Big Night In: Pigs in Blankets Crisps (Iceland) By @Cinabar

This feels like the very last of the post Christmas treats lurking in the cupboard. The mince pies are gone, the yule log has been polished off, I am back at work, and next Christmas feels a very long way off. Still, tonight is movie night, so we are finally opening these Big Night In Pigs in Blankets crisps.

It really is a big night in too, with around five inches of snow outside. If you are reading this from somewhere that is used to snow, you will be surprised to hear that Britain reacts to it with complete disbelief every single time. Everything grinds to a halt, buses and trains give up, and everyone just stays indoors.

The bag is huge, which is just as well as Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery runs for over two hours. The crisps themselves are nice and big without being too thick, and they have a light, satisfying crunch. These are meaty crisps at their best, and I am firmly in the camp of loving meaty flavours.

The taste is salty and very bacon forward, with just a hint of herbs coming through. They are properly moreish too. I will admit I have eaten a fair amount already and we have not even put the film on yet. That feels like a good sign. They are easy to eat, ideal for sharing, and perfect for a cosy night in.

I hope you are all staying warm if you are also dealing with the snow from Storm Goretti.

Pigs In Blankets Cheddar (Asda) By @Cinabar

We are still making our way through the Christmas goodies and recently decided on a proper cheese and biscuits night. While rummaging in the fridge, we were reminded that we had picked up Asda’s Pigs In Blankets Cheddar and figured it was finally time to give it a go.

The cheese comes smartly packaged in pink wax and suggests it serves three. There are only two of us, but we were happy to be a bit greedy. I cut the cheese in half straight through the wax, which I always find peels off quite easily afterwards.

Once unwrapped, the cheese itself looks fairly plain, with no visible bits running through it. It is a standard dark cheddar colour, which initially made me wonder how strong the flavour would be. Thankfully, the taste delivers. The cheddar flavour is clear and well defined, but the meaty pork notes come through nicely too.

Interestingly, I found the flavour leaned more towards sausage than bacon, likely due to a subtle herby background taste. That said, it works really well with the cheese and feels well balanced rather than gimmicky.

Yes, this is very much a seasonal novelty product, but it is one that actually tastes good. Served on buttered crackers, it was thoroughly enjoyable, which is really the most important thing.

Heinz Beanz Pigs in Blankets Edition (Ocado) By @Cinabar

We love pigs in blankets, and this time of year is peak season for them. We had some with Christmas dinner, but they have also featured alongside picky bits, and we even have a couple of trays tucked away in the freezer.

So when we spotted Heinz Beanz Pigs in Blankets Edition while ordering from Ocado, it was an easy choice. These are beans with added pigs in blankets, which feels like a festive crossover made for this time of year. The packaging itself is not especially Christmassy, but it does mention Christmas seasoning, and this is very much a limited edition product.

I was pleased to see that they still cook quickly in the microwave, and we split the can between the two of us. Slightly annoyingly, there were five pigs in blankets in the tin, which meant I ended up with two. Given that Heinz talk about a portion being half a can, six would have made far more sense. It is Christmas, after all.

The sausages are Richmond, so you get that familiar, traditional flavour. There was also a subtle stuffing like taste going on, which I am assuming comes from the added Christmas seasoning. They tasted lovely and were a fun addition to the meal. Being cooked in beans, you do lose the crispiness you would normally get from the bacon if pigs in blankets were cooked on their own, but flavour wise they still worked well.

This is definitely a novelty product. You can buy beans with sausages all year round, so this is not something anyone strictly needs. That said, I would happily buy these again next Christmas for something a bit different and festive.

Pigs In Blankets Quiche (Aldi) @Cinabar

Today is the big day in Aldi. They have launched all their special Christmas items. Some are crazier than others. One of the new items is the Pigs In Blankets ice cream that they have launched. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but my store didn’t have any anyway, so I guess that cleared up the dilemma as to whether I should buy it. I did have a good browse and decided to pick up this Pigs In Blankets Quiche for tea.

I heated it up in the oven and gave it a try. Now I have to say, if you stop and think about this, a ‘pigs in blanket’ is bacon and sausage, and what I’ve effectively bought here is a bacon and sausage quiche, which, when you break it down, is not half as exciting as it sounds to start with. Having said that, this had a delicious meaty flavour, salty bacon, and herby sausage meat. It was a bit of a meat feast in quiche form and made for a simple but tasty tea.

Yes, the flavour of this Pigs In Blankets Quiche is a bit of a novelty, and there weren’t even any pigs in blankets in it, but I’d still buy it again as it was just so nice and meaty. I’m still not sure about the ice cream.

Walkers Pigs In Blankets Festive Flavours Crisps (Tesco) By @Cinabar

It has happened; the Christmas-flavoured crisps are in the shops. We may as well just put the tree up and accept that, commercially, Christmas has begun. Even the adverts (and advert controversy) has all begun. I have spotted a few Christmas flavours of crisps, but I figured it best to ease ourselves into the season with these limited edition Walkers Pigs In Blankets Festive Flavours Crisps.

