Chocolate Buck’s Fizz Candles (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

I hope all our readers have had good safe Christmas this year. We may not have seen family as much as usual but I hope you all managed to have a good day and open a few prezzies. One stocking filler I’ve had are these Chocolate Buck’s Fizz Candles from Waitrose. Our local Waitrose is closing at the end of they year so I sort of realise this will be the last time we get Christmas treats from them.

These are a Heston item but aren’t too weirdly flavoured. They are pretty to look at and topped with an almond flamer. The coating is a creamy white chocolate and the filling is a bucks fizz truffle. I assumed it would have been an orange with champagne and white chocolate flavour but the dominant taste was dark chocolate with a hint of booze and touch of orange. The flavour could have been so much more zingy with the orange but essentially It was mainly dark chocolate, not an ingredient in a Bucks Fizz at all. The flavours worked but I’m not sure they quite did the Bucks Fizz part for me. Ah well, still tasty. Merry Christmas everyone!

Heston Night Before Christmas Mince Pies (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

Oh Heston I never quite know what to make of you. I like different, this blog is helped because I like different things and new varieties but the items from Heston can go either way. I have never once eaten a mince pie and thought that needs carrot but here we are, Heston thinks they do. Or at least he thinks it would be fun to add a bit of carrot for Rudolph and Sherry for Santa and include them in the recipe as part of a Christmas Eve theme. I bought them even thought I was unsure because well, what else could I do.

Inside the box are six pies, they are quite large and don’t quite look like tradition mince pies, they are covered over in pastry, and are flatter than usual. There was also a sachet of smoked sugar, I don’t how that fits into the Christmas Eve theme, Santa in a smokey chimney perhaps? I started by opening that and sprinkling it on, the smell was a little too strong of smoke for my liking but I was trying to buy into the moment.

Thankfully the sugar didn’t add too much smoke to the flavour, the pastry is thick but sweet and tasty. The mince meat came with a hit of sherry and was delicious, there was a delicate bitter edge which I think was carrot and these worked. Mainly because the smoked sugar wasn’t too strong! Heston I apologise for doubting you, this one was a success. You made it sound exciting but didn’t really mess with the traditional flavours too much and this worked for me. I would actually buy them again!

The Chocolate Scotch Egg (Heston from Waitrose) By @Cinabar

I suspect Waitrose called Heston and asked him to come up with something new and chocolatey for Easter. I imagine him sitting down over lunch to think about it and tucking into a scotch egg, and him realising that this is a type of egg, and this could work. Ok so I don’t exactly know how this curious product came about but here we have The Chocolate Scotch Egg by Heston from Waitrose. The whole concoction is chocolate based and it merely resembles its meaty picnic snack.
When I picked one off the shelf I hadn’t realised how loose the packaging was. I popped the Heston Chocolate Scotch Egg on the conveyor belt by the till and noticed as “breadcrumbs” spilt out everywhere. The lady on the till noticed too and got someone to switch the item for a new one for me. Then we all noticed that none of the lids closed properly on the boxes, seemly by design. I bought one anyway.

The egg itself does rain chocolate shavings wherever it goes, and once out of the box chocolate speckles appear everywhere. Any proper Scotch Egg should be cut in half to reveal a beautiful yolk. I attempted to recreate this, but it was a tough egg and broke in places, and I could quite get the inside shot I had wanted.

Either way after some failed efforts of a smart photo I went straight in and tried the Heston Chocolate Scotch Egg. The flavour was actually fabulous. There was a lovely rich sweet milk chocolate as the main flavour, but the taste had so many depths, tones of smokiness, and even hints of maple syrup. The centre itself, well the yolk, is flavoured with mango and yuzu (an ugly Japanese citrus fruit) and this ganache very fruity and sweet, with a mellow citrus flavour that was quite soft with nice hint of juicy mango.
The conclusion is despite the fact that this Heston Chocolate Scotch Egg is messy to eat and hard to cut the flavours are so good it is totally worth it. This is worth buying for the novelty, but more than that the flavour experience was new and intriguing, as was the texture from the multiple layers of goodness within. This is the Easter stocking filler you have been looking for.

