuts of meat. The package says they use "premium cuts of lean 100% beef".

Some of the pieces are marblized with fat, something I have a preference for.

The pieces are mostly dry, but still flexible. It takes a bit of work to bite off a piece. If you tear it apart with the grain, some of the pieces come apart easily, while others still take some work.

These are mostly cut to average thickness.

Product Value

I paid $4.99 for a four ounce bag, which works out to $1.25 per ounce, putting this in the average ball park, but in the lower echelon of average.

For a somewhat low-priced jerky, this is actually a good buy. It provides a lot of snackability, if you just want to work your jaws while watching a movie, or something.

If you really like peppered jerky, you might be disappointed that this is only slightly peppered. I wouldn't buy this again for myself. But if you happen to like jerky with a slight peppery taste, this might be for you.

I'm giving this an "average" rating. As a beef jerky, it's ok, and it's lower price-point kept it from a lower rating. But I found it rather dry, tough to tear apart, and lacking in a strong peppery flavor.

Rating: Average (3/5)

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Arizona Jacks Peppered Soft Beef Jerky

Arizona Jacks is a brand owned by PrimeSnax, Inc., based out of Salt Lake City, UT. PrimeSnax owns other brands of beef jerky too.

Taste

The ingredients list shows the following flavorings: tomato concentrate, sugar, vinegar, salt, citric acid, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic, and smoke flavoring.

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Vegas 808 - Fruit Flavored Dried Beef

Vegas 808 appears to be a very tiny, and localized brand of snack foods unique to Las Vegas, NV.

The name "Vegas 808" is a combination of the city Las Vegas, and the area code for Hawaii. There's an area of downtown Las Vegas, anchored by two casinos, Main Street Station, and The California Hotel & Casino, frequented by travellers from Hawaii, and this brand targets that demographic with snack foods that appeal to their tastes.

Vegas 808 has its own retail outlet inside The California Hotel & Casino, on the upper floor, and all it sells are snack foods favored by Pacific Islanders, in addition to some die-hard American favorites.

The label on packaging says that this product is "Exclusively Distributed by Golden Tigers, LLC". Doing a search on the Internet, it appears that Vegas 808 and Golden Tigers, LLC are owned by the same people. It's unclear to me exactly who manufacturers these snacks.

Taste

The ingredients list says that this jerky is flavored with strawberry preservatives, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and MSG.

I can't really taste much in the way of fruit or strawberry preserves, but I can taste a hint of strawberry. But if I didn't know this had strawberry preserves in it, I wouldn't know what it was. But perhaps the main point is to experience the combination of fruit and beef, and not so much strawberry. If that's the case, there is practically no fruit to be experienced. This mostly tastes like sweetened beef jerky, and not fruit flavored beef jerky. Being that the label clearly says that this is "Fruit Flavored", it's a disappointment.

There is also very little to taste in the way of soy sauce or salt. I don't particularly care for salty beef jerky, so this is a plus for me. But it would have been nice to taste some soy sauce; perhaps they could pour a little bit more on.

The beef flavors are not very evident either. I chewed on some pieces, and extracted the meat juices, and I could get a slight taste of beef. Had I been told this was pork, I'd have no way of knowing the difference. (BTW, Vegas 808 also offers Fruit Flavored Dried Pork, but I didn't buy some).

Most of what I taste when I eat this is the sugar and the hint of strawberry.

Meat Consistency

These are real slices of meat, with no fat to be seen, if any.

The pieces are soft, flexible, somewhat dry, and thick cut. It's easy to bite off a piece, and they chew easily. I found this brand of jerky was quite pleasant to eat in this regards.

The pieces are covered with a sticky coating of sugar and strawberry preserves, but it's not so sticky that it leaves your fingers gooey. If not for this coating, the pieces would otherwise be rather dry.

Product Value

I paid $12.50 for an 8oz bag, which works out to $1.56 per ounce. That's in the average-priced ballpark in my book. They did not have a smaller sized bag. The bag is resealable, so you don't have to eat the whole 8oz steak in one sitting.

Being that this was billed as "Fruit Flavored Dried Beef", I was expecting to experience some fruit flavors. Considering that all you're getting is sweetened beef, it's a big disappointment at $12.50 per bag.

I actually love sweetened beef jerky, but this particular brand doesn't offer much else in taste aside from sugar. It would have been better to get some other flavorings and seasonings with it. This doesn't have any smoke flavorings either.

Keep in mind that the Vegas 808 brand is intended to satisfy those Las Vegas travellers who come from Hawaii. Perhaps this is the kind of meat snack Hawaiian residents enjoy. I dunno.





