Beef Jerky - what you got?

DX2JX2

I recently rediscovered beef jerky as a delicious snack. I used to have a source for the really good home made stuff but can no longer get my hands on it. Nor do I have the desire to drag out my dehydrator to make my own.

What's your favorite readily available store brand/flavor? Wild Bills has long been a favorite of mine (great toothsome chewy texture and peppery flavor) but I've found most of it pretty lackluster thus far (mushy or powdery tend to be the biggest sins).

kemoon0915

I like the jack links peppered and teriyaki flavors

sgt1372

Chinese (Cantonese style) beef jerky is simply delicious. Primary ingredients are soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and grain alcohol.

It's moist and sweet and not dried out and tough as cardboard like most. Closest tasting domestic jerky would be teriyaki but Chinese style is still far better.

Hard to find, even in towns with large Chinese communities but worth searching for if you live anywhere near one.

The brand I currently eat is made by Wycen Foods in San Francisco. It costs $8 for a 1/2# bag, which is price competitive w/other types of beef jerky.

Don't know if they do mail order but you can given them a call to ask but don't be surprised if the person who answers doesn't speak English. Not to worry. If so, someone who can will probably be given the phone.

See: http://www.wycenfoods.com/

They also made great lop cheurng (Chinese sausage), dried duck leg and lop yuk (dried pork belly) which are all Chinese delicacies seldom seen outside of Chinatown.

Larryfahn

I too like the Jack links peppered one. I once tried O Boy Alberto... It will make you vomit.

jesguinn

Ria's Roadkill Jerky! So delicious! It's not available in stores, but you can find it on Etsy.

jseams1234

http://www.reallygoodfreshjerky.com/

It's all very good... but my favorite is the XXX Hot beef, or sometimes called the "Colon Cleanser".

I got turned onto this stuff driving from SF to see my folks in Arizona. We took the route past LA and through Quartzite and saw a lot of billboards and signs. Didn't stop on the way to AZ but stopped coming back. Great stuff, all of it. I've ordered online a few times since.

DX2JX2

sgt1372 wrote: »

Chinese (Cantonese style) beef jerky is simply delicious. Primary ingredients are soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and grain alcohol.

It's moist and sweet and not dried out and tough as cardboard like most. Closest tasting domestic jerky would be teriyaki but Chinese style is still far better.

Hard to find, even in towns with large Chinese communities but worth searching for if you live anywhere near one.

The brand I currently eat is made by Wycen Foods in San Francisco. It costs $8 for a 1/2# bag, which is price competitive w/other types of beef jerky.

Don't know if they do mail order but you can given them a call to ask but don't be surprised if the person who answers doesn't speak English. Not to worry. If so, someone who can will probably be given the phone.

See: http://www.wycenfoods.com/

They also made great lop cheurng (Chinese sausage), dried duck leg and lop yuk (dried pork belly) which are all Chinese delicacies seldom seen outside of Chinatown.

Cool. I'm like 20 minutes outside of Philly's Chinatown and have a ton of Asian markets in my immediate area. I'll keep an eye out for this. And yes, I know well the pleasures of lop cheung. I've been eating it since I was a kid.

glassyo

Not beef but I like Trader Joe's teriyaki turkey jerky because it's lower sodium. And it rhymes.

mom23mangos

If you ever decide to drag out your dehydrator, you can make turkey chips. I take nitrate/preservate free shaved thinly sliced turkey lunch meat, give it a quick drag through some teriyaki and dehydrate overnight. Tastes like crunchy bacon. Perfect chip substitute.

SuzySunshine99

I like Sweet Baby Ray's.

Now I have to go get some. Thanks for that.

sgt1372

DX2JX2 wrote: »

sgt1372 wrote: »

Chinese (Cantonese style) beef jerky is simply delicious. Primary ingredients are soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and grain alcohol.

It's moist and sweet and not dried out and tough as cardboard like most. Closest tasting domestic jerky would be teriyaki but Chinese style is still far better.

Hard to find, even in towns with large Chinese communities but worth searching for if you live anywhere near one.

The brand I currently eat is made by Wycen Foods in San Francisco. It costs $8 for a 1/2# bag, which is price competitive w/other types of beef jerky.

Don't know if they do mail order but you can given them a call to ask but don't be surprised if the person who answers doesn't speak English. Not to worry. If so, someone who can will probably be given the phone.

See: http://www.wycenfoods.com/

They also made great lop cheurng (Chinese sausage), dried duck leg and lop yuk (dried pork belly) which are all Chinese delicacies seldom seen outside of Chinatown.

Cool. I'm like 20 minutes outside of Philly's Chinatown and have a ton of Asian markets in my immediate area. I'll keep an eye out for this. And yes, I know well the pleasures of lop cheung. I've been eating it since I was a kid.

Good luck finding it in Philly.

Visited the Chinatown there once but wasn't there long enough to look. I did search for some in the 3 major NY Chinatowns (Manhattan, Brooklyn and Flushing). There was a place in Manhattan Chinatown that sold some but it wasn't as good and was more expensive than Wycen.

Not sure how long it's been in business but I only discovered Wycen recently (in the past year or so) but it's beef jerky tastes almost identical to the jerky that I remember being made over 60 years ago. It doesn't get any better than that.

BTW, I have the recipe to make it but it's a lot of trouble to do make it and you don't save that much money doing it yourself. Also, it's impossible to find the 100% grain alcohol used in the original recipe in CA.

You can only get 75.5% (151 proof) Everclear in CA and 95% (190 proof) Everclear elsewhere. I suppose I could evaporate the 151 proof by 1/3rd to up it to 100% (200 proof) but, again, that's no necessary as long as I can buy the jerky w/o the need to make it myself.

Cbean08

I like the Ostrim and Chef's Cut stuff. I've only seen it in sticks, not strips/chunks which is preferable for me. I also really like the Epic bars.

orangegato

sgt1372 wrote: »

Chinese (Cantonese style) beef jerky is simply delicious. Primary ingredients are soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and grain alcohol.

It's moist and sweet and not dried out and tough as cardboard like most. Closest tasting domestic jerky would be teriyaki but Chinese style is still far better.

Hard to find, even in towns with large Chinese communities but worth searching for if you live anywhere near one.

The brand I currently eat is made by Wycen Foods in San Francisco. It costs $8 for a 1/2# bag, which is price competitive w/other types of beef jerky.

Don't know if they do mail order but you can given them a call to ask but don't be surprised if the person who answers doesn't speak English. Not to worry. If so, someone who can will probably be given the phone.

See: http://www.wycenfoods.com/

They also made great lop cheurng (Chinese sausage), dried duck leg and lop yuk (dried pork belly) which are all Chinese delicacies seldom seen outside of Chinatown.

Their price is now $12.75 for the half pound bag of jerky as per their online form. And I'm sure shipping is not free. Wish I got some when I was in SF 3 months ago.