Heston Spiced Shortcrust Mince Pies With A Lemon Twist (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

Okay so I’m well and truly in the Christmas swing of things now, and although I haven’t put the tree up yet I have purchased mince pies! The Heston range from Waitrose usually brings something different to a food product and this year the additional flavour to the mince pies is lemon. This doesn’t sound as adventurous as some of his previous creations (think curry and sugar popcorn), but it does sound like it would work.

The mince pies look rather impressive, they are quite large, and have a fab crumble on top. The crumble pieces are quite big, but they have the texture of soft pastry, and are lovely and buttery. The pastry case is quite dark looking, and must be where some of the spice infusion hits, as these mince pies are full on. As someone who loves cinnamon, these pies come with a strong hit of it and all the other christmas spices. This to me was more noticeable than the lemon, which came as a refreshing zingy aftertaste. The mince filling looks quite thin, but again its rich flavours come through beautifully.
The flavours from these mince pies are strong, if like me you love your christmas spices, they are definitely worth picking up. They are very different too and certainly posh enough to serve as a proper dessert, rather than just and accompaniment to coffee. I’ll certainly be picking more of these up throughout the seasonal period. Mmm cinnamon.

Heston Toffee Apple Mulled Cider (Waitrose) [By @spectreUK]

This 5.5% volume Toffee Apple Mulled Cider was created by Heston Blumenthal especially for Waitrose. Served in a 750ml bottle this mulled cider has toffee and caramel added during its creation. It sounds to me like a rather sweet cider appley fix. I first couldn't decide whether I'd drink it warmed up in the microwave as a pick me up on a cold night or just for a chilled refreshing treat. Looking at the bottle it was clear that there was plenty of this cider to go around. So I opted for a pint of chilled mulled cider to start with. On pouring this still cider there was a very sweet toffee smell on top of the lightly spiced apple cider. This dry cider had a very mild spice to it and the toffee caramel sweetness came at the end of the flavour. Having said that, there wasn't a great deal of flavour. This Toffee Apple Mulled Cider was very easy to drink asides the dryness, which made me need to drink more. It also made me feel it wouldn't work warmed up, as it didn't quite work chilled! Not one for me I'm afraid. I prefer big on flavour; big on cider and big on spice to warm my cockles on a cold Winter's night.

By Spectre

Heston: Lemon and Earl Grey Panna Cottas (@Waitrose) [By @cinabar]

It hadn’t been my intention to write about two Heston products in a row, but somehow fate stepped in and it seemed the best thing to blog about tonight. I had got a new meal kit to try out which will have to wait till friday, circumstances dictated that we ended up waiting on an emergency plumber and had the water turned off! Eek - but it is all sorted now.
Anyway, I digress. After a quickly put together tea of toasted bagels with cold meats and cheese, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a posh pudding at least, and I still had goodies from Heston to try.
These rather fancy Panna Cottas are flavoured with Early Grey tea, a favourite ingredient from Heston, and have lemon curd and a lemon crumble. The crumble is actually housed separately and looks a little like a third dessert in the pack, but is just to ensure it stays crunchy before being placed on the dessert. I feel I do have to mention the packaging, there was lots of it. A cardboard sleeve was inside the clear plastic shell cover, which was also around a black plastic base. Each of the two desserts were in plastic pots, both with plastic lids and the crumble also had its own plastic container and again a plastic lid. Thats quite a lot of materials for what is essential a pudding the size of two yoghurt pots. At least they recycle in my area!

Once we had set up the desserts they did look pretty, and the clear container did allow us to see all the layers. I thought the crumble made the dessert, it had a fresh lemon taste, and worked well with the Earl Grey Panna Cotta, the taste reminded me of putting a slice of lemon in a cup of hot tea. The Panna Cotta was super creamy, but quite soft. I’ve had them before and they have been a little firmer, but the softness worked well with the crumble giving a nice mix of textures. Once I’d worked my way down to the bottom of the pot, the lemon curd waiting there was quite full on. It had a strong zesty lemon flavour which was sweet and tangy. That too worked well with the creamy Earl Grey taste, playing on the contrast.
It was a really good fresh citrus dessert, that went down rather well after out quick tea. It is one I’d have again, as it is a nice twist on a classic pudding.

