- Who's the big daddy of beef jerky?
- Let's talk about that.
(upbeat music)
Good Mythical Morning!
- I, for one, am a big fan of beef jerky.
Makes me feel like a man.
It's a battle to eat, but I always win.
- Well, I for two like beef jerky.
I've been eating a lot more beef jerky recently--
- 'Cause it's like survival situations.
- I'm not gonna say that I fart,
but if I were to fart, I think it does make it stinkier.
- I believe that you do fart.
And the number of jerky purveyors has exploded
like Link's farts over the past few years
with the popularization of the Paleo diet,
and low carb and all that stuff.
So let's find out which one is the best.
It's time for Which Dried Out Shriveled Up Meat Treat
is the Best to Eat, Pete?
- We purchased six of the most popular name brands
of beef jerky and now we're gonna taste them
because we want to find the best.
- We're gonna taste them and rank them on this scale
of one to six, the best is one,
which is Beef Chief.
But we have Helluva Heifer.
- [Link] At Least they Tried-Tip.
- Meaty-Ocre, Cuban Gristle Crisis,
and the worst, Ass Fed Beef.
Wow, that's bad.
(upbeat music)
- First up we got the ubiquitous Jack Links Original.
We're going with original for all of these
just to be-- - Original.
- The same across the board.
Now this one tops many lists,
including bestconsumerreports.net.
- Oh, that's my favorite site.
- It's a ripoff of Consumer Reports,
so I don't know what that stands for.
- Very familiar smell, I mean, I've been on many
a camping trip with a, just a,
whoa look at the size, got a big ole one.
Now, we know that they've got the best marketing.
- Messing with Sasquatch.
- That whole, I used to say Sasquatch, not Sasquatch, but.
- I can definitely taste like burning wood,
it's very smoky.
- And it's tender.
Like, this is not a gristle best.
- Yeah, all these pieces look very high quality.
- It's a nice, thick cut. - Pretty consistent.
I mean, we're gonna start this right in the middle.
I'm sure we're gonna have to taste the Jack Link again
once we get some other meat in us.
But, so far so good.
- Careful.
(upbeat music)
Next up we have Oberto.
And fun fact, every time you say Oberto
and point your finger to the heavens,
Italian accordion music plays.
Oberto! (Italian music)
You see how easy that is?
- Does it work when I do it?
Oberto! (Italian music)
It does work!
- Even though you say it a little bit weird.
- Oberto!
- You said Oberto.
- Oh, now look, these pieces--
- Smaller.
Oh, that's hard.
- These pieces are all-- - Holy moly, that's hard.
- Half the size of the other ones
and then if I just take a big chunk here.
Oh wow. - Oh man, that's gristly.
- The jerk factor is very high.
You gotta really jerk the head back.
- I guess some people might like that,
do you like to work it,
do you like to work it real hard?
- Here's the thing, sometimes I'm hungry
and I wanna eat a lot of jerky,
sometimes I just want to have--
- It's like a chew-off.
- Something I can just gnaw on for a little bit.
This is more of a gnawer.
- I don't know though, knowing how tender it can get,
I think tender is better.
- I don't think the flavor
is quite as good as the Jack Links.
- Something we should take into account though
is there is a review on Amazon from a guy named Fred
who gave it five stars and said, "I like it."
- I don't think Fred bought all of 'em
and was eating them back to back though.
- Not as good as Jack Links.
- Not as good as Jack Links, it's not as tender,
it's not as flavorful.
If you got a lot of time to kill,
you might wanna move this up on your own list.
- What happens when you point your finger at the sky
and say Jack Links?
- Nothing.
(upbeat music)
- Over in the Mythical Kitchen Josh and Nicole
are taking on the Internet's biggest food debates.
If you wanna hear what they have to say,
check out A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the podcast.
Wherever you get your podcasts.
- It's a very consumable length.
- Yeah. - You've got
like a 20 minute podcast, you can fit that in,
check it out. - About the length
of a hot dog.