Rating

I'm giving this a "fair" rating. The lack of taste, aside from the sugar and hint of strawberry, pretty much negates the point of making jerky, or "dried beef" as this is called. I kept it above "dog treats" because it's still slices of real meat, and it doesn't taste bad. It just doesn't offer much for the palate.

The concept of fruit flavored beef jerky was very appealing to me, but this variety left me disappointed. Perhaps if they tried pineapple, or apricot, they'd easily extract another $12.50 from my pocket.

Rating: Fair

Where to Buy: You can only buy this at the Vegas 808 store located inside The California Hotel & Casino, upper level, downtown Las Vegas, NV.

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Buffalo Jacks - Buffalo Jerky Peppered

Buffalo Jacks is a brand of buffalo jerky, and this particular variety is labeled, "Peppered". There is also "Original" flavored.

The brand is part of Arizona Jacks, a well-known beef jerky brand in the western states. Arizona Jacks is owned by PrimeSnax, Inc. of Salt Lake City, UT.

Taste

The ingredients list shows three flavor components, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and granulated garlic. I can defintely taste the soy sauce, though I'm not sure I can taste the worcestershire. I'd consider this jerky a tad salty, but still quite enjoyable on the first couple pieces. Once I get into the third or fourth piece, my mouth experiences a slight salt burn.

Being that this is the "Peppered" variety, there is very little pepper present. I can defintely see some pepper there, but this is some of least peppered of all peppered jerky I've had. In fact, the ingredients list even doesn't mention pepper. Overall, there is a slight peppery taste.

I can certainly taste the buffalo meat however. When I suck on a piece for a little bit, the meat flavors come right out. Many of the pieces have clearly visible nodules of fat, which also adds to taste.

Meat Consistency

The company says they use only real cuts of meat, and it's clear that this is what it is.

Most of the pieces are tough, and require some work to bite off into smaller pieces. I have to bite down hard, gnaw on it a little, and give a good rip, to get smaller bite-sized pieces. This appears to be due to the cuts of meat. They have a lot of tendon and membrane. But there were still other pieces in the bag that were much easier to bite off and enjoy.

The pieces are thick sliced and flexible, just how I like 'em. As I said above, most of the pieces have fat nodules, which is also another preference of mine. Overall, the pieces are somewhat greasy to the touch.

Product Value

I paid $8.50 for this 4oz bag at a snack shop called, "Vegas 808", inside of the California Hotel & Casino, in downtown Las Vegas. That works out to $2.13 per ounce, which is on the high side. I also note that if you bought this online directly from Arizona Jacks, you'd pay $10.00 + shipping, or $2.50+ per ounce.

At that price, I expect high quality, and so I don't necessarily consider this brand of buffalo jerky to be a good value. Most people don't eat buffalo jerky for general purpose snacking; buffalo is always consumed as a delicacy. Therefore, you always expect something of higher quality. While I can accept the notion that buffalo meat is not as readily available as beef, I'm still not impressed with the flavoring and rather tough consistency.

And let's not forget that if you love peppered jerky, this brand falls flat on its face with only scant traces of pepper being seen.

If the price was lower, perhaps $1.50 per ounce, I'd consider this a good value.





Rating

Perhaps this jerky's saving grace is the fact that it still possesses a clear buffalo meat taste. I like to know that I'm eating a piece of meat as opposed to some unknown fibrous material. But the saltiness, the uninteresting taste, and tough consistency, prevents this from moving any higher than average.

Rating: Average

Buy this from Arizona Jacks: http://www.azjacks.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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Jack Link's Turkey Jerky

Jack Link's Turkey Jerky has been around for awhile, and among all the turkey jerky offerings on the market, it seems to enjoy to greatest commercial success.

This offering from Jack Link's is claimed to be made from real turkey breast, and then smoked over mesquite. It's lower in both fat and carbs compared to its beef brethren, but higher in sodium.

After opening the bag, I took a smell inside and it definitely does not smell like beef jerky, but then again it doesn't smell much like turkey either. I'm not sure what it smells like.

Overall, it's not bad. It's something I could certainly snack on, but not something I'd choose if I wanted to enjoy some jerky. Most of the pieces are on the soft side, and sliced thick. Some of the pieces tasted quite salty, while others had a mild saltiness.

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Harley Davidson Beef Jerky

Note: I wrote this review back in October 2006 for my motorcycle blog, and am reprinting it here.

