Editor’s Note (that’s me, eh): There’s going to be a few of these jerky reviews and am going to use the intro from the first one, for all. So, if the first part seems a little redundant, it’s because it is, foo.
A few weeks ago the fine people at Jerky.com sent Meathenge Labs a load of jerky for our consideration. MmMmmm, Review Jerky! I smell a party comin’.
A meeting of the minds were scheduled for a mid Saturday get together. These would be, Cookie & Cranky of I’m Mad and I Eat, Chilebrown and Ms. Goofy of Mad Meat Genius, Zoomie of Zoomie Station, Sourdough Monkey Wrangler & his monkeys (even if for a few moments to share some home brew) and a good friend.
If you so choose, please visit for a few snapshots of the afternoon.
Here’s the new stuff, you knob.
This jerky comes to us in a thin, dry form that takes quite a bit of pull. And I believe I’ve figured this Western Cut thing out, huge pieces! What I wasn’t expecting right off the top was a warm, rich beef meat flavor. I don’t know if you can see it in the picture, but one can actually see the fat between the meat there, this my good people is a flavor delivery system. It says it has some teriyaki & brown sugar in there, and it does. But there’s also wine, which cuts the sweet to some degree so it doesn’t go too far. The black pepper is a warm peppery ride that takes a little while to finish. Since it is quite dry and has fat in there, the flavors mingle for quite some time as you chew along.
I like the fact that the meat flavor is given a chance to play, it’s a good thing. So far, this jerky brings more to the table than most. An excellent performer and there’s plenty in the bag for everyone.
Thank you so much Jerky.com for your care package, we enjoyed the afternoon greatly.
Biggles
PS – My new glasses won’t arrive to next week or the one after. I’m using an old pair from years ago and working on the computer or any reading is quite difficult and makes my head hurt. Not sure what the next few weeks will look like, here.
MeatHenge
"If it ain't pork, it ain't sausage"
Great post, as usual. Do you happen to have any info on Santa Maria grills? I was thinking about buying my husband one for X-mas but there seems to be only one company that makes them.
Hey Fiona,
What kind of information were you looking for, and thank you for the kind words!
I did a search and found the design you’re looking for and probably don’t have the information you’re looking for. I can tell you it’s a specialized grill, does pretty much one kind of grilling. If that what your husband is in to, it’s a great rig. Remember though, you’re buying something that has only one use. It’d be nice to buy something that does more than one thing.
When I buy my next rig, it’s going to be this one:
http://www.barbecue-smoker-grill.com/labldog28.html
Landmann Black Dog 28 Heavy Duty Charcoal Grill
Not only does it grill, but it has a hinged lid with vents to control temperature, adjustable fire height and a pull out tray for easy clean-up. It’s large enough so that you can actually put large hunks of wood in. Kettle grills are too efficient (for me) and don’t allow me to vary the wood hunk size for my pleasure. Plus, if you want to smoke something at 200 degrees, you can make yourself a little wall to deflect the heat from the food. It’s also got doors that allow you to fuss with the fire and not lift up the lid and letting heat escape as fast.
I hope this helped a little.
Biggles
Thanks for the info! I looked up the grill that you reccomended and found it even cheaper at an Ace Hardware site. There is also a model with an offset fire box-is that an uneccessary extravagance? He does enjoy smoking meats and fish quite a bit.
GAH !!! Nooooooo. Those inexpensive (under 600 bux) offset smokers are a royal pain in the you know where. They’re horribly inefficient, 20 pounds of mesquite to smoke nearly anything. The cooking area is a myriad of hot/cold spots and require a handful of modifications to get it worked out. Plus that round shape makes the meat box tough to work out larger hunks of meat. If it’s free and you are an advanced pitmaster, you can get by. I was lucky, sold mine years ago to one of my butchers. He found the same problems and removed the offset firebox to make it better.
If you want the best possible hand-made smoker in the nation, Pitts by Klose has no equal.
http://www.bbqpits.com/
Biggles