By Cinabar

Heston - Ginger & Acacia Honey Hot Cross Buns (@Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

I was actually in Waitrose looking for some new Saffron Buns, which I’d seen advertised recently, when a new creation from Heston caught my eye. The easter goodies get earlier and earlier as I’m sure I say every year, but I can’t resist Hot Cross Buns, and a new flavour too meant I just had to pick them up. Last year we had Earl Grey and Mandarin Hot Cross Buns from the culinary creative man, but this year’s special from him is ginger and acacia honey.
As per last years Hot Cross Buns, you can’t help but notice the size of these. When split they barely fit in the toaster, a toaster which was specially purchased for its extra wide setting and ability to toast bagels etc. I love that the buns are so substantial, it makes them feel like a proper treat.
When they were cooking away there was a lovely pleasant smell from the toaster, Spectre likened it to incense, as they had a fragrant warming air to them. They didn’t burn, honest, the aroma was just from heating them up!
I chose to have mine plain with just a little butter, so I could fully appreciate the taste of the bun. The first thing to note was that it did taste very much like a Hot Cross Bun, and the strong incense smell had disappeared. There were the usual background seasonal spices, and plenty of fruit packed in their too. What came with it was an extra edge from the ginger, mellowed by a lovely sweetness from the honey. The flavours mingled together well and left us with a nice hint of zingy candied ginger brining out the rest of the Hot Cross Buns flavours. They were yummy, and I’ll certainly being buying them again.
For the record I did also find the Saffron Buns I had been looking for, but somehow this took preference when it came to deciding what to have first from the Foodstuff Finds cupboard.

By Cinabar

Heston From Waitrose Earl Grey Tea Stollen (@Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

As someone with German heritage, Stollen is a staple cake for my family at this time of year. One of the lovely ladies at work brought in some Stollen in for everyone to try, as her husband had been working in Germany. I was quite surprised by how many people there hadn't tried it before. She converted a few people there though, with several of them saying they'd like to pick one up from the Christmas German market. It is actually far easier to find than that though, with many of the supermarkets stocking it. Some with many varieties.
Waitrose has gone one step further and unleashed Heston on this traditional Christmas treat. Well I couldn't wait to see what he'd done with one of my favourite cakes, he does like to add the odd unusual ingredient to get the taste buds working.
This very special Stollen has a layer of rich mincemeat and the dough is flavoured with a favourite ingredient of Heston, Earl Grey tea. I should have seen that coming. Once the box was open I took the Stollen out of the box and spotted that it was dusted with a heavy sprinkle of what looked like icing sugar, but this being a Heston cake, it was tangerine flavoured sugar, and it smelt amazing.
The cake cut easily, it still had the trade mark heaviness of Stollen, but it still felt quite light when eaten, which is impressive when you think about all the goodies packed into it. There were loads of fruity currants, raisins and sultanas giving it a very seasonal flavour. The extra taste from the tea was pleasant and floral, I do like the flavour of bergamot and felt it went really well with the fruit and citrus edge that this cake had. The marzipan in the centre was just a small amount, not too strong, but just to enough to ensure the original recipe was upheld in some respects at least.
It is a clever set of tastes as it still manages to be distinctly Stollen, but it does have its own twist. I absolutely loved it and it the perfect alternative dessert for this time of year, or for visitors with coffee – if you are willing to share. ;-)

