Pop's Authentic Snack Sticks

Pop's Authentic Snack Sticks is a brand of Jennings Premium Meats of New Franklin, MO. It's a relatively new business, based on an old family recipe passed down by "Pop Jennings", the patriarch of the family. Pop used to run a butcher shop back in the 1950s.

Their marketing firm sent these to me for review.

Pop's Authentic actually refers to these as "Handmade Artisan Meat Snacks", perhaps taking meat sticks into the realm of gourmet. I'm prepared to nibble these sticks with my pinky finger extended.

I'm evaluating three of their varieties, the Original, the Peppered, and the Habanero.

These are all a mixture of beef and pork.

The Original has a mild flavor, mostly noted by a light tanginess. I note the ingredients list shows "encapsulated citric acid", maybe that's where it comes from. There's also a mild to moderate saltiness, along with a meaty flavor, and faint garlic touch.

The Peppered variety does indeed have a black pepper flavor, but not overpowering. It shows up a lot better after having eaten the Original variety. I'm getting a decent black pepper aftertaste as well. It also has the same tanginess, saltiness, as the Original, and the meaty and garlic flavor.

The Habanero variety has a notciecable light chile pepper flavor, as well as a light chile pepper burn. I wouldn't let the word "Habanero" scare anyone however. I don't really see this as "hot". On my hot scale, I'd rank this as "mild-medium", but then again, I'm used to eating hot foods. This too has the same tanginess, saltiness, meat flavor, and garlic as the Original.




The texture of these sticks are all moderately soft, easy to bite off chunks, and easy to chew. The Peppered variety seemed to be more dry than the Original and Habanero. The skin of these sticks provide some crunch, while the sticks themselves have a little bit of snap to it as I bite off a chunk.

They're also pretty clean eating, in that my fingers don't feel greasy, wet, or sticky. There's actually still a slight bit of residue on my fingers, yet still dry enough to type away on my keyboard without having lick them or wipe them.

As for being dubbed "Handmade Artisan Meat Snacks" I do see indeed see these as better quality than the Slim Jims and the other national brands found in convenience stores. They're softer, meatier, and have more flavor.

Overall, my favorite between the Original, Peppered, and Habanero, goes to the Habanero. The flavor is actually quite good, though I'm partial chile peppers. However, the consistency and texture of the Habanero I felt was superior to that of the Original and Peppered varieties. The skin was easy to pierce through, but gave off a nice little crunch, and the meat stick itself had a snap to it everytime I bit off a piece. Yet overall, it provided a soft, moist chew.

But compared to some other gourmet brands of meat sticks like Timberline Smokehouse or House of Jerky, these sticks from Pop's Authentic seem to be pretty competitive. I'd say the Original and the Peppered are right there in the ballpark with the other gourmet brands. However, the Habanero was pretty good I think in both taste the texture, and those other gourmet would be hard pressed to top it.

You can buy Pop's Authentic Snack Sticks from their website...

http://www.popsauthentic.com/

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by Steve ~ Monday, September 14, 2009 0 comments

Timberline Smokehouse - Baby Jack's Snack Sticks

Last week I wrote about Timberline Smokehouse, reviewing their Mountain Man Timber Sticks. Today, I have their Baby Jack's Snack Sticks.

Read that previous review for more background info about Timberline Smokehouse.

These Baby Jack's Snack Sticks are described as being made with Pepper Jack Cheese. The ingredients shows both beef and pork, and the cheese shows including Jalapeno Pepper.

Oddly enough, the ingredients does not list Pepper Jack Cheese, but American Cheese.

So do these taste anything like cheese?

Yes they do! Compared to their Mountain Man Timber Sticks, these Baby Jack's Snack Sticks have a well-noticed cheese flavor. The cheese itself has an ever-so-slight peppery flavor. I wouldn't pin it as a jalapeno flavor, but certainly a spicy, peppery flavor.




These sticks also have that tangy, vinegar-like flavor as the Mountain Man Timber Sticks, which I think comes from the lactic acid starter culture, commonly found in most sausages.

The meat consistency of these Baby Jack's are very comparable to the Mountain Man Timber Sticks, moist, but not too moist, and generally easy to chew. The skin on these things are a bit chewy.

I don't really taste the beef and pork, but they do offer a meaty chewing texture, not papery, or mushy like some other brands.

And they're fairly clean eating, I don't find them greasy at all.

