Is it worth paying more for products endorsed by celebrities?

Curiosity killed the cat. I am often doing impulse purchases when I see a new product. Waitrose has teamed up with Heston and Delia, arguably two of the biggest names in the British cooking market.

Heston Blumenthal has created a range of seasonal and around-the-year products for Waitrose. And I have been slowly testing the range.

I have already written about Heston Olive Oil and Vanilla Biscuits, Heston Mince Pies and Heston stuffing.
Heston for Waitrose Lapsang Souchon tea smoked salmon was on offer last week (for £2.99 instead of the usual £4.49), so I decided to try it. The idea of Scottish Salmon Smoked over a blend of Oak and Lapsang Souchong Tea sounds good.

 Did it meet my expectations?  Lapsang has a very distinctive smokey flavour, and I anticipated a deeper and  more pronounced smokiness from Heston's take on the smoked salmon, but it was pretty mild and lacking in the intensity of the expected flavour.

Sadly the unique aroma of lapsang has gone with the wind (or smoke, lol). It is just not there. While it was interesting to try it, I don't think paying £4.49 for a small packet makes any sense.

If you were shopping in Waitrose before Christmas, you couldn't fail to notice Delia's Classic Christmas Cake mix and Delia's Cranberry and Orange relish boxed ingredients.

Christmas Cake didn't hold much attraction to me, and also my kitchen was groaning under the weight of panettones and pandoros that I bought for gifts and for our Christmas meal.
The relish mix was something I considered buying but wasn't too sure if buying the ingredients separately would be a better choice.

The recipe was printed on the box and was very easy to follow. The box included a very small orange, a bag of cranberries and a mini bag of sugar with spices including a cinnamon stick. All you had to do is add a spoonful or two of port and cook it for 5 minutes. As the orange was very small, there wasn't enough orange juice and I added more, thankfully I had some oranges at home.
The result was a sharpish refreshing relish, which worked really well with the meat. It was sold in Waitrose at £2.99. Was it worth it? You could probably save a bit by buying all the ingredients separately, as most of the people who consider making their own relish would probably have sugar and spices at home. I would also buy a bigger orange for this recipe.

In the future I will follow the recipe but buy my own ingredients.

From my own experience buying the products endorsed by the celebrities is a hit and miss, some products are good enough to pay more, some are disappointing and are definitely overpriced. Basically you pay for the name on the box rather than for the actual product.

So, is it worth paying more for products endorsed by the celebrities?
And the answer is don't be swayed by the famous names and use your common sense.

Our Christmas duck (The Quilters Kitchen recipe)

I came across Jennifer Chiaverini's books by pure chance, browsing the Returned Fiction shelves in the local library. Having read one, I got hooked and started looking for the other books in the series (I believe there are 14 in total). I haven't read them all, but the escapism of the series has a strong appeal.

"The Quilter's Kitchen" met some serious criticism among the fans of the series who complained that the plot was thin and the characters were flat. I think they missed the point that the plot is just the thread that holds all the recipes together, as first of all, it is a cook book, and should be appreciated as such. I read the recipes with great interest, as they are holding the key to the past and I felt immersed in a different world and reality.

I don't mind the American measurements or cooking ingredients. But as these recipes mostly cater for a crowd or at least a big family, it won't be as easy for me to recreate some of them, as simply halving the amount doesn't work, you still need to know the ratio etc.

I planned to cook a duck for our Christmas, and Chiaverini's recipe for the roast duck with the raspberry coulis was very inspiring.

Roast Duck with Raspberry Coulis

serves 6

1 whole duck (about 7 pounds), excess fat and skin removed from neck and cavity

Kosher salt and black pepper

1/4 cup molasses

Juice and rind from 2 oranges

3 garlic cloves, minced

For the raspberry coulis:

12 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp molasses

1tbsp brandy

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Using a sharp knife, carefully score the breast of the duck, about four times on each side, cutting through the skin to allow fat to render. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the molasses, orange juice and garlic in a small bowl and stir to combine. Place the orange rinds inside the cavity of the duck. Place the duck in a small roasting pan or large oven-proof skillet and brush with about one-quarter of the molasses mixture.

