Product - House of Jerky Jerkies

When Duc and I were in Idyllwild on our anniversary trip early August, we stumbled upon a shop that was dedicated to jerky - Grandpa's House of Jerky. What a neat place to come across. We enjoyed our purchase back in our cabin later, and I couldn't help but tweet it.


To my surprise, I got a nice tweet back from Janie at House of Jerky, the main distributor. I love seeing companies care about their customers and how they like the products. That's a great way to add a more personal touch to the relationship between the two and to show that there is a face to whom one could reach out. Not only do they have excellent customer service but their jerky is superb! I got the opportunity to give twelve of their huge array of jerkies a try at different sizes (with help from Duc and my younger brother of course) and man were they amazing. I have pictures of everything for your drooling pleasure too (and notes)!


The first one we tried actually was one of my favorites - the teriyaki beef. Consisting of top round, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder, this cut had a sweet aroma with an unknown texture to my naive jerky experience. It was soft and very addictive as the juiciness showed its true impact upon constant chewing; with a lingering sweetness and sauce present in every bite, this was truly a top favorite.


The black pepper beef was the kind we had bought in Idyllwild. Made of top round, soy sauce, water, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, and garlic powder, this peppery smelling jerky was too salty for any of us. The pepper was good though but in general, the jerky was thick-cut and a bit tougher than desired.


Next up was the black pepper kangaroo (who doesn't want to give kangaroo a try just once?). It contained irradiated kangaroo meat, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, and white pepper. With a sweet and peppery aroma, this jerky was slightly salty and much softer than one might imagine (able to bite through with one chomp).


Then we moved on to the teriyaki turkey, a product made from turkey breast, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder. The aroma was sweet and the jerky was translucent! The teriyaki sauce really makes all their jerkies awesome and this was no exception as it was very flavorful, light, juicy, and well-balanced with black pepper.


The hot beef, wow. The hot beef is no joke and you'll see why when you see the ingredients list: top round, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, Tabasco, habanero pepper, red crushed chili pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, liquid smoke, black & white pepper, and ginger powder. With a salty and already apparent spicy aroma, I knew it'd be trouble for me. It was! It was a fast yet lasting burn that lingered as the juiciness inflicted more pain onto taste buds. We all sweated but man was this good as the spices were complex and still well-done. Try this one if you want to get kicked in the face.


The black pepper buffalo jerky had buffalo, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, and white pepper. It smelled lightly peppered and a tad sweet. The meat was a bit too veiny for me but the sweet & savory lingering taste worked.


Black pepper turkey was turkey breast, soy sauce, water, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, and garlic powder - this one ended up being a little tough, salty, and dry.


Sweet and spicy beef brisket: a wonderful end to whole beef brisket, water, brown sugar, honey, seasonings, pineapple juice, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, white pepper. Everything smelled sweet and thick. It was a juicy and soft meat that had a little toughness to it. Overall, there was a nice backburn to this, so it made it much easier to eat after the slight sweetness. This made it to my top 3 list.


Venison (venison steak, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, white pepper) is a thicker meat than what you may be used to. Surprisingly, the process of turning it to jerky removes the overwhelming gamey taste that may occur with venison. This jerky was slightly dry as the meat itself is extremely lean and had a salty aroma.


Black pepper wild boar was a little different as it was distinctively porky. I'm not sure swine in general is a good meat to turn into jerky? The ingredients explicitly said the meat was from feral swine, and the rest were typical of the other black pepper jerkies. It was soft, salty, and sweet with an emphasis on the pepper. Again, very porky.


Not too long after having the sweet and spicy beef brisket, we had the regular sweet and spicy beef composed of top round, water, brown sugar, honey, seasonings, soy sauce, pineapple juice, Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and white pepper. It was quite pliant and soft but had the juiciness necessary for something with a kick. I mean, after all, you want more sauce to help swallow the burning in your throat. It was one of my favorites.


Lastly but not least was the natural style beef jerky. It had all the makings of a basic beef jerky and yet, I didn't like it so much. Too much salt perhaps too on this one. It was a thick cut and quite a tough one as we had to tear away strips to consume.

Overall, that's a lot of meat! No wonder it took my taste-testers and me a long while to get through them all but now I definitely feel spoiled when it comes to jerky. When I went on a recent hike with my brothers, we had brought along beef jerky from Costco and my younger brother complained about how it wasn't good anymore after having had House of Jerky jerky. That's quite the compliment! I mean, he's a growing teenage boy. They tend to like food in general, hah. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the softer jerkies it seems like (teriyaki beef, sweet and spicy, etc). House of Jerky makes a fabulous product in general - I'm debating stocking up on some for snacking. I mean, great customer service + free shipping + amazing jerky? How do you lose on that one? Thanks to Janie and your team for doing such a delicious job!