Overall, these Baby Jack's Snack Sticks are still quite mild despite the "Pepper Jack" labeling, and are very comparable to the Mountain Man Timber Sticks, but with that cheesy flavor added.

Between the two, I think I prefer the Mountain Man Timber Sticks.

You can buy these online from Timberline Smokehouse:
http://www.timberlinesmokehouse.com/

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by Steve ~ Monday, August 3, 2009 0 comments

Timberline Smokehouse - Mountain Man Timber Sticks

Timberline Smokehouse is a relatively new brand of meat snacks, appearing on the market first in August of 2008. The brand is owned by Timberline Smokehouse, Inc., based out of Johnstown, PA.

Adam Thomas, who runs the company, also runs another business called "Thomas Smoked Meats", a smokehouse and store located in the same town, which he's been running since 1998. He's been offering meat sticks and jerky under that brand, and still does today, but only locally since that business only has state inspection approval.

He wanted to go national with his meat snacks, and so created this new business Timberline Smokehouse. Timberline's products are manufactured by other meat processors that have USDA inspection approval, but using the same recipes that Thomas uses for his Thomas Smoked Meats brand.

These "Mountain Man Timber Sticks" are marketed as beef sticks, but are actually a combination of beef and pork.




They have a strong tangy flavor, very much like vinegar. There's no vinegar mentioned in the ingredients, but I think it's from the lactic acid starter culture, commonly used in many sausages.

It's quite mild, I don't sense anything spicy.

The saltiness is well noticed, but not overpowering.

It doesn't really have much of a meat flavor, likely due to the stronger vinegar flavor and saltiness.

They're slightly chewy, with a meaty texture. I find them moist, comparable to salami. The skin is a little chewy.

And they're not very greasy like other sticks can be.

Overall, I really like the flavor of these sticks, noted by that tangy, vinegar-like flavor. They have a meaty chewing texture, not too soft, not too hard. Good sticks!

Buy these online from Timberline Smokehouse:
http://www.timberlinesmokehouse.com/

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by Steve ~ Thursday, July 23, 2009 0 comments

Buffalo Bills Ole Smokies - Big Buffalo

Buffalo Bills has been a favorite brand of mine, mostly due to their wide varieties of meat snacks, including at least four lines of jerky, and several lines of meat sticks.

When I wrote reviews of their jerky, the company sent me samples of their meat sticks, but I wasn't able to review them right away, since I was still planning to build a separate website to review meat sticks. It took me several months to build this site, but now that I'm here, on with the reviews...

These "Big Buffalo" sticks are thicker than most meat sticks, about the thickness of a cigar, and about a foot long.

The package is stamped with a date "Jul 2009", so it seems I'm at the tail end of freshness here.

These sticks have a very soft feel. In fact, they feel rather mushy.

Taking a bite from one of these sticks reveals the same, it's very mushy. It's almost like eating a clump of split pea soup paste straight from the can. Or perhaps, it's comparable to what "buffalo pâté" might be like. It's a very smooth texture, almost as smooth as a meat version of Gerber baby food. The only thing that allows me to handle this Big Buffalo stick is the skin, which keeps that pasty meat from my fingers.

These sticks also contain a good deal of fat, because the roof of my mouth is getting coated with fat, or lard, or whatever it is.

Again, I'll condition that review with the fact that these sticks have reached their "best by" date, so perhaps a fresh stick is much more like a true meat stick.




These sticks don't really taste like meat. They're salty, they have some spiciness to it, a bit of smokiness, and that's about it. The taste is comparable to most meat sticks, but just very mushy and pasty.

On the plus side, they don't leave my fingers oily or wet. They're very clean handling.

If you'd like to try one of these Ole Smokies Big Buffalo, visit Buffalo Bills at...

http://www.bbjerky.com/

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by Steve ~ Wednesday, July 8, 2009 0 comments

House of Jerky - Buffalo Snack Sticks

Janie at House of Jerky sent me this package of Buffalo Snack Sticks just last week, after writing a review of her Elk Snack Sticks based on a really old package.

So thankfully for her, I can write a review of these sticks based on what you'd actually get. But I also happen to have package of Buffalo Snack Sticks from several months ago as well. So, I can actually compare a new package with an old package.

Not being a true connoiseur of meat sticks, I never expected to taste the full flavor of beef, buffalo, elk, or any other meat, in a meat stick. For me, meat sticks are purely about snacking. Beef jerky, on other hand, is where you enjoy the flavor of meat, the chewing texture meat, along with the spices and marinades.

