OBJD (Obsessive Beef Jerky Disorder)

OBJD

(Obsessive Beef Jerky Disorder)

By: Matthew Surges

I never ate Beef Jerky; it actually wasn’t till my junior year of high school, after taking the ACT, that I experienced the wonders of beef jerky. Ever since that day I cant keep my hands off beef jerky, the taste is just so satisfying. My favorite flavor is sweet and spicy hands down, however there are very few companies who make this wonderful flavor. So I decided that I would try four brands of teriyaki jerky, my second favorite flavor, and let you all know which one is worth purchasing. 

If you think I am insane, I ensure you I am not. Check out this cool website that I found that is dedicated to reviewing beef jerky! http://www.bestbeefjerky.org/p/jerky-brands.html The four brands that I tried were, Jack Links, Dukes, Old Trapper, and Trappers Choice. All of these products can be purchased at Gander Mountain. Being that I have tried many types of jerky over the last few years; I wanted to come up with a criteria to judge these jerkies on not only their flavor, but as well as their nutritional value, as some use jerky as a source of protein. The criteria that I established are as follows.

-Tenderness, a trait you look for in all jerky.

-Flavor, no one likes crappy tasting jerky.

-Smell, some of the jerky I have eaten in the past make your friends think you passed gas when you open the bag.

-Nutritional value, so this is looking at the protein, sodium, calories, and fat based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet.

- Price, these bags of jerky can get very expensive.

-Pieces/amount of jerky per bag, who wants to pay for air?

Now on to the taste test, I laid out all the bags of jerky on my floor, and began opening them one by one, taking time to thoroughly go through each part of the criteria to have a solid evaluation of each brand of jerky.

The first bag I opened was the Jack Links beef jerky, Here is a link to their website,

www.jacklinks.com The first bite was tougher than I would have liked however as I continued to have a few more pieces the tenderness increased. The Jack Links had a very subtle yet satisfying taste to it. It had just the right amount of teriyaki flavoring, yet not over powering the beef. The beef was also very juicy. The smell when I opened the bag was not that satisfying and made me want to question what I was putting in my mouth. The nutritional specs per serving of the jerky are, 14g of protein, 80 calories, 600mg of sodium, and 1g of fat. The price is average at $6.49 and comes with 3.25oz in it. Many found that having more protein in the Jack Link’s jerky makes it more desirable.

The second bag that I opened was the dukes beef jerky. The first bite almost melted in my mouth it was so tender, but it was kind of a weird texture which I was skeptical about. Here is a link to Duke’s website, www.dukesmeats.com Duke’s Island Teriyaki was very sweet and tangy which I really found tasty, as well as it was very easy to chew. Being that this jerky is very new many find it as a very tasteful. The one thing I did not like is that it left an after taste in my mouth. When I opened the bag there was hardly any smell, which was odd but all right. The nutritional value per serving is, 7g protein, 50 calories, 310mg of sodium, and 1g of fat. The Duke’s jerky is only $6.49 and comes with 3.15oz, although the bag seemed kind of empty.

Then came the Old Trapper Jerky, well this one wasn’t on my hot list. My stomach twists just thinking about it.  When I opened the bag the smell of the jerky, was like a dead animal. After I tasted it the tenderness of the beef did not really matter. This jerky did not taste like “Teriyaki” at all. There was a very pungent after taste with the jerky as well which did not help. The nutritional facts on this one are similar to the first two with, 13g protein, 70 calories, 530mg sodium, and 1g fat. The bag cost $5.99 and has 3.25oz in it. Here is a link to Old Trappers website, http://oldtrapper.com My review is on the contrary to many others, most thought that the Old trapper was a great jerky.

The last bag was the one that I enjoyed the most, when I opened the Trappers Choice I was surprised to see thin strips of jerky instead of random shreds and chunks. The jerky was extremely tender and had a string flavor, just like many others reviewed. I ended up eating most of the bag this time instead of a few pieces, Oops. There was a delicious smell when opening the bag and right away I knew this was going to be a good one. The nutritional facts on this one again are very similar to the previous three brands, 9g protein, 100 calories, 530mg sodium, and 1.5g of fat.  The price was $5.99 and the bag contained 3.25oz of jerky, however it seemed very empty to me.

After gathering all the info I came to a conclusion on the order in which I would recommend these brands of jerky.

          1. Trapper choice.

          2. Jack Links

          3. Dukes.

          4. Old Trapper.