Mahogany Smoked Meats - Meat-Lovers Paradise in Bishop, CA

Comparing jerky from Mahogany Smoked Meats to your typical mass-produced jerky is like comparing fresh wild salmon to fish sticks!  It is quite simply the best jerky you'll ever eat!  Check out http://www.smokedmeats.com/, or even better, stop in for a visit, stock your backpack for your next hike, and sit down to have a sandwich.

The jerkys range from traditional offerings, like Western Beef with it's delicious teriyaki flavor and Cowboy Style Dried Beef which is a thick-cut slab that requires a sharp knife to enjoy and share, to original creations with some real punch, like the Habanero Beef Jerky and the Sweet and Spicy Turkey Jerky.  I just like saying "Turkey Jerky", so I ended up ordering the most of this flavor, and as luck would have it, it turned out to be my favorite.

Before you blow all your money on the jerky, be sure and stop by the cold meats counter, because the smoked Canadian bacon is the yardstick by which other bacon should be measured.  The smoked turkey is also fantastic, and comparable to what I could produce on my decades-old Weber grill at home (which is a high compliment, in my opinion).  We also picked up some of the smoked cheese, as compared to other cheeses available locally, the price was right.  Alas, we have not opened it yet, so I can't comment on the flavor.  I've also been frustrated knowing that some of the best cheese I've ever had is produced just a few hundred miles away on the Marin-Sonoma Cheese Trail (http://www.marineconomicforum.org/images/Map_for_web_crx.pdf), so I was hoping this would be locally-produced.  Unfortunately, the counter help at Mahogany Smoked Meats had no idea where the cheese came from, but I bought it anyways.  Stay tuned for our trip reports from the Cheese Trail, as this is going to be one of the high points of our journey!

Finally, after sampling and loading up on jerky and smoked meats, you will be starving for more, so stop by the sandwich counter and have lunch!

I was lucky to get that picture, as once again a fight erupted over the meal the instant I set it down on the table.

In case you are wondering what a mountain mahogany tree looks like, here is one loaded with fuzzy seeds that we walked past the next day.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, then lean in really close, you can smell my backpack full of jerky!

Of course, Mahogany Smoked Jerky is likely to be my downfall.  As I will greedily insist on carrying it on every hike, my wife has assured me that the bear will smell the jerky and go after me instead of her.