But like beef jerky, I know there are really good meat sticks, and really bad ones.

Having a couple sticks of House of Jerky's Buffalo Snack Sticks, these are definitely good meat sticks.

I tend to use Slim Jim as the base line of what a poor meat stick is like. Slim Jims are very oily, kinda bland in taste, and have a papery chewing texture.

By contrast, House of Jerky's Buffalo Snack Sticks are not really oily, but rather moist. They have a meaty flavor, though not necessarily resembling natural buffalo meat flavor. It's more similar to what you'd expect from a summer sausage, with a saltiness, and some spices, but still a "meaty" flavor.

In terms of meat consistency, these sticks are also comparable to summer sausage, having a soft, moist inside. They don't coat my mouth with a greasy film like Slim Jims and other brands often do, they don't have that "papery texture" like Slim Jims seem to have.




But going back to the flavor, I find these Buffalo Snack Sticks having a light spiciness, and with a bit of tanginess, as if some kind of vinegar was used (though vinegar is not mentioned in the ingredients).

The skin on these sticks seem thicker than other brands I've had, and are rather chewy.

I was about to say that I didn't find any crunchy hard bits of animal material, when I bit into a small piece of bone. But having eating four of the newer sticks, and three of the old, that was the first chunk of bone I encountered.

Overall, it's a better meat stick than the mass-market brands you'll find at the grocery store.

So, how does the newer package of these Buffalo Snack Sticks compare to the several-months-old package? The newer package is more soft and moist, just a little bit easier to chew. But they both have the same chewy skin, the same spiciness, the same tanginess. The older package seems to have a more stale flavor, but not necessarily a bad flavor. If all you had were old sticks, you'd still think they tasted good. But compared to the newer sticks, the newer sticks are definitely better.

BTW, the photos you see above are the newer sticks.

Buy these Buffalo Snack Sticks online at House of Jerky...
http://www.houseofjerky.net/

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by Steve ~ Monday, July 6, 2009 0 comments

Wild Hare Brand Beef Sticks

Scott Hare, owner of the Wild Hare Brand, sent me these beef sticks about 8 months ago, when I wrote a review of his beef jerky.

I had kept these laying around until I could develop a website just for meat sticks, which is the site you're reading now. So with that, here's the review...

Wild Hare Brand currently offers four different flavors of meat sticks, the Original, as well as Teriyaki, Cajun, and Maple. At the time Scott sent me these samples, they still hadn't gone on sale yet. These samples are actually his very first run.

Note that I don't have the Maple variety.

Their sticks are made from 100% beef, hickory smoked, with no MSG.

Original: Nice smoky flavor, very smooth flavor too, with a moderate level of saltiness. The flavor is comparable to a standard weiner, just more smoky. It has heavy fatty consistency that leaves behind a pasty film along the roof of my mouth. These are also very soft and moist, or perhaps greasy I should say.

Teriyaki: Also a smoky flavor, though not quite as smoky as the Original. But this clearly has a sweeter flavor than the Original. I'm not sure I'd call this a teriyaki flavor, though I could see how that moniker could be used. It has a sweetness, and a light soy-sauce-like flavor. The skin has a light tangy flavor. It's similarly as soft and moist as the Original, though also quite oily. This doesn't leave that pasty film on the roof of my mouth as the Original did.

Cajun: Oddly enough, the cajun variety doesn't really grab me as a cajun flavor. I expected a more bold, spicy flavor. This tastes quite mild, and somewhat bland, not at all what I would expect a cajun flavor to be. I can taste the same tangy flavor in the skin, but a little but more stronger. It's just as smoky as the Teriyaki, and just as soft, moist, and greasy.




Overall, the one common flavor in all three of these beef sticks is a well noticed smokiness, with the Original having a slightly stronger smokiness. If you want a mild flavored stick with a lot of smokiness, go with the Original. Between the Teriyaki and the Cajun, I prefer the Teriyaki for the more varied flavor. I thought I would like the cajun better, but it was rather bland to be called "cajun".

All three are rather soft, moist, and greasy. The Original was quite a bit more greasy, leaving that fatty film on the roof of my mouth. I didn't get any paper-like meat texture like I found with some mass-market brands.

The level of saltiness in these sticks seems moderate, not too high, and not too low.

I think you're getting a better beef stick with Wild Hare Brand than if you were to pick up a mass-market meat/beef stick at your local convenience store.