Transfer the duck to the oven and roast, basting every hour with the molasses mixture, until very tender and the legs move easily in their joints, about 4 to 5 hours.

 

 

Prepare the coulis: While the duck is cooking, place the raspberries, sugar, molasses and brandy in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Refrigerate until ready to use.

As often, I used the recipe as an inspiration and changed a few bits. I didn't have molasses, but have read that the treacle is the closest in flavour and texture, so I used the treacle instead. Less garlic too.

Plus I added stuffing inside the cavity. The stuffing was Heston Blumenthal's duck and pork stuffing with red cherries (again my curiosity defeated me, as the stuffing was just OK, nothing to write home about, won't be buying it again).

And I cooked it for about 3 hours, not more.

I served the duck with the coulis and also the cranberry & orange relish.

The recipe works well, and my thanks go to Jennifer Chiaverini for an inspirational cook book!

Mince pies: Heston vs The Authentic Bread Company

When Heston Blumenthal's take on mince pies hit the shelves in Waitrose last year, the brouhaha followed their appearance. The year before his orange pudding with a whole orange inside was so popular that it was sold on ebay for crazy money (and presumably bought by people with more money than sense). I didn't fancy a pudding, so stayed away from it. I guess I never acquired a taste for this British delicacy. The only way I can eat the pudding is with lots of good quality ice cream.

.

I first encountered The Authentic Bread Company when they sent a small cute box with a mince pie enclosed with the Abel&Cole veg box. It was so delicious, I ordered two boxes of mince pies for our Christmas. As you can see from the photos below, mini mince pies are an absolute delight to look at. They are very tasty, with a perfect ratio of the light crumbly buttery shortcrust pastry to the mincemeat, and they are organic, which is an added bonus.

Alas, these melt-in-the-mouth little beauties are only avaiable at Christmas time.

Heston's mince pies with a twist boasted an unusual combination of the lemon curd, apple puree and rose water with the currants and raisins in the pie. But the most exciting bit was the smell of the Christmas tree, in the form of pine oil, in the sugar on top.
"Warm in the oven and then sprinkle with pine sugar for a real festive twist," say the instructions on the box. When I tried to explain to my Mum the concept in our phone conversation, she was left unconvinced and puzzled, as to why would I want my food to smell like a Christmas tree. It's the bears who eat the pine cones and pine needles before they hibernate. Good point, Mum, but I was still intrigued by the idea of a lovely smell coming from my mince pies, and bought a box of Heston's experimental delights to try.

The smell of the pine sugar on the hot pastry is truly inspired. As soon as the fine sugar hits the hot surface, the kitchen fills with a wonderful aroma. I loved it, such a fab idea. But the smell fades away almost immediately. The pastry itself is crumbly and flaky, very light. The mincemeat is not overpowering. But is it a mince pie? Not sure if it should have been named as such.

To be fair, these two different mince pie varieties should be judged in two categories. The Authentic Bread Company mini mince pies would win a golden branch as the classic traditional mince pies.

Heston definitely gets my vote for the originality and inspiration.

I was rooting for The Authentic Bread Company, my husband loved Heston's creations. Eddie the human hoover ate both with gusto, Sasha did not eat any.

Come Christmas'12 I will be buying both varieties again.

How many days are left until the next Christmas?

Heston Blumenthal's olive oil and vanilla biscuits (review)

Just in case I have some friends coming to visit me at a very short notice, I decided to try some new Heston Blumenthal's biscuits.

Heston Blumenthal’s frozen dough packs mean you can have a plate full of biscuits in just 15 minutes after you take them out of the freezer. There are twelve biscuits per pack and they come in three Heston-derful flavours: olive oil and vanilla, chocolate and caraway, and almond and marzipan. £3.79 for 12, available at Waitrose.
It was very easy to bake a batch of biscuits, the kitchen smelled lovely.
As for the taste, I cannot say I was impressed. If anything, they were a tad disappointing. For £3.79 for a pack of biscuits I expected something a bit more inspired. You can hardly taste the vanilla in them. However, the texture is right, nice and crumbly. I just wish there was more vanilla.
Will I buy them again? Probably not. But I might be tempted to try the other two varieties.