We had these new Christmas with sandwiches at lunch time. The crisps look the same as any Walkers crisps, thinly cut and with not much visible seasoning, but they had a nice meaty aroma. I gave one a try and loved the salty bacon taste that they had. There was also a nice hit of herbs making up the sausage element of the flavour. These crisps work well; they are meaty and salty, and they taste great with sandwiches. I know they have made these before (but I don’t think they were around last year), and I’m rather pleased to have found them again. They are not too Christmassy to enjoy through November, and as I love meaty-flavoured crisps, they were spot on for me. These Walkers Pigs In Blankets Festive Flavours Crisps definitely get a thumbs up from me.

Tesco Christmas Sandwich - Pigs UNDER blankets & Chick/Bac/Stuff [@NLi10]

It's luxury Christmas Sandwich time again! Halloween has been and gone, and now the orange packages give way to red and green.

First to hit the reduced section was this one from Tesco - which is actually two Christmas Sandwiches in one.

The Pigs are under blankets for efficiency, and the other sandwich has all the meats.

That's a lot off effort to simulate a Christmas lunch at my desk - no wonder this should be £3

The sausage and bacon pair is pretty good - the seasoning was added by me.  A decent amount of filling and as long as you don't want any vitamins you are sorted.

Here we see the premium poundshop peri peri grinder in all it's glory!

Bacon again! This time with a bit of chicken and the stuffing used as spread.  This side needed cranberry - but was again suitably festive.

Can't wait to be fed up of this before actual Christmas which seems very very far away.

Pigs In Blankets Flavour Noodles (Sainsbury’s) By @SpectreUK

Last Christmas I had easily the best Christmas meal I've ever had. Strangely I've never liked Roast Turkey meals and we used to eat it at lunchtime too, which I found pretty overpowering for my poor tastebuds. I prefer massive gravy meals, especially if they have lashings of onions, at dinnertime rather than lunchtime where I seem to prefer just a good sandwich.

On the evening of last Christmas I had a pork belly roast with crackling on top served to me. It was just about the best thing I've ever tasted on Christmas day, and the leftovers took me a couple of days to get through afterwards. Of course there has to be ubiquitous roast potatoes, sprouts and other veggies, but also my favourite accompaniment has to be Pigs in Blankets on the side. I usually have quite a few too!

This Pigs In Blankets Flavour Noodles was produced for Sainsbury's. I can't tell whether Cinabar bought me the pot for a joke or not. What seems to be even more funny is the Vegetarian friendly sign on the front of the pot. So no meat in here then? However, I endeavour to persevere when I'm served up something like this to write about. I've already had a bacon sandwich for lunch, so I'll have a quick piece of buttered toast, which should go well with my quick Pigs In Blankets Flavour Noodles.

On pealing back the foil top there was a pile of dried stringy noodles and some herbs dotted around them in the pot. After pouring freshly boiled water into the pot and having a really good stir, I could smell the sage and parsley mixed in with the gravy. I couldn't detect any meaty flavours, such as bacon or sausage in the flavour of this Pigs In Blankets Flavour Noodles. It was tasty enough and after that good long stir the sauce become quite thick.

This was a filling and flavoursome noodle pot, but to me it just didn't taste of Pigs in Blankets at all. I'm not going to tell you Porkies, and say it did, because to me it didn't! Anyway the best news is that there is a pork belly roast in the freezer ready to cook for Christmas Day 2020, and I've also seen some trays of real Pigs in Blankets in the freezer too!

Have a very Merry, healthy and safe Christmas, One and All!

Information on the pot; The 80g pot contains 294 calories, with 2g of fat, 9.9g of sugar and 1.87g of salt. Vegetarian friendly! Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Pigs In Blankets Mayonnaise (Sainsbury's) By @Cinabar

I had a little look back at the items we have tried before flavoured with Pigs In Blankets, it almost all completely crisps. It works as a flavour for crisps too, meaty bacon, a hint of sausage and a few herbs this all works with crunchy crisps. This year Sainsbury’s have decided to go to the next level, I give you Pigs In Blankets Mayonnaise. What can I say, I didn’t know I needed it until I saw it!

As it happened we were having chicken, salad and sliced potatoes for tea so deiced to try this out on the side. I sort of realised as I was dipping my sliced potatoes in the Pigs In Blankets Mayonnaise I had accidentally recreated the crisps idea, but again it did work. I have tried ‘Baconnaise’ before and enjoyed it, I have to admit I thought this might be the same. I was pleased that although similar there was a softer flavour, less salty but still nice and meaty Tate that worked well as mayo. The twist of herbs was good too, and especially nice for potatoes and I’m looking forward to trying it with chips. I’d buy this again as it was a good flavour, I’m aware I many have to wait a year to find another tub!

