Talk to me about beef jerky.

[ladybee28]

I've never eaten the stuff, but DP thinks it's amazing.

We can't get it easily in the country where we live, so I'm looking to make an early internet purchase so it'll get here in time for Christmas.

But I have no idea where to start.

If you're a jerky person, what do you recommend and why?

Jerky or biltong? Jerky is awful.

I am not sure what you need to know about jerky though?If he likes it, buy it, and then you've got it to hand.

I like beef jerky, Jack Links brand is probably going to be the easiest to find online, they have lots of flavours and either bags of jerky pieces or the ones that are long sausage style.

I hate biltong though, it's very gravy flavoured.

I prefer the peppered, sweet n hot or spicy flavours over bbq or sweeter flavours.

Are you Alan Partridge?

@shesgonebatshitagain HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS ME?!

@FatGirlShrinking - thanks, that was helpful. I've never tried it and there seem to be loads of different flavours I'd never even have thought existed. Will take a look at Jack Links.

Hadn't even HEARD of biltong, either...

And @SpaceOP, what I 'needed to know' about jerky was exactly what I asked: people's brand recommendations and reasons. It seems to have become something of a hipster thing with loads of artisan-style makers and fancy bells and whistles, so I thought I'd ask on here to see if someone could shed a bit of light on it all.

@ladybee28 Got you! I was a bit worried you needed recipes or similar?

But seriously, Jerky is awful. See if you can convince him to buy biltong instead. There are quite a few places that will sell it online. Snoggys is one I think. And Krugers. It's the South African version of jerky. All jerky I've ever had uses astonishing amounts of preservatives and weird fake flavourings (although maybe I've only had the bad stuff?). But based on PPs above I think it might be a either/ or situation - you're a jerky OR a biltong person, but not both.

Are you in the U.K.?
yoursouthafricanshop.co.uk/

you're a jerky OR a biltong person, but not both

Ha. Tricky. Right. Let's make this even more complicated - he's not a native English speaker so may even be saying jerky when he meant biltong!

Maybe I should get a selection of both – whatever DP doesn't love I can be reasonably sure DSS will snarfle up (he's 14 and will basically eat anything at the moment).

I'll check out those brands, @SpaceOP – thank you!

@ReeseWitherfork I'm not, I'm in Spain. Except... on an island, so shipping's a giant pain in the proverbial. And after looking at that site I've just discovered that Drywors is a thing?!

Enter Deep Curiosity and FOMO, stage left...

Droewors is a type of dried sausage. So rather than being cured like salami would be, it's dried and spiced.

Where did your DH learn to like "jerky" because that will give you a hint on which he prefers. In the UK, jerky appears to be more available now but wasn't really for a long time. It's very much an Americas thing I think. I'm not sure about Asia but would guess you'd be more likely to find jerky there than biltong. Obviously, across Africa biltong is more likely, particularly southern africa .

See, look at you –there's LOADS to know about jerky!

And I'm getting hungry...

@FatGirlShrinking

I like beef jerky, Jack Links brand is probably going to be the easiest to find online, they have lots of flavours and either bags of jerky pieces or the ones that are long sausage style.

I hate biltong though, it's very gravy flavoured.

I prefer the peppered, sweet n hot or spicy flavours over bbq or sweeter flavours.

Gravy flavoured?

Are you sure it was proper biltong you were eating?

Biltong isn't all that difficult to make OP. You will need a dehydrator though.

@isthismylifenow it was the best description I could think of in the moment, but yeah Biltong to me is a more cooked in liquid type of flavour whereas jerky is a drier texture and dried spices flavour hard to describe, all I really know is I like jerky and don't like biltong!

[quote FatGirlShrinking]@isthismylifenow it was the best description I could think of in the moment, but yeah Biltong to me is a more cooked in liquid type of flavour whereas jerky is a drier texture and dried spices flavour hard to describe, all I really know is I like jerky and don't like biltong![/quote]
I'm here to defend the biltong 😂. Maybe the biltong you tried was game as it does taste different to beef. It's just coated in some vinegar and then spices and left to dry, so it's not cooked. I am in biltong and droewors country and it's taken quite seriously. Bad biltong is not a good thing here 😊. Jerky is marinaded in sauces and whatnot and so does have a different texture.

I am team biltong, but a big droewors (the sausage one) as well.

Just to show how serious they take it here, we get rugby mix too. That is delicious as its tiny bite size pieces of biltong, droewors and bacon. And then you can add in whatever spice you like after. A bit like popcorn.

I thought I’d love it but I didn’t like it at all.