Harley-Davidson Beef Jerky came out last year through a lot of press attention. I've had it before, and decided to write this review after my wife mistakenly bought more bags of it, thinking I actually liked it.

As if you really care, anyways.

The short review: It sucks.

The long review...

I eat a lot of beef jerky; it's my blogging fuel of choice, and I've sampled countless brands and flavors. Harley Davidson Beef Jerky just happens to fall below average. It's not the worst I've had, but it ranks low on my scale.

Now, beef jerky is supposed to be dry. But these days, there are so many varieties which retain a nice level of moisture making them more flavorful and chewy. Harley jerky is dry, perhaps more reminiscent of the "old technology".

And of course, it's not very chewy. Rather, pieces break off fairly easily when you bite down on them and pull. I guess if it's designed for motorcycle riders, it might suggest that this stuff eats more quickly. But I doubt it was designed for that.

This stuff is also a tad too salty. Highly salty beef jerky is usually a sign of low-grade beef. In fact, I don't taste much beef. I taste more of the flavoring than anything else. As a connoiseur of beef jerky, I like to taste the subtle hints of origin and age...

"Mmmmm, 2005, that was a good year for beef" "I can taste the corn and the alfalfa". "Mmmmm, 2005, that was a good year for alfalfa".

The other thing that annoys me with Harley Jerky is that they made the bag smaller than standard sized bags. When you stick your hand into the bag, you can barely get your hand in. I suppose the smaller chassis gives this jerky a better power-to-weight ratio.

Harley Davidson Beef Jerky is made by ConAgra Foods, Inc., which also makes the Pemmican brand of jerky. Pemmican happens to be another brand that ranks very low my beef jerky scale. In fact, Harley jerky tastes very much like Pemmican. It's probably no doubt both utilize the same recipe.

Rating: Fair

Buy this from eBay.com:

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Green Light Beef Jerky

Green Light Jerky Company, based in Redwood City, CA, is a new entry into the world of beef jerky. If you're a fan of thin-sliced jerky, you'll want to take note.

For this review, I'm reviewing three of their flavors, "The Classic", "Pepper Grinder", and "PRD" (Prime Rib Dinner).

All three of the varieties reviewed here are flavored with soy sauce, onions, vinegar, salt, apple cider, and honey.

The pieces are thinly-sliced into strips of about half-inch to an inch wide, and about three to six inches in length. The texture is more drier than moist, but are still soft enough to bite off chunks easily.

The strips appear to be cuts of real meat.

Green Light says they use no MSG, no nitrates, no liquid smoke, no added sugar, and no thickening agents.

The Classic

The Classic flavor has a mild soy sauce flavor and smell, not very salty, with a very subtle spicy tingle in the back of your throat. That spiciness comes from the guajillo and pasilla chile spices that they sprinkle on.

The beef flavor is still very evident, and there's a slight taste of beef fat.

Pepper Grinder

Pepper Grinder is the same as The Classic, but with ground pepper corns sprinkled on. There's a pretty good amount of pepper there, but not overdone like on some other brands.

It has a very peppery flavor that balances out the soy sauce, and as to be expected, has a medium-degree of spiciness.

PRD (Prime Rib Dinner)

There was a clear scent of thyme when I opened the package of PRD and took a whiff. That's because it's flavored with thyme and horseradish, to emulate eating a cut of prime rib.

And you can definitely taste the thyme and see the pieces of thyme seasoning also.

As for the horseradish, I don't really taste much of it, probably because the thyme seems to overpower it. You figure with horseradish, this variety of jerky will be spicy, but it's not. It's quite mild.

Product Value

Green Light's jerky offerings are priced on the high side, at $10.00 for a 4oz bag, or $5.00 for a 2oz bag. That works out to $2.50 per ounce. Compare that to the $1.00-$1.50 per ounce ballpark for the garden-variety brands out there. But then again, you're getting a higher quality product here.



My Thoughts

If you consider yourself a beef-jerky afficionado, you'll appreciate the quality and taste of Green Light as I have. The high price-point takes this brand out of the realm of general purpose snacking, but for those times when I want to sit in my back patio and listen to the birds, a 2oz bag of Green Light makes a great companion.

I gave this a 4-star "Good" rating, instead of a 5-star "Best" simply because my preference is for thicker cut, and slightly more moist pieces of jerky. But for those of you who love thin sliced jerky, or dry jerky, then this could be a 5-star jerky here at Best Beef Jerky.

I still enjoyed sampling these varieties for this review. The "Classic" variety is quite tastier than the regular flavors of other brands.

Rating: Good



Buy This Online: http://www.greenlightjerky.com

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