Tomorrow though Spectre is reviewing another product flavoured with Pigs In Blankets, one that doesn’t so easily translate to the flavour.

Pigs in Blankets Crisps (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

I think I want to start with something that annoyed me about these crisps and is the reason I’m eating them as our next crisps. Spectre was sorting out the Foodstuff Finds crisps cupboard (it was a smidgen out of control) and looked at these and realised that their sell by date was beginning of December 2020 so they needed eating up first. These are a Christmas edition and flavoured with the classic Christmas dinner accompaniment Pigs in Blankets, but they wouldn’t make it until Christmas. That is a bit annoying if you ask me. Admittedly we eat a lot of Christmas foods early here at Foodstuff Finds so we cracked them open and shared them at lunch.

The good points about these Pigs in Blankets Crisps were that there was a decent portion in the bag, which is always nice to see. Some bags have a lot of air and not enough crisps, but these were nice and generous. The crisps are thick cut and have a crinkle in them which holds the seasoning and adds to the flavour. The taste is mostly bacon, lovely salty meaty bacon. There is a hint of herbs which I think represents the sausage but the bacon is the star of the show. I think an actual Pigs in Blankets it is the other way round and the sausage is the main player. These are good crisps though even if the sell by date meant they wouldn’t have made it until December.

Walkers Pigs in Blanket Crisps (Asda) By @Cinabar

Walkers Christmas crisps selection bags this year contains three flavours firstly there is the expected Turkey and Stuffing, which I will undoubtedly be writing about shortly. This is the most obvious seasonal flavour. Secondly there is Brussels Sprouts flavour (oh yes and they are tinged green) Spectre wrote about these, and did not get on with them. I liked them if that counts, but they do taste of sprouts! Finally we have these new Walkers Pigs in Blanket flavour crisps, which everyone knows is the best part of Christmas dinner.
I opened up the seasonal bag and the crisps smelt very much of bacon, in fact just like Walkers regular smokey bacon crisps. I gave them a try and the predominant flavour was indeed bacon, with a good hit of smoke, but there was also a nice flavour of herbs and spices, I think I picked up on sage, which represents the seasoned sausage element of pigs in blankets. These crisps defiantly focus on the bacon flavour, but the addition of the herbs is a nice touch, and it does work well. I thoroughly enjoyed these crisps, and look forward to eating more of them. They are certainly more easy going the the Walkers Brussel Sprouts edition, but full marks to Walkers for an excellent selection bag this year.

Pigs In Blankets Crisps (@AldiUK) By @Cinabar

One of my favourite things about Christmas dinner has to be the Pigs In Blankets, the idea of wrapping a small sausage in bacon is without question genius, even if its intention is to sit on an already overload roast dinner plate. The idea does seem to have caught on quite well though, and I absolutely love them. In fact we like Pigs in Blankets so much at Foodstuff Finds we tend to buy them quite a bit at this time of year, and have them on the side with all kinds of meals. Consequentially when I saw these Specially Selected Pigs In Blankets Crisps in Aldi I knew I had to put them in the trolley.
We shared them with some sandwiches over lunch, and from the moment the pack was open we started to squabble on portion sizes. They smelt amazing. I love meaty flavoured crisps, and the aroma of bacon was just wonderful. The taste too did not disappoint, there is a bacon flavour that is very much at the forefront, and what followed was a slightly more herby sage taste from the sausage, that was very much spot on. I think they have done an excellent job of interpreting a Pigs In Blankets flavour for crisps, and one that those who like meaty flavours will fight over, literally in our house. A little birdie told me that Aldi is releasing a giant Pig in Blanket in December, I’ll be keeping an eye out for this too, it might be safer if we all have one each.

Pringles: Pigs in Blankets Crisps (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

I’m just catching up with the the last of seasonal crisps, and spotted these Pigs in Blankets Pringles in Sainsburys. I think Pigs in Blankets have to be one of the best parts of a traditional Christmas dinner, and I can see how their flavour can translate well into a variety for crisps.
Now I have to confess to liking meaty flavours of crisps, so these appealed the moment I saw them.
The crisps don’t have much of a visual seasoning, but they smelt like bacon crisps, and reminded me of Frazzles. The flavour of them worked really well. Now Pringles are always moreish, they seem to have made their business on it, but these were new favourite the minute I tried them. The initial taste is that of a wonderfully salty bacon flavour, but this blends quickly into a herby sausage taste. They are pure meaty goodness. I was surprised by how well they had captured both ingredients of the Pigs in Blankets and again just how tasty they had made them. I’m sure they could carry them on after the new year, making them breakfast Pringles, that woudl work, so long as they don’t try and add any egg!
If you like meaty crisps I’d grab these while you can. They’d be perfect for sharing with family and friends on New Year’s Eve… if you are okay with sharing them that is! :-D