It has been a long time since I last tried beef jerkies. It is more of an ang-moh snack and we barely see any on our sunny shores. My impression of beef jerkies is that they are tough and are almost as difficult to bit through as nougats. I always wondered why people even love them. I reckon it must be because they are healthy snacks!
I had the opportunity to try the herd - Lemon Ponzu, Mala and Truffle ($45) from The Happy Moo. To be honest, I was really impressed with the taste. They were easy to bite through and being rather Asian, I thought they would go really well in my plain porridge. The one that blew me away totally was the Truffle (which can be bought on standalone basis at $17).
I figured I must have been exposed to badly made jerkies in my younger days or this has been marinated to suit our Asian taste buds. Out of curiosity, I researched a little more on these tasty snacks. So beef jerkies are basically hydrated beef which are marinated. (The Happy Moo version probably taste more superior because they are slow-cooked).
Online forums had some interesting questions on why beef jerkies were seemingly more expensive. (LOL!) Beef itself is generally one of the more expensive meats and a good cut would definitely cost more. I would have to say given the "stay-home-days, I have been plumping up quite a bit and guilt-free snacks (no fat, no carbs, no MSG) are definitely items that should go into my home pantry :P