#47 – SLICED SPICY PORK JERKY at MALAYSIA BEEF JERKY

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

It’s only recently that I really started appreciating beef jerky. I think it was a little too spicy and smoky for me when I was younger. Back then a bag of Fritos was much more exciting to me than a long stick of dried meat.

Now that I realize which of those two dishes (if prepared properly) consists of real ingredients, my palette has matured, and funky all natural jerky is available from places like The Meat Hook and Kings County Jerky, I’ve really come to love the stuff.

There’s also a strange (and I suppose authentic) phenomenon of jerky shops all throughout Chinatown. Lawrence, the NYC Food Guy, took me to one when we were filming the ice cream episode a few years ago. It was a brand new experience for me.

TONY suggests not the beef (nor the shrimp nor the chicken), but the spicy pork variety. In the little shop (where I was forbidden from taking photos), sheets of dried beef are offered alongside each other priced by pound. You can get this stuff by squares (soft and tender) or sliced (hard and chewy).

The woman told me that both had the same flavor. Just to be sure, I got a few pieces of both.

I started with the soft glistening square dotted with black bits of char. This is the true definition of meat candy. It was tender and sweet with hints of caramelized pork and pepper. I found it a bit too greasy overall and the richness got to me very quickly.

The sliced leathery sliver (which is what Time Out specifically recommends) was much more enjoyable. Contrary to what the employee told me, this was spicier than the other piece. The heat played nicely with the candied sweetness of the meat and I liked the slight chew to it. Who needs Asian BBQ when you could have a pocketful of this stuff?

Would Malaysia Beef Jerky’s Sliced Spicy Pork Jerky make my Top 100 of the year? It’s quite a delicious treat and a fun place to take out of towners so it gets an 7 out of 10 even though I prefer my jerky a little less oily .