24 October 2010

Two Quick Bites: Chicken & Gravy Pie / Balsamic Vinegar [by @NLi10] (Asda)

Sometimes a product doesn't merit a long review, so I'm going to bundle these occasionally into Quick Bites.

Chicken & Gravy Puff Pastry Pie


Sometimes things change. Once upon a time I loved the Asda pie range. They were cheap, and to my mind the best pies I could get easily. Then I became a disciple of the Pieminister, and never looked back.

I happened upon the old Asda pies a month ago and got some for old time’s sake and they were still good solid pies, but they were less satisfying than the Pieminister. Then recently Asda did something interesting - they changed their pies. This is as a part of their new "Chosen By You" range, presumably as opposed to their less popular option the "Chosen By Strangers" range where people you don't know choose your shopping.

Frankly it's not as good as it used to be. I'm not sure what they changed but the flavour is wrong, and just isn't as exciting as it was. The pastry wasn't as satisfying either. Not one I'll try again.


Rocca Di Vignola - Balsamic Vinegar


Balsamic Vinegar is now a region protected brand and has to be made in a very specific area (it's the little logo on the right). For some reason this change has increased the number of brands that were available on the shelf for my weekly shop and increased my shopping indecision related paralysis time. after a good few minutes staring at the bottles thinking which kind of balsamic vinegar best defines me as a person I decided to stop being crazy and went with the cheapest per volume.

The usual rules with super-discount brands are
1: No cleaning products (they just work less well)
2: No drinks - they are just more diluted (which is probably why number 1 is true thinking about it)

This means that Tesco value cola is generally a bad idea, ironically unless you are using it as a high abrasive cleaning solution. I wondered whether discount, but regionally protected vinegar would be similar.

It isn't - this is pretty much indistinguishable from any other balsamic vinegar I've had. I'd have tried to do a comparison review but the differences are all cosmetic. The bottle is less pretty, it doesn't claim to be brewed for ages or have a really old year on the bottle, it's just good balsamic vinegar for on your salad. And it cost under £1 - result!

I'm not a wine connoisseur either though so your mileage may vary, and the lovely square bottles may impress guests more.

by @NLi10

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Asda old Chicken n Gravy encased in a full pastry .... 10/10

Asda NEW! "Chosen by you" Chicken n Gravy Topcrust (sadly not by me) 3/10