A study in Beef Jerky
Posted on September 2, 2010
Filed Under Daily, Family, Life in L.A., Little Sabreen, The Boss | 8 Comments
A few weeks ago, while at the local halal store, The Boss and I found Beef Jerky.
Halal Beef Jerky.
As in, OH-MY-GOD-I-HAVEN’T-EATEN-BEEF-JERKY-SINCE-I-WAS-TEN-YEARS-OLD(!) Beef Jerky. I nearly shed a tear.
I started eating halal, or zabiha meat my sophomore year in high school, which essentially eliminated All Things Delicious from my diet until slightly later in life when more Muslim manufacturers started making food, snack and candy items that fell within the Islamic dietary laws. As more companies overseas started shipping halal products to the U.S., and as more U.S. companies started catering to the local demand, eating halal essentially meant you could have anything you wanted, as long as you looked for it in the right places. Of course, I realize that not all Muslims follow the dietary guidelines that I follow, so for some of you Beef Jerky is like, SO 1993, and you’re less excited about my find then you were when you found out that your little sister had been stealing your training bras and wearing them to fifth grade.
(Sorry, Uzma!)
But Beef jerky was a major part of my life growing up, and finding it now isn’t only about getting to eat something I once loved, it’s also a flash back to my childhood. I still remember going to K-Mart with my mom, and grabbing a couple of Slim Jims, or a pack of Beef Jerky each time we got to the check-out.
HA!
My momma used ta take me ta Kay-Mart where I’d get me some new skewl supplahs, and some Sleem Jeeems and eat ‘em like ma hero Macho Man.
OOOHHH YYEEEAAA.
And you better believe I SNAPPED my way through many-a-Slim Jim while wiggling the fingers on both my hands, and trying to perfect the vibrato in my voice to match Macho Man’s, but only a few of you will probably understand and appreciate that reference.
OOOHHH YYEEEAAA.
So the Boss and I picked up the beef jerky, and I proceeded to tweet about it, and I even e-mailed a friend. This is what we found.
We took it out of the package, and though not completely reminiscent of my childhood, it was still Beef Jerky! so that was good enough for us. But then, something amazing happened. My mom was recently on a trip to the Gulf, and upon her return she mailed The Boss and me a care package full of goodies. Including MORE BEEF JERKY. Only this time it was something more familiar to us.
“Jack Link’s!?!?” The Boss shouted, as he sprinted into the living room, and ripped the bag out of my hand. “I used to eat this when I was little! But this isn’t halal.”
“Of course it is,” I said, snatching it back. “Why would my mom send us something that wasn’t halal?”
The Boss grabbed the packet of Beef Jerky out of my hand again, and furiously flipped the package over, in search of the ONE confirmation word we were looking for. There were ingredients written in Arabic, English, Chinese and Japanese, but nothing that said…
“HALAL!!!!”
The Boss found it.
BINGO.
THANK YOUUUU, New Zealand!
We ripped open the bag, and the moment my teeth sank into THIS jerky, angels sang. The clouds parted and light flooded our apartment. Now that our home has been suddenly filled with Beef Jerky, I found it appropriate to do a comparative study.
Let’s begin.
Left: Jack Link’s Beef Jerky.
Right: Halal Jerky Beef Jerky.
As you can see both companies take quite a different approach to their jerky.
Halal Jerky Beef Jerky
Pros:
-Bigger pieces
-The first halal beef jerky I ever met
-Spicy
Cons:
-A little too tough/dry
-The heavy flavor makes the jerky seem forced
-Extra fat makes chewing a bit of a chore
Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
Pros:
-Thicker cut of meat provides better texture
-Smaller pieces are easy to eat, making for a better snack food
-Softer pieces make chewing less strenuous
Cons:
-Bag had more air in it than jerky
-If jerky were just a tad bit drier, it would feel more like the jerky from my childhood
-Some pieces were a bit on the fluorescent pink side, which made me nervous
In Conclusion: Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is our winner. The Halal Jerky’s take on Beef Jerky was a bit over-spiced, and too dry, and excess fat made me feel like I was swallowing tiny pieces of bubble gum as I ate. I’m not sure if Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is halal everywhere, but now that The Boss and I have been made aware of its existence, we plan on going to the local non-halal grocery stores to take a look around, and ask our local halal grocers to order it. Of course you could always visit the company’s Web site, and shoot them a note to find out more about where to find products that fit your specific needs.
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This is not a sponsored review. It is simply a comparison of dried meat, which I hope will help you make informed decisions regarding what type of jerky to feed your family. Issues of such grave importance should not be taken lightly. Thank you for your time.
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8 Responses to “A study in Beef Jerky”
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Oh My God. You are so lucky!!! I have been dying for them since the past 6 years. I used to live in Africa where we used to call it Biltong ( its very similar to Beef Jerky). Anyhow, my mom would make it at home sometimes where she would dry the meat and put the spices and all, but she refuses to do it now since she finds it to be a lot of work:( I’m gonna try to find these you posted:)
You should take a trip to Dubai or Malaysia! Dubai is like food-heaven for me! Everything is halal there! For me it was the first time I ever ate a quarterpound burger or atleast any burger outside my home!!!
Here in The Netherlands you cant just eat meat outside your home, because most of the time it;s not halal. So at McDonalds I can only eat the fish filet burger.
In Malaysia My Boss and I discovered there is also halal bacon! Can you believe that! Its made of beef by the way.
So visit those countries and food-heaven will open for you!
I shouldnt have checked the post until closer to sunset… I will now be picturing everyone in my office as peppered beef jerkies and staring at them with ‘the hunger’.
When we lived iin Boston we craved biltong (south african lingo for beef jerky) a whole lot. When we returned to South Africa we couldn’t get enough! We get different flavours (springbuck,etc) of it here and you can find it easily in areas where lots of muslims stay.
Some muslims even make their own if their husbands like hunting!
Maybe I can post it to you someday, but I’m unsure of the resrictions of sending dried meat across continents!
I have no idea what beef jerky is or what it tastes like, but have always wondered!
Just thought I’d let you know that the reason that specific beef jerky was halal is because it was made in New Zealand. New Zealand exports a lot of meat to muslim South East Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and as such much of the meat (some say all) produced there is halal. Sadly, this same beef jerky in America or any other Western country will almost definitely not be halal, unless they make a point of exporting New Zealand meat
Here in South Africa, biltong is like the national food of this country. We owned a butchery once, ahh those were the good days, growing up as a child, lots of polony & biltong
Jack Links [ORIGINAL] is my absolute favorite snack in the whole world. There is never a time when I don’t have Jack Links in my home. I grew up eating beef jerky as well. Usually slim jim but Jack Links is my absolute comfort food. My papa always bought me jerky as a child and now even 26 years later I’m still snack on it. This post is AWESOME!!!
with jack link sometimes you have to check the bag and look for more dry pieces. i know exactly what you mean but it just depends on the bag that you get, but they def. have some that have drier pieces that are reminiscent of true jerky.