By Cinabar

Heston’s Spiced Shortcrust Mince Pies (@Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Is it too early for Christmas posts? It might be – but let’s pretend that it’s okay, because I just had to write about these mince pies as soon as I tried them!
Last year I was rather excited to be able to try Heston’s chritmas scented mince pies which were especially out for the festive season. I wasn’t a fan to be honest; the pine scent was a bit of theatrics and ended up smelling more like soap than Christmas trees. This year I see that Mr Blumenthal has stepped away from the pine scent and included a packet of tangerine dust to sprinkle on instead, this sounded a lot more appealing to me!
The box clearly states that there are 4 mince pies in the packet, but I have to say I was expecting them to be smaller and spaced out more, so I was very impressed when I found four huge pies inside. Not only are the pies large in diameter, they are also quite thick. The topping looks amazing too, with some mince showing through a criss-cross of golden pastry and a generous dusting of sliced nuts.
I popped the pies onto plates, and opened up the sprinkles. Unlike the pine scented version everyone in the room said how lovely the aroma was, fresh and citrusy but sweet too. I dusted all the pies and it looked like a light but seasonal dusting of snow on each one. I then tucked in. Oh my, this is something a bit special. I have never eaten anything quite like it before. The texture is spot on, the pastry is firm, but gives easily when bitten, the mince was soft and the almonds just nicely increase the complexity of the texture. The flavour was, in a word, perfection. There are so many tastes working together, the sweet but rich mince, the spices, perfectly balanced cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves all go in harmony with the filling. Then there is the buttery pastry and then the sweet orangey citrus tones, turning very gentle into a sharper twist of lemon. I have never tasted a mince pie this good before. It was pure and simply the taste of Christmas packed into pastry, and every flavour and spice had its place. There are no theatrics just every ingredient working alongside one another.
Sometimes Heston misses; I really didn’t like his sweet and curry flavour popcorn, but sometime Heston hits. To be fair though the word ‘hit’ isn’t anywhere near strong enough for these pies. They are just about the nicest mince pie I have ever eaten, and they are indeed mince pie perfection. I fear Heston may now have ruined other mince pies for me, because I will now continue to compare any I try back to these, and they just won’t come close. This is a total wow product and to leave them until Christmas would mean you are totally missing out!

By Cinabar

Heston Curry Spiced [Sweet] Popcorn (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Popcorn is a very ‘in’ snack at the minute, and its one I find myself turning to increasingly. Although I have a sweet tooth, the salty varieties appeal to me more and more these days. I have come to terms with the fact that popcorn is equally pleasant in a savoury variety as it is sugar coated.
Heston is rather creative and he has taken this one step further and brought out this curry spiced edition which sounded rather appealing when I saw it on the shelf. Although it says on the bag that the ideal time to serve them is while sitting down to a Bollywood movie, I ended up pouring some out to accompany our lunches on Sunday afternoon.
The popcorn looked nice, big pieces, all coated in a dark yellow seasoning which reminded me of the classic chip shop curry sauce. They had a good spicy aroma, lots of curry powder and a hint of chilli, and all was looking good until I tasted one. Up until this point I was totally convinced that what I had purchased was a savoury bag of popcorn, but I had underestimated dear Heston’s creative flair on this occasion. This popcorn was sweet and curry flavoured. Imagine that lovely bottle of curry sauce that you find in the chip shop, and then imagine sprinkling it all over toffee coated popcorn. It’s just not right. I tried to let the flavours grow on me, but the curry was quite hot and the spices would have been really good if it wasn’t for the bizarre sugary taste. I actually quit eating them, and was just about to tip the remaining ones in the bin when something weird caught my eye. Everyone else was enjoying them. My mum tried them, and said they were great, and even Spectre (who never eats popcorn of any variety) was munching away happily.
So there you are, they didn’t work for me, but they are clearly worth a try as the combination of flavours certainly works for some!

By Cinabar

Heston’s Syrup & Stout Streaky Bacon (@Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Recently I wrote about Heston’s Vanilla Back Bacon, a product which seems to have had quite a mention in several magazines too. Waitrose also released this Heston’s Syrup & Stout Streaky Bacon, which despite winning an award seems to have launched much more quietly.
As I don’t need much of an excuse for a naughty but nice fried bacon butty, I bought up a pack! The smell of bacon cooking is always fantastic, but I could pick up on an extra depth of sweetness from this bacon while it was in the pan. It was a gorgeous aroma, and was probably the only time I understood the idea of adding syrup to bacon, American style. Having said that this bacon is dressed with golden syrup not maple syrup, so there is a bit more British in there than you may have first thought. The slices were thin, and this meant that they cooked quickly and developed a lot of flavour, going slightly crispy in places.
I placed them in a white bread bun, which didn’t have my usual dollop of ketchup on as I wanted to taste the flavour of the bacon in its purest format. The flavour was impressive, the bacon had loads of meaty tastes from the fat, especially as it was streaky. The sweet syrup flavours were a nice addition, not overpowering but very much present. The final taste was the stout, adding a rich malty hint to the overall taste that worked like a dreamy with the salty bacon. It’s a complex mix of tastes, and very satisfying as it works so well.
When I bought this pack I wasn’t sure I was going to blog about it, but once I tasted the clever combination of flavours I knew it needed sharing. This is my new favourite bacon, I just loved the sweet and salty tastes. Perfect for a naughty treat!

