Casa Blanca Beef Jerky New Mexico

Casa Blanca Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Joseph & Rosella Quintana, based out of Santa Fe, NM.

The company makes beef jerky from its own USDA inspected facility.

Casa Blanca Beef Jerky is sold throughout the State of New Mexico, found mostly in convenience stores and drug stores. It's often sold along with other jerky brands including, Old Santa Fe Trail and another labeled as "Delicious Beef Jerky". Casa Blanca offers Plain, Peppered, Green Chile, and Red Chile varieties.

Ingredients

Beef, red chile, salt, garlic.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a faint natural meat flavor. There's light chile pepper flavor that comes in with some sucking along with a light saltiness.

The chewing flavor brings in a slightly increased chile pepper, along with more natural meat flavor and a bit more saltiness.

For being marketed as "Red Chile" beef jerky, it seems to hold up to that billing. I do get a red chile flavor, mostly as the red pepper flakes easily seen on these pieces. I don't really get much of the heat, though there is a noticeable spiciness to this.

Otherwise, the flavor that defines this jerky overall is the combination of natural meat flavor and chile pepper. The saltiness is next noticeable.

The level of heat in this is light. On my personal heat scale, I'd rank this as mild-medium (level 2 out of 5).

The natural meat flavors are much like as I found in the company's Plain Jerky, comparable to slices of fresh deli roast beef. Some of these pieces have significant streaks of fat which adds to the flavor.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into medium to large slabs, and sliced thin.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. The slabs are quite stiff, but due to the thin slices, it tends to be brittle, offering a light crunch. Chewing tends to be easy at first, but after eating a few slabs, my jaws feel tired.

The chewing texture starts out dry and crunchy, offering no real chewing resistance. But as the chewing starts, the meat takes on that meaty, almost steak-like texture. By the time it's chewed down to a soft mass, it feels just like chewing a real piece of steak, but more dry like well-done.

There are plenty of small to large streaks of fat on these slabs, adding a little extra to the flavor. Much of it seems to chew down fine, though I did encounter some light chewiness. I don't, however, see any gristle, nor felt any stringiness or unchewable tissues.

As for clean eating, it's very clean, leaving no residue on my fingers. However, bits of chile pepper flakes tends to fall off.

Snack Value

I paid $8.99 for a 3oz package at a Shell Station in Sandia Park, NM. There wasn't any state sales tax added. That works out to a price of $3.00 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $3.00 per ounce price, it's a weak value. Considering there's little flavor to this jerky, though decent meat consistency and good chewing texture, it doesn't offer much for a price that is considerably higher than other gourmet jerky brands.

As a Red Chile beef jerky, at the same $3.00 per ounce price, it's also a weak value. While I do get a fair amount of chile pepper flavor, it's still a light flavor, and mostly the usual dried red pepper flakes that so many other brands use. And considering this a New Mexico jerky brand, it doesn't have that rich, flavorful chile taste that New Mexico is known for, hence not really worth paying the higher $3.00 per ounce price.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Red Chile beef jerky from Casa Blanca offers a light red chile pepper flavor due to a generous helping of red pepper flakes sprinkled over the surface of these pieces. It does have a fair amount of snackablility thanks in part to a light natural meat flavor and good chewing texture.

But even as a Red Chile beef jerky, is still comes off as rather simple compared to other brands of red pepper and/or red chile flavored jerky. I wouldn't the simplicity of its recipe if I could get a more rich, flavorful taste of the chile peppers. But these pepper flakes taste much like the stuff that shakes from a jar at a pizzeria.

It still has a better chewing texture than other brands found in convenience stores and drug stores, and it's thin, crispy nature makes for some enjoyable snacking.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://newmexicospecialtyfoods.com/

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Source: https://www.bestbeefjerky.org/2013/05/casa-blanca-beef-jerky-red-chile.html

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