The next review on Get Hooked Beef Jerky will focus on a 2 ounce/57 gram bag of their spicy teriyaki red flavored beef jerky. This will be the second review on their spicy teriyaki red beef jerky, where the bag design has since been tweaked, and the jerky is not dried as much anymore. This flavor is advertised as bringing together the perfect balance of heat (red chile) and sweet (teriyaki), resulting in an extraordinarily moist, soft, and flavorful jerky! The bag was kindly submitted for review by Tanya Lapira.
This Get Hooked Beef Jerky brand name is distributed by Get Hooked Jerky Quality Foods Inc., and it is made exclusively in the Land of Enchantment, specifically in Tomé, New Mexico. Formerly Sunset Foods Beef Jerky, Get Hooked Jerky Quality Foods evolved from over 30 years of development and experience. Family-owned since 1985, their roots are strong locally, and their products have reached the four corners of the globe. Their tagline is “it’s a HOLE lot better”, where each strip has a small hole. Get Hooked Beef Jerky hang their jerky from bacon hangers, rather than lay them flat in their custom-built and engineered oven.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Sugar, Distilled Vinegar, Wine, Ginger, Garlic, Onion Powder, Spices, Natural Spice Flavorings, Smoke Flavor (Water, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Vinegar, Molasses, Caramel Color, Salt), Water, Red Chile, Salt, Cornstarch, Black Pepper, Garlic, Canola Oil Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat
The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. Also, the beef is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to graze on grass. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.
The liquid marinade is comprised of a decent soy sauce, very healthy distilled vinegar, healthy wine, water, and liquid smoke flavor. Wine offers healthy benefits if consumed in moderation.
The vegetable trifecta is achieved with super foods ginger, garlic, and onion powder used here. It is disappointing to see that cornstarch is used, where corn based products have no business being in jerky.
New Mexico grown red chiles are healthy if eaten in moderation, where hot peppers flush toxins out of the body.
There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the exact sugar and salt level are unknown.
This jerky does qualify to have no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservatives. Instead, the main preservative used is salt, and distilled vinegar to a lesser extent. Admirably, there is no MSG added.
Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These strips of jerky are large in size, and sliced thin. While this texture is still quite dry, it is not crunchy and brittle anymore, but perhaps a little crispy. In any case, dry jerky textures certainly seem to be a preference in New Mexico, which is also known as a West Coast style of jerky. It takes a reasonable amount of effort to chew these strips, where it helps being sliced so thin. As advertised, each strip has a small hole from being hung on a hook. With these thin strips of jerky, you get the optical illusion of having more jerky than you actually have.
Some of the first flavors detected are soy, salt, and garlic. There is a noticeable level of acidity/tanginess here from the distilled vinegar, which complements the overall flavor very well. The black pepper is at a light level.
As advertised, there is a decent level of spiciness present. On a heat scale, the spiciness would rate a 2 out of 5, and does not disappoint.
There is little sweetness present, especially for a teriyaki flavor. This is one of few jerky criterion where a taste rating is not deducted for not being sweet enough, which happens to be our preference. As a result, there is an ample amount of natural beef flavor here.
This is not your classic tasting teriyaki flavor, which would be more similar to a spicy original flavor. In fact, this spicy teriyaki red flavor has turned out to be polarizing, which is not for everybody. In order to truly enjoy this flavor, you pretty much need to be a fan of a very dry jerky texture. Despite this jerky texture being advertised as extraordinarily moist and soft, it is more the opposite being dry.
While not unanimous here at Jerky Ingredients, we wholly enjoyed this flavor, despite the lack of a teriyaki taste. The jerky is addictive, flavorful, and was devoured in no time. This jerky is highly recommended to people who prefer a reasonable amount of spiciness, along with a dry texture, and a tasty variation on a teriyaki flavor, which is not overly sweet tasting.
A 4 ounce/113 gram bag sells online for $9.50. That works out to $2.38 an ounce, which rates as a borderline average price, just a few cents away per ounce from a cheap price. The price gets cheaper if you order large quantities.
Very Good (9/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
This clear resealable plastic bag has a label affixed to the front, and nothing on the back. The Get Hooked Beef Jerky logo is a heart with bull horns, because jerky is their passion.
No slogans or facts are printed on this bag.
A couple of other bag categories are missing, such as a blurb about the jerky or flavor, and a nutrition facts table. To the credit of Get Hooked Beef Jerky, a phone number is provided for customer inquiries.
Order their jerky online: www.gethookedonjerky.com
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