Buy 'em by the carton at Wild Hare Foods...
http://www.wildharefoods.com/

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by Steve ~ Monday, June 29, 2009 1 comments

House of Jerky - Elk Snack Sticks

House of Jerky became one of my early favorites for beef jerky. Having tried all of their jerky varieties, I found their flavor outstanding.

I didn't realize they offered meat sticks until Janie, the president of the company, sent me some sample sticks. I held on to them for quite some time, until I got around to creating a special website just for meat sticks.

These "Elk Snack Sticks", are of course made from elk, but they also contain beef.

The flavor is quite unlike meat sticks from other brands, but I'm not sure if that's due to the Elk meat, or just something unique with House of Jerky.

It's a very smooth flavor, not very spicy, though I do pick up a light spicy bite. I can detect some garlic, and a black pepper aftertaste. They're salty, just like most meat sticks, but not too terribly so.




For the most part, it has a very meaty texture. The skin does have a tougher papery chew, but it doesn't really get in the way. Overall, the chewing is about similar to dry salami, though flavorwise, I think I prefer the dry salami.

But if you're curious about elk-based meat sticks, these are certainly a worthy buy.

Interestingly, House of Jerky doesn't sell these Elk Snack Sticks by themselves. It seems you have to buy them through one of their exotic meats "Jerky Variety Packs".

Visit House of Jerky online...
http://www.houseofjerky.net/

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by Steve ~ Monday, June 22, 2009 1 comments

Buffalo Bills - Extra Smokey Beef Sticks

If you haven't already tried these Extra Smokey Beef Sticks from Buffalo Bills, you might wanna. They're are indeed "extra" smokey.

They have a great smokey flavor to them, and a somewhat spicy flavor as well, though I don't see anything in the ingredients list suggesting anything spicy. This even has some slight chocolatey notes to it, perhaps indicating something roasted, I dunno.

Unlike other meat sticks, these are very meaty. I mean, it's almost like eating a stick of salami, where you can see the meat fibers pulling away as you bite off a piece. In fact, this has a rather dry taste to it, kinda like salami.


My only "beef" with these beef sticks is they're rather salty. They're not too bad in the first several bites, but when you towards the end, the salt wears me down. I need some swigs of drink, and about 10 minutes of rest, before attacking another stick.

But mind you, these are beef sticks for real beef stick lovers. They're extra thick, the same width as a wine bottle cork, and about five inches in length. They might actually make a great cure for a hangover.

Comparison

I brought a bag of these beef sticks to a get-together that my friends and I attended last weekend. It was at the Long Shadow Ranch Winery in Temecula, where they have a "bonfire" every Saturday night. Another friend brought several sticks of Slim Jims in a variety of flavors.

I handed out these Buffalo Bills, and people thought they were pretty good.

But when they sampled the Slim Jims, they about ralphed. No one else could finish their Slim Jim samples. One guy said it was eating "meat flavored toilet paper". I mean, it actually did feel as if you were eating a chunk of toilet paper (not that I know from experience, mind you).

After the Slim Jims, my friends really loved the Buffalo Bills.

Funny how the best things in life are not readily available. The worst stuff is always easily found at a convenience store, but the better stuff you have to order online. It's just one of those things.

Get your Buffalo Bills Extra Smokeys here...

http://www.choochoorsnacks.com/

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by Steve ~ Tuesday, June 9, 2009 0 comments

Buffalo Bills - Long Shots

Meat snacks have been my favorite snack food for a long time, as evidenced by my Beef Jerky review blog. So as I've been writing that blog, beef jerky companies have sent me lots of free jerky to write about, and in addition, beef sticks.

I never created a blog just for beef sticks, and didn't really want to mix them into my beef jerky blog, so I've been writing about them here on Junk Food Blog.

These "Long Shots" are from Buffalo Bills, a meat snack brand based out of Lebanon, PA.

Beef sticks seem to take up the "dark side" of meat snacks compared to beef jerky, which the industry has managed to paint in a healthier light as being low fat, and low carb. But beef sticks are like sausage, where you love to eat them, but don't want to know what goes in 'em.

Part of the bad rap that beef sticks, in my opinion, comes from the God-awful Slim Jims. How that brand ever got to be #1 in the beef stick market is beyond me. Honestly, they're like chewing wads of toilet paper, but with a meaty flavor.

These "Long Shots" from Buffalo Bills are perhaps the closest thing they have to a Slim Jim in that they're a the same thin and long shape, and they seem to have a similar "toilet paper" chewing texture, except I think Buffalo Bills has managed to shred the toilet paper into a finer pulp for easier chewing.

