Yumei – Sichuan Style Spicy Beef Jerky

Bitter: 🟡🟡○○○

Salty: 🟡 🟡🟡🟡○

Sour/Tangy:🟡○○○○

Sweet: 🟡🟡○○○

Umami: 🟡🟡🟡🟡○

Heat: 🟡🟡○○○○○○○○

Quick Flavor Notes: Chile, Umami, Numbing, Menthol

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Medium-chewy beef in chile oil

Ingredients: Beef, Spicy Beef Sauce (Vegetable Oil, Chili Powder, Sugar, Sesame, Monosodium Glutamate, Fermented Black Bean, Pepper Powder), Vegetable Oil, Salt, Bay Leaf, Cooking Wine (Rice, Water, Wheat, Salt, Caramel).

I recently discovered the wonders of Weee! an online Asian market and ordered entirely too much stuff. This is one of the items which I picked up and since I always love beef jerky it was one of the first things I wanted to try (in addition to a spice mix from Yunnan province called Danshan that will have a review up later on after I’ve used it in more ways). The Yumei brand is based in Sichuan province in China. They’re known primarily for making instant foods such as self-heating hot pots, instant noodles, and read-to-eat prepackaged snacks such as this as well as pickled vegetable snacks. Interestingly while the company is based in China this particular product of theirs is made in the USA. I imagine that could have something to do with regulations regarding importing Chinese beef.

Sichuan province has a long history of beef jerky where it’s locally known as Niurougan. Originally developed as a means of preserving meat the traditional method involves braising or boiling the beef before deep frying it and then coating it in a spicy mala chile oil that incorporates the province’s signature blend of numbing Sichuan peppercorns and spicy dried chiles. Both chiles and Sichuan peppercorns have antimicrobial properties which helped the people of Sichuan preserve meat before widespread adoption of refrigeration. Yumei Sichuan Style Spicy Beef Jerky keeps things simple with a straightforward chile oil combining chiles, oil, fermented black beans, MSG, and Sichuan pepper powder. The other seasonings are just some sesame, bay leaf, and Chinese cooking wine. Despite being a made-in-the-USA product the label contains plenty of Chinese text including some entertaining ones such as “Food and beauty should not be missed” on the back and “Bee Spicy” on the front. There’s also a suggestion that this beef jerky pairs perfectly with drinks, which is a common pairing in Sichuan province.

Texturally Yumei Sichuan Style Spicy Beef Jerky is very wet soaking in a ton of chili oil which makes eating it as a traditional snack by hand like most beef jerky inadvisable. Instead the bag recommends serving it over rice which is what I chose to do. Dumping the bag out over a bowl of hot rice stains the rice a nice orange color as the chili oil soaks in and helps warm the jerky. The jerky itself lands between traditional jerky, tough and chewy, and the newer steak-tip style jerky, tender and moist. The pieces are small but have some toothsomeness and chew. In terms of flavor while you can taste the beef the overall flavor is very much of the chili oil. There’s both a deep umami in the chili oil, from the MSG and fermented beans, as well as a woodsy slightly mentholated flavor from the Sichuan peppercorns, plus of course the earthy flavor and heat from the dried chiles themselves. The more of this that you eat the more pronounced the numbing sensation from the Sichuan peppercorns becomes and strangely with the combination of spices in this somehow a cooling effect in your mouth as well. Hunting through the rice and chili oil for little pieces of beef is actually quite fun and I can see why this is a popular drinking snack in Sichuan province. Heat level is relatively low, there’s some warmth a bit of kick but I’ve had much spicier chili oils in the past.

I’m happy to recommend Yumei Sichuan Style Spicy Beef Jerky. It’s affordable, made using local American beef, has a great flavor, and is a unique spin on beef jerky different from what most of us are used to. It does go great over rice but would also be excellent over noodles or just in a bowl where the beef bits can be picked out by chopsticks. If you’re looking for a fun Chinese beef snack this is a great way to go.