- All right, so now we've got the most expensive
on our list.
What is this?
- [Both] Field Trip, Get Out There.
- Can I smell?
- Original.
Yeah.
- Not smell good.
It smells like a field trip.
- Now, their--
- It's got stuff all over.
- Their cut is similar to Jack Links,
a little thinner, there seems to be more
of a seasoning on it, which this original seasoning
is sea salt and black pepper
with brown sugar/hickory marinade.
A lot of pepper.
- I do not like this taste, and I like pepper.
There's almost like a mineraly, like metaly taste to it.
Is it not?
- [Link] Yeah, I don't know how are they getting away
with charging the most for this one because--
- That is not good.
I feel like I gotta give it another chance though,
I mean. - I know.
- And I love field trips, that's the thing.
That was the best part of school.
It's a great slogan, get out there!
- This piece is a lot more tender, but--
- There's three guys, Matt, Scott, and Tom
who are watching this now, welcome, Matt, Scott, and Tom.
- It's more about the seasoning than the meat
and you either like the seasoning or you don't.
- So, I do not, and I don't like the meat taste either.
- And if I was tasting it on its own
I might not be so critical, but when you put it beside
these other ones, it's just, it's not worth
the additional price.
- Yeah, sorry, we're not going on a field trip today.
(upbeat music)
Now we've got Krave.
And now, for somebody who's been, I visit the jerky section
on a pretty regular basis.
Fro me, Krave sort of represents the point in which
jerky got cool all the sudden, you know what I'm saying?
Like all the sudden it was like they were trying
to do something a little more eye-catching.
Cool name, cool bag.
- Now this has no seasoning or dust on it.
I don't know what that is, that's like a grain of meat rice.
Get rid of that.
- Oh, that's got a little kick.
- Now, this one is not tender.
It kind of comes apart in pieces.
- Now, for me, initial flavor, this is towards the top.
This is rivaling Jack Links for me at this point.
- I'm not feeling the taste as much.
Let me try a different piece.
It tastes like beef from Taco Bell.
- And?
- And all they say they put on it is sea salt.
- It's got more than that.
- Definitely.
- You gotta look at the ingredients list,
not just the front.
I like the fact that it's got kick.
It's Not as good as Jack Links, so I'm not gonna argue
with you there.
- I think we need to compare the two, Oberto!
(Italian music)
I'm taking a little piece.
- Oh.
Oberto's way more smoky.
- I like it better.
- I'm kind of on the fence between these two
'cause Oberto's flavor is good.
- These are neck and neck.
- If you feel strongly about that,
I'm not gonna argue with you,
but I'm telling you right now--
- But they are neck and neck right there in the middle.
- Jack Links is the best so far, let's keep going.
(upbeat music)
- Country Archer jerky, take a sniff of that
while I give you some of the history, Rhett.
In 1977, a butcher named Celestino Charlie Mirarchi
started making it selling jerky at a roadside stand
and eventually it launched into a brand.
And judging by Charlie's only photo on the website,
I might have to call him sexy Dave Thomas from Wendy's.
- You find that sexy?
- Yeah, especially when you just looking at his face.
- I find that expression, especially next to a side of beef,
just a little unsettling.
But I'll tell you what, I find his jerky--
- A lot more variety in the cuts.
- Is bringing it hard, wow.
That's good jerky.
- It's flavorful.
- Man!
That's so next level, what's his name?
- Charlie Mirarchi.
- That's piece was just like a steak at a restaurant.
It was just like, I mean, it was so tender.
- And the flavor is expected, it's not,
oh this is weird.
- I thought you were gonna say exquisite.
- Exquisite too.
- Expected, which is not, doesn't compute with me, but.
- I mean, even if I tasted Jack Links--
- I can't stop eating it.
I mean, it's so much better.
- Rip some of that.
- I didn't think you could get more tender
than the Jack Links, but this is almost twice as tender.
