Lately I’ve been gravitating towards biltong for my meat snacking needs, rather than jerky (which can sometimes be loaded with lots of sugars). Biltong is a meat snack that originated in Africa. Generally this stuff is seasoned and dried whole muscle meat, sliced thin.
While both biltong and jerky are high in sodium, I sweat like a shitstain with all the running and physical activity I’m engaged in, so I don’t mind that so much.
What I like about biltong in particular is that it’s shaved nice and thin, and that means it’s almost always tender and not aggressively chewy. I had some jerky recently that made my jaw muscle sore for a week after eating. Fuck that noise.
Anyway, enter Stryve brand biltong. This stuff was the cheapest and had the largest portion sizes/bags that I could find on Amazon. They also had the most interesting flavors, like spicy peri peri and hatch chili.
Both the biltong and the meat sticks from these guys are great. Meat sticks are often times greasy and overly salty. Not these. They’re perfect.
A great way to satiate snack time hunger while also delivering protein, zinc and B-vitamins.
Give this brand a try. I fucking love it. The only down side is that the bags of biltong are an absolute BITCH to re-ziplock (yup – Ziplock is a brand, and I’m diluting it with genericide so that you know what the fuck I’m talking about). But if you call yourself a man, you should probably just crush the entire bag in one sitting anyway. There’s only two servings in the size I purchased.
Chalk this up to successful targeted Facebook marketing campaigns. I first learned of this snack bar through an ad on Facebook. The label caught my eye: bold typeface listing all of the ingredients, and there were just four. Egg whites. Dates. Almonds. Cashews.
Good numbers as far as nutrients go, and the ingredient label pretty much checked out.
I saw them in Walgreens on sale, two for $5, so I picked up four of them (three flavors – blueberry, chocolate chip, and chocolate sea salt – I doubled up on the blueberry).
They’re all really good. They’re chewy, so expect to pick some bits off the surfaces of your teeth in the subsequent 20 minutes or so after eating.
Worth it though, for a nice change-up to the snack bars I’ve been eating. It was a toss up in terms of my favorite – all were good, and I’d buy them all again.
I’ve been holding off on talking about Kow Cattle Company for a bit, hoping to visit the farm and facilities out in Iowa first, but I’ve been privileged to eat so much of it in the past year that I just couldn’t hold back anymore – especially after the beef binge I just had with their product at Nobu 57.
Kow Cattle Company is a small producer of highly marbled, domestically raised wagyu full blood and purebred animals in Iowa. They’re consistently raising cattle that grade out at super high prime, with BMS scores of 8 or higher.
They made a big splash in the NYC meat scene and made some great connections both in the restaurant world and in the influencer world.
Some noteworthy folks who are featuring their product fairly regularly: BLT Steak, Delmonico’s, The Grill, The James Beard House, The Gotham Burger Social Club, Bistrot Leo, Boucherie, and, of course Nobu 57 (and more as well).
Supply isn’t always high at Kow, so if you see some on a menu, grab it while you can.
My first run-in with this delicious stuff was at Bistrot Leo. I tried a burger, some tenderloin tartare, filet skewers and a tomahawk rib eye that night. As you might imagine, the shit was delicious.
One of the owners of the company, Jon Urbana, who has since become a good friend of mine, sent me home with a beautiful strip steak to cook up:
Later, I banged out a tomahawk at home as well. Absolutely stunning.
The high quality, and more importantly the consistency of that quality, is pretty much untouched by any domestic producer of wagyu beef here in the states. I’d love to get some of it into my shop, but they’re currently only shipping direct from their site. Believe me, a LOT of distributors are trying to get their paws on this stuff right now. I’m not alone.
In any case, seeing that Nobu 57 is one of Kow’s purveyors here in NYC, Jon brought me there to try some of the new lot of striploin that they have.
What occurred was nothing less than a Kow Cattle Company strip loin omakase for the ages.
COURSE 1
This preparation is thinly sliced, torched and sauced with ponzu and some sesame, rare to raw. Simple and delicious.
COURSE 2
Beef nigiri sushi. This had a quick sear on the edges, rare to raw.
COURSE 3
Tataki. One of my favorites. Thin sliced after being seared on the edges, rare to raw, and then lightly dressed and garnished with some ginger and shiso.
COURSE 4
This was my favorite. This was seared on the edges as well, rare to raw, but sliced a bit thicker and garnished with a black garlic sauce and some micro sprouts. Incredible.
COURSE 5
This was similar to sukiyaki, a saucy stew with onions and greens. Really tasty, and it demonstrates that even when cooked through, this stuff is tender and savory.
COURSE 6
Classic steakhouse fare here: seared and sliced, rare to medium rare, served with a garlic miso butter on a bed of grilled asparagus. Perfection.
COURSE 7
Foie gras and wagyu beef potsticker dumplings. So decadent, and they ate almost like soup dumplings with that burst of liquified foie and wagyu renderings.