By Cinabar

Heston’s Vanilla Back Bacon Rashers (@Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Bacon is one of those foods that just works. Its simple form tastes wonderful on its own, in a sandwich, served with sausages and so many other excellent formats and nothing can beat the smell of it cooking.
When I saw that Heston had added his touch to the new range of bacon at Waitrose, I couldn’t resist picking up a packet. This new bacon has a hint of vanilla to help enhance the flavour. I decided to try it out in the format of a bacon sarnie, and see what it was like. I opened the pack and noticed the slices were quite thin. Once I started frying the bacon I discovered that the aroma was different but impressive. The vanilla shone through, and the cooking aromas had a sweet, salty and almost spicy fragrance. It was very appetising, more so than even regular bacon!
The flavour was different to what I was.expecting, The strong cooking smells had led me to believe that the bacon would have a sweet tone to it, but it didn’t. The vanilla taste was remarkably subtle, enhancing the meaty smoky flavours with just a touch of earthy seasoning. The vanilla is delicate, but it does enrich the taste. I suspect the addition of any ketchup to my sandwich would have lost the subtle hint of vanilla, which would be a huge shame. This is a food that just needs to be eaten as is and savoured. Don’t try to embellish the bacon with any extras, and don’t forget to enjoy the cooking aromas!
Heston also has Syrup & Stout Bacon out, so I’ll be on the look out to try some of that too!

By Cinabar

Heston: Earl Grey And Mandarin Hot Cross Buns (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

Oh Heston, I do love your creativity. I know we don’t always agree about the end results, but your sense of foodie adventure always makes me smile. His new twist is on the seasonal Hot Cross Bun, where he has jazzed it up by adding mandarin and earl grey tea. This isn’t as weird as you might think. In Japan green tea is used to flavour all sorts of foods, and if you ever get the chance to try Green Tea Matcha Chiffon cake, for goodness sake do – it’s one of the greatest cakes known to man!
Anyway when the packaging came off these buns, the aroma of early grey lingered around them like there was a freshly brewed pot of tea lurking. Although you can’t tell from the picture the hot cross buns are almost twice as thick as any I’ve seen before and even when split our (bagel safe) toaster only just managed to squeeze them in. I only very lightly toast hot cross buns, but do like the flavour of them gently grilled. I added lashings of butter and tucked in. The flavour was quite different to what I had been expecting. The earl grey had died down and left a slight lemony bergamot flavour. The mandarin shone through really enhancing the other citrus tastes, and made these absolutely divine. It’s such a clever fragrant flavour, and it is so well balanced. The usual spices and raisins are still present and it complements them perfectly. If you have a sweet tooth you might be a little disappointed as these buns are more on the mature zesty side, but I still loved them. To say they are quite thick, they felt firm then melted in the mouth and tasted remarkable light. These buns are pure heaven, and I think they are some of the best hot cross buns I’ve ever tasted. Heston has tinkered with the regular hot cross bun flavour very mildly but the results are pure magic.