- Jack Links still taste good,
but this is, look, I was gonna say gourmet.
As gourmet as jerky gets.
You've done it, Archer, Country Archer.
They're established 1977, the year I was born,
and I didn't even know about it.
- Put it at number one.
- I should know about everything from the year I was born.
- That is currently, we got Country Archer
at the Beef Chief zone, but we got one more try y'all.
(upbeat music)
- And finally we have Chef's Cut jerky.
In 2004 chef Blair BJ Swiler was caddying for man
named Dennis Ridell on the golf course
and I don't know if I'm supposed to know
who Dennis Ridell is, but apparently it was so good
that when he gave him his famous homemade beef jerky
that a brand was born.
And now we have it here in a very small bag.
There's a pack-- - I've been a fan
of Chef's Cut. - Really?
How do you know about this?
You've been jerking without me.
- Now, if you look at it, it looks unlike,
it's like in the most raw form--
- Wow, that's just strange, but I think that might be good,
it's just like putting a piece of beef on a--
- It's like the beef has just been jerked into a bag.
- Oh, hold on a second.
- Let me taste.
- It's so tender!
- Not as tender as Country Archer.
- Uh-uh, think again, friend.
- Bring that back over.
- This is like just setting a piece of beef
on a board and letting it dry.
I mean, I know that's all jerky, but.
- This is more moist.
- But tenderness and dryness are different things.
- Yeah, so it's definitely dryer than the archer.
- First of all, you took almost all of it.
I got some, I found some.
- I just wanted to show the people.
- First of all, right off the bat--
- [Link] And I go back and forth.
- Both of these are the best two.
I don't think there's any question in my mind.
- There is a question in my mind if the--
- It says, "It's like steak in a bag."
This is the thing, you don't like steak, though,
which is an interesting thing,
and this is getting to be very much like steak.
- [Link] It's falling apart, I don't love that about it.
The fact that there's like a bunch of little pieces.
- We've had a lot of jerky.
I mean, I've had my like recommended daily allowance.
- You've got a Jack Link, you got a Jack Link,
you got a Chef's Cut, and then you've got Country Archer.
Now, in terms of the taste.
- This is not easy.
This is a hard job.
Which jerky's the best?
Gotta get it right.
- I think we know that our value pick is Jack Links,
for it to be the least expensive for it to be
in the running.
- Jack Links is falling off a cliff
compared to these top two, for me.
It's not even remotely in the same territory.
- I think we're moving it down, and then we're trying
to decide between these.
- Here's what I'll say.
This is almost so non-jerky like that's it's bordering
on something else.
And I think that for jerky people,
I think that you're gonna want something
that still holds up like jerky.
- [Link] The Chef's Cut is dryer, the taste is less
classic jerky, but--
- It just tastes like a piece of brisket
put on a board and dried, which is very, very good,
but it's getting close to not being jerky.
So I think I see where you're headed,
I think I'm headed to the same place.
- Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to crown
Country Archer as the beef chief and the best jerky.
And It wasn't easy.
Shout out to Jack and the Chef.
- But that's some good jerky, I mean,
that is some incredible jerky that is just,
I mean, you don't even have to go on a field trip
to get to it.
Just go to the store and get it.
Not a sponsor, but maybe you should be,
we're here, we're waiting, Country Archer.
We'll even shake Dave's hand, or whatever his name was,
Celestino, he's probably dead.
If he's not, we'll have him on the show.
- Sexy Dave, Oberto! (Italian music)
You know what to do.
Click that bell and know what time it is.
- This is Steven from Springfield, Missouri
and this is freshly made cow tongue
and it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
- Lingua, very, very tasty, very tender.
Okay, click the top link to watch us try to figure out
which body parts we're touching with a Slim Jim.
That's my shoulder in Good Mythical More.
- And to find out where the Wheel of Mythicality's
gonna land.
Put us up on your wall, y'all.
Rhett and Link posters are available now at mythical.com.