Trader Joe's Sliced Bresaola Uncured Beef Prosciutto

Pork purists may be appalled by this peculiar prosciutto product. Sonia and I were pleasantly pleased. We don't perpetually partake of pig.

Trader Joe's Uncured Beef Bresaola is the first bresaola I've ever had. It's very similar to traditional prosciutto in some ways, but it's made with very thinly-sliced beef instead of ham. It's dry aged, salted, and seasoned, and it gets dehydrated during the preservation process. The result is a very unique cut of meat. It's delicate like prosciutto, salty, and meaty.

The beautiful wifey and I have tried our hands at fancy charcuterie boards in the past, but this time we just went lowbrow. We treated these sumptuous slices of beef like common cold cuts and opted for Italian subs. We grabbed some basic hoagie rolls and stuffed them with this bresaola, Trader Joe's Garlic & Basil Monterey Jack Cheese Slices (review upcoming) some iceberg lettuce, as well as some Applegate Turkey Pepperoni. With just a touch of mustard and mayo, we were in business. They made very tasty little subs. I think they might have been even better if we'd drizzled them with red wine vinaigrette instead of traditional condiments. Oh well. There's always next time.

This bresaola is mostly lean, but there are swaths of fat running through the slices. Most bites are slightly firm and a tad chewy, not unlike the mouthfeel of a slice of pepperoni. It's not too far from the texture of regular prosciutto, but there's less fat overall and less melt-in-your-mouth softness.

It's saltier and more peppery than, say, a typical slice of roast beef. It still has the same red meat flavor, but the super thin slices make it feel lighter somehow. You can taste hints of the celery powder, cherry powder, nutmeg, and clove used in the curing process, but they're extremely subtle.

$6.99 is a little steep for about 15 thin slices of meat, but it's a very unique product. We might buy it again for a special occasion. Sonia was a little more enthusiastic than I was, so she'll spring for eight and a half stars. I'll go with seven and a half on Trader Joe's Sliced Bresaola Uncured Beef Prosciutto.

Sonia's score: 8.5 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Hard Cooked Eggs

Trader Joe's Hard Cooked Eggs will run you $3.49 for six eggs. They're found refrigerated near the other egg products and they come in a resealable bag. Obviously, you're paying for the packaging and the convenience since TJ's basic eggs are usually in the ballpark of three and a half bucks for a dozen.

The eggs in our bag were unblemished—nice smooth whole hard-boiled eggs. None were broken or pierced. There's a small amount of moisture in the bag, as you'd expect. There is a cautionary note on the packaging indicating there may be shell fragments in the product, but we found absolutely none in ours.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that just about everyone reading this knows what a hard-boiled egg tastes and feels like, so I guess we'll skip over the part where I describe the flavor and texture to you. We ate a couple straight out of the bag and then Sonia made egg salad with the rest. See pic. Yes, those are Trader Joe's Pickled Red Onions in the egg salad. Yummy.

We hard boil our own eggs. I like eggs just fine and the beautiful wifey is downright obsessed with them. We just wanted to check out this product and assess the quality and value because that's what we do here. Been doing it for 16 years—in fact August 16th will mark the 16th anniversary of this blog exactly. Not gonna stop any time soon.

If you've got $3.49 burning a hole in your pocket and a hankering for hard-boiled...er hard-cooked eggs, there's no reason not to buy these. It's obviously cheaper to make them yourself, but if you're short on time or just plain lazy, these will do just fine. Would be a nice item to take on a picnic or road trip. Kosher. Sourced from cage free hens. Purchased on August 2 with a "best by" date of September 23. Eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Hard Cooked Eggs.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.