By Cinabar

Heston's Chocolate & Rosemary Ice Cream (@WaitroseUK) (By @Cinabar]

There were a couple of new ice creams in Waitrose that caught my eye recently. They are both ‘different’ and both are described as being part of the Heston range, which always means that there will be an interesting twist.
First up we have Chocolate & Rosemary Ice Cream. This is not a natural sounding combination, and it certainly isn’t one I have tried before. Chocolate and mint is far more common, but both mint and rosemary are herbs, so why not give it a go.
The tubs for these new pots are fairly small. They are bigger than the individual serving pots, so it would feed two meekly or be a serving for one greedy person (I won’t tell you which category I fell into)! The ice cream is quite dark in colour, and has a very smooth consistency, there are no bits or distractions just silky smooth ice cream.
The flavour isn’t what you would expect though, the chocolate is dark and rich, and not to sweet. Balancing it off is the very aromatic rosemary, offering a fresh twist. It has elements of fern and is a very fragrant but also slightly woody taste. I didn’t think this was going to work, but my taste buds thought it was a match made in heaven, the dark chocolate and aromatic flavours create a wonderful clever mature taste. It’s like a grown up chocolate and mint ice cream, and certainly something that would impress guests. It’s a very fresh idea.
I really liked and enjoyed the flavour combination, and it is so nice to try a new mix of tastes that just works so well. I have to say I am rather optimistic about his other new flavour now... I’ll try and get that written up early next week, so keep an eye out. ;-)

By Cinabar

Heston: Puff Pastry Mince Pies With Pine Sugar (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

These mince pies are a Waitrose exclusive, created for the store by Heston Blumenthal. Last year his inspired orange Christmas pudding sold out of every branch, and people were fighting for them on Ebay for silly amounts of money. The Christmas pudding contained a whole orange, and was decorated in orange slices too – much like the one Aldi has brought out this year...
These new mince pies were much easier to find with shelf loads of the things all around Waitrose, they were on the end of aisles, by the tills, in the Christmas section and also in the cake section! I think they were expecting a horde of people descending and had prepared early. Sadly I noticed a lot of the boxes had sell by dates for November, which means they wouldn’t even last until the event. Having said that the ones we purchased were devoured within a couple of days being bought, but it is best to keep an eye on the dates in case you were planning to put them in the store cupboard.
The mince pies come in quite a plain black box, which does look quite classy, but also very minimalistic and not that seasonal. This year’s unique selling point is that the mince pies smell of Christmas. This is a bit of an odd concept, but I suppose we would expect no less from Mr Blumenthal who is famed for playing with the senses. In effect there are six pies in the box, which you heat in the oven for ten minutes and then sprinkle with a sachet of pine sugar, also included.


The pies are also non-traditional in the sense that they are square in shape and have a puff pastry top. This met with mild disapproval from the taste testers, and Spectre said they were the ‘wrong sort of pies’ as he prefers the classic concept. Having said this they warmed up nicely and gave off sweet appetising and fragrant aromas in the oven. Once out, and just before serving, I opened the sachet of pine sugar. Oh my, it has an amazingly strong smell. It could clear your nose! It does indeed encapsulate the essence of a Christmas tree, but I’m afraid I associate that fragrance with bath foam more than food. It has strong pine tones, with eucalyptus and was almost menthol in its nature. The smell was enough for a couple of the taste testers to quit before they had begun, as they protested “don’t put any of that on mine”. I’m not a big menthol fan, so I tasted a little of the sugar on its own, and it had a surprisingly mild flavour. It was a delicate, fragrant taste, with a strong sweetness from the sugar overpowering any off putting elements. I sprinkled the sugar on, and the pies looked very pretty, almost as if they were snow coated.
Next the taste test. I can confirm by this point despite the shocking smell from the sugar it had no noticeable flavour other than the obvious sweetness you’d expect. This was more than a bit surprising, but was a relief to those who were put off. The mince meat filling had a good taste to it, with rich dark flavours, and an aftertaste of lemon which balanced them out really well. I felt the mince meat was lacking moisture somehow, it is not that it was dry, its more that regular mince pies are a little wetter and that was what I was expecting. The pastry base was quite nice, but a little firm and difficult to bite, or cut with a spoon (we were being posh) but the puff pastry top was buttery and pleasant. I felt that the pies were a nice novelty and were perfectly enjoyable. It was fun to give them a try as they were quite different to others on the market, but I’m afraid taste testers felt they broke the rules of tradition a little too much. Worth trying as they are quite unique, but if I’m totally honest I won’t be rushing out for a second box.

By Cinabar