And these are beef sticks, not meat sticks, in that they only use cattle carcass.


Buffalo Bills offers several varieties of beef sticks, in fact I reviewed their "Extra Smokies" on this blog, and found those to be very good. Very meaty, very smoky, with some slight chocolatey notes, and chews very similarly to hard salami. If you're looking for a good beef stick, try those.

But if you're someone who just really likes Slim Jims, then you might want to check out these Long Shots, I think they're a tad better than Slim Jims.

Otherwise, get those Extra Smokies instead.

Visit Buffalo Bills online at: http://www.choochoorsnacks.com/

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by Steve ~ Monday, June 8, 2009 0 comments

Contact Me

If you'd like submit a meat snack for review, or just contact me for some reason...

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by Steve ~ Sunday, June 7, 2009 0 comments

Riteway Meat Company - Pepperoni Tid-Bits

The cool thing about the Internet is that it lets us city-slicker geek types gain access to junk food found exclusively in the rural areas of America's back country.

That is, if someone in the rural area of America's back country is set up for e-commerce.

Riteway Meat Company is one such entity. Basically a butcher shop serving local ranchers and hunters in the small town of Dundee, OR. They sell beef jerky and other meat snacks though their website. Junk foodies like me living in the suburbia of Southern California can now enjoy processed meat munchies the way real, honest-to-God, down to earth folks make it, without having to drive a thousand miles to get there.

Actually, I didn't buy these Pepperoni Tid-Bits. They sent it to me for free, after I ordered a few packages of their beef jerky. I didn't tell them that I publish food blogs, so maybe they're just really hospitable, friendly, country folks. Anyways, I figured I had to return the favor by giving them some free pub here on JFB.

These do have the flavor of pepperoni, but a little more mild than what I'm accustomed to getting from atop of pizza or italian sub sandwich. They're quite flavorful, rather salty, and smoky. They don't have any of the papery chewing texture that a Slim Jim has, but rather quite sausage-like.




These "tid-bits" are named such because Riteway sells a longer variety, at 5 feet in length. You actually buy it that long.

So I'm guessing these tid-bits are like the ends they chop off after measuring out 5 feet of meat rope.

The size and shape of these Pepperoni Tid-Bits are quite comparable to a package of Little Smokies, except these are a little more stiff. I think they'd still do quite well simmering in a Crock Pot of BBQ sauce, or cooking in a pan of beans.

Riteway prices a package of tid-bits at $8.99 a pound. The package depicted above weighed 0.68 pounds, for a price of $6.11.

I recommend a lightly flavored pale ale, or a cream ale, to go with these.

Visit Riteway Meat Company online...

http://ritewaymeat.com

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by Steve ~ 0 comments

About Us

Beef Stick Reviews publishes reviews of meat sticks, which includes beef sticks, turkey sticks, little smokies, and snack sausages, and just about any kind of meat snack in a long cylindrical shape.

As far as sausages are concerned, this blog only reviews those meant to be eaten as snacks. Wieners, brats, bangers, generally doesn't fit into the scope of this website.

About Steve

Before launching Beef Stick Reviews, I've actively published Best Beef Jerky, a site that does reviews of beef jerky. Several jerky brands had sent me samples of their jerky for review, and some of them included samples of beef sticks.

Because I hadn't planned to write reviews on beef sticks, I didn't really know what to do with my growing supply of these things. I didn't want to write about beef sticks on my beef jerky blog. So, I created this blog, and am writing about them ehre.

I'm a junk food junkie. It's a habit passed down from my father, who introduced me to the joys of such fast food delights like the Big Mac, the old Taco Bell Enchirito, and the heavenly Jack-in-the Box tacos. And he got it from his father, who, honestly, kept hundreds of cans of chili in his cupboards, and stocked his freezer with frozen dinners.

I had since launched a blog called "Junk Food Blog", where I simply introduced new forms of candies, chocolates, chips, and fast food.

I discovered food manufacturers were anxious to send me free samples of their food in exchange for publicity on Junk Food Blog. That inspired me to create my beef jerky blog, in hopes of getting free jerky. And then to discover that jerky manufacturers wanted to send me beef sticks. And that's how it comes to this.

Submit Your Meat Sticks for Review

Interested in having me review your meat sticks?

Visit my Contact Page.

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by Steve ~ Sunday, January 4, 2009 0 comments