I think that covers it. When you go to Nobu 57, you’ll find Kow on the “washu” side of the menu. Ask about some of the preparations you saw here, because they’re not always on the menu. If you know about them, they may accomodate you if they have the ability. Some stuff is limited availablility, so go early and go often.
I really like this new carving knife set that Cangshan Cutlery sent me to test out. Here’s a quick unboxing video:
I used it today to slice up a small porterhouse. The set was clearly overpowered for this job, so next week I’ll cut up something bigger.
I really love the knife set. As I mentioned in the video, it’s sharp and ready to rock, right out of the box. It sports a sleek, beautiful design, and it’s well made. It feels natural in your hands with the correct weight balance as well. Can’t wait to use it again.
OWYN (Only What You Need) is a plant-based line of protein products. I recently picked up a shitload of their items because I was looking to try something new for high protein, low sugar and high fiber drinks, snacks and coffees. I know, I know… What the fuck is Johnny Prime doing with plant-based shit? Clearly I don’t give a fuck about ANY of that shit. But if it tastes good, I’m in! I DO eat vegetables, you know… Anyway here’s what I got:
Protein snack bars, protein coffee, protein drinks, and protein powder. Let’s start with the protein coffee.
I love this shit. This is now part of my morning routine.
The flavor is great, it gives me a little caffeine boost without being all jittery.
Next up, the snack bars:
As you can see, I got a shitload. These, in combination with a protein drink, are meant to be my lunch at work (since I eat like an unhinged maniac during most dinners) or an occasional snack after dinner if I’m still hungry. Here is a closer look at the flavors:
They’re mainly made up of seeds and natural plant protein isolates, like pea powder, pumpkin seeds, chia, etc. But they don’t taste like rabbit food, and the flavors aren’t too sweet or overwhelming. They’re just right.
The ready-to-drink protein shakes are awesome.
Vanilla is my least favorite of the three, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad flavor by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that the chocolate and strawberry/banana are better, in my opinion.
I’ve tried the powder once before; it was a coffee flavor. The vanilla and chocolate are better. They taste just like the pre-made shakes.
I totally stand behind these products. I think you’ll like them if you’re into this sort of stuff, regardless of the plant-based marketing. Give this shit a shot. If they can satisfy a rabid carnivore like me, I’m fairly certain they have an excellent product on their hands.
Incase you haven’t noticed, I have been going nuts over these awesome knives that I found on Instagram. They’re pretty gorgeous in the photos on their website, so I was psyched to try them out in person. I guess the best way to demonstrate is to show the unboxing videos and then me using them. I have four so far, so here we go…
6in Gokujo Boning Knife:
Here I am using it to pull some meat off the bone:
9in Kitisuke Chef Knife:
Here I am slicing a bunch of steaks with it:
Bird’s Beak Paring Knife:
Here I am using it to peel some lemon rinds and apple skin:
8in Executive Plus Chef Knife:
Here I am slicing up some strip steaks with it:
I can’t wait to get my hands on some more of these knives. They’re fantastic. Three of these are folded steel, double edged and really high end stuff. I love them.
Finally got to play with a cleaver and some steak knives:
I had my hands on Righteous Felon jerky one other time in the past, when I tried their Halo Diablo flavor that was a collaboration with the St. Lucifer habanero spice. I remember thinking it was really good. Well, Righteous Felon sent me some more samples:
My natural proclivity is to go for the spicy shit, so I picked the habanero flavored one (different from the St. Lucifer collaboration, for sure).
It was good! The rest were all superb as well. This is a great brand. If you see it on the shelf, grab it. And if you like puns, their entire line-up of flavor names is pun after pun.
UPDATE! This company also makes some really great beef sticks.
Three Jerks sent me some samples of their filet mignon jerky:
I was excited to try these out, as it seems to be quite an expensive and dedicated endeavor to take one of the animal’s most coveted cuts of steak and turn it into a dried meat snack. I was impressed.
The flavors are all quite good, but I liked this “maple bourbon churro” one the best, which is atypical since I usually like spicy flavored jerky. I definitely recommend this brand, and I look forward to trying their black truffle flavor next.
This is just a quick review of a new kitchen gadget I obtained after seeing some pics of it on Instagram. It’s a stovetop smoker that makes it easy to obtain smoked flavors without needing to open your windows or use something outside. My first attempt was with chicken.
The result was really nice – roasted and smoked. I will update this post as I try smoking more stuff.
It’s National Jerky Day so I need to give you fuckers something for it. I recently got my hands on a bunch of flavors of this brand during a Certified Angus Beef tour of a meat purveyor near NYC (DeBragga).
This stuff is really good, and it reminds me of the stem portions of the “Say it with Beef” jerky rose bouquet that my wife got me for Valentine’s Day.
I highly recommend this product. Every flavor is delicious, tender and flavorful, as they are all made with CAB brand high quality meats. If you see it around, buy it all up.
