Harry Ramsden’s Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pots (Iceland) By @SpectreUK

When I was younger I'd hit the town on Friday and Saturday nights. On the way back full of booze, I'd stop at a regular Chippy and always have a cod and chips, and a pot of curry sauce.

I've carried that tradition forwards to takeaways. Although I haven't had a takeaway from a Chippy for a long while after some illness from either reheating after the lunch trade, and possibly some Chippies changing to cheaper oil that doesn't agree with my stomach. So, it was nice to find an alternative from Harry Ramsden.

These Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pots could go rather well with my Harry Ramsden's Jumbo Battered Haddock and Harry Ramsden's Chips tonight. The curry Sauce Pots heat up from frozen in 3 minutes and are 107 calories per pot.

On heating up a Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce Pot there was a familiar chip shop curry sauce aroma from the brown sauce in the pot. Once my fish and chips were ready, and Chip Butty made, I dunked my first Harry Ramsden's chip in the pot.

On taste this Harry Ramsden's Chip Shop Curry Sauce was very authentic. There was a mild curry flavour, with a little kick to each mouthful. It was good to stay on theme by dunking Harry Ramsden's Chips and also the Jumbo Battered Haddock, both of which were very tasty indeed. I even dunked my broccoli in the curry sauce too, and spread it inside my Chip Butty. Yum.

Information on the box: At 107 calories per pot, there was 1.9g of fat, 4.1g of sugar, and 2.2g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Nando’s Perinaise Lemon & Black Pepper Peri-Peri Mayonnaise (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I haven't had a Nando's for ages. It's not that I don't like a Peri-Peri Chicken or that I have gone off it, just the nearest restaurant is a pain to drive to. So, been as though I miss the Nando's sauces they add to the chicken, it's good to be able to buy them in the local supermarket.

After dolloping some Nando's Perinaise Lemon & Black Pepper Peri-Peri Mayonnaise on my plate, I found there was a sharp lemon flavour to begin with complimenting the Peri-Peri flavour, and a fiery kick of black pepper into the aftertaste.

This new Nando's Perinaise Lemon & Black Pepper Peri-Peri Mayonnaise went very well indeed with my chips, as well as my rotisserie chicken, and I also dipped in some French Bread too. I will definitely enjoy more meals dipped in this mayonnaise, I can tell you.

Heinz Mayoracha: Mayo Sriracha Sauce (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I never used to like mayonnaise. I was always a salad cream guy. It's only fairly recently I have started to use it. Mayonnaise certainly goes well with chips and salad, and many other things.

There are a few flavoured mayonnaises on the market I have tried in the past. Some I liked, some made my breath smell (pickled onion), some I hated. This new Heinz Mayoracha: Mayo Sriracha Sauce could add a little spice to my chips and salad. We shall see…

On first splodge on my plate, this almost neon orange coloured Heinz Mayoracha: Mayo Sriracha Sauce had a creamy mayonnaise mild chilli kick that brought a slightly heated flavour to whatever I ate with it. I really liked it, and within minutes I was dunking chips, bread and picky-bits in to it to my hearts content.

Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce (Asda) By @SpectreUK

I've always loved barbecue sauce. I've always picked barbecue sauce over every other sauce on the table. Ever since I was a young kid, which is a long time ago I can tell you. I love it with KFC style chicken, burgers, chips, steaks, bacon, sausages and many other foodstuffs. I can never have enough of it. I especially love to dip my burger into barbecue sauce while I'm eating it. I've done that since I can remember.

I haven't seen this Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce in the supermarket before. I decided to give it a go with KFC style chicken and chips to start with. It has a lusciously indulgent fruity sweetness to begin with, followed by a smoky flavour with a good spicy barbecue kick to finish. It's really scrumptious. I can't wait to dip a burger or two into it next.

Roast Potato Mayonnaise (Asda) By @Cinabar

I’m a big fan of mayonnaise, especially as a dip for chips, it’s my go-to over ketchup every time. I also enjoy spiced mayo, particularly when it has a gentle warming kick like peri-peri, paired with that creamy finish. Naturally, I was intrigued by Asda’s new Roast Potato Mayonnaise, and as someone who loves trying quirky condiments, I picked up a tub to give it a go.

Deciding what to pair it with was a bit of a dilemma, roast potatoes or chips? As chips were on the menu for dinner, they won out. I served myself a generous dollop and gave it a taste.

It was… fine. Just fine. I finished it with my chips, but if I’m honest, I wouldn’t buy it again. The flavour didn’t evoke roast potatoes for me at all. Instead, there was a noticeable tang, almost vinegary, and an overwhelming herbal taste, likely sage or rosemary. When I make roast potatoes, I tend to keep it simple with no herbs, just a touch of salt and pepper and a splash of gravy.

The heavy-handed herbal notes threw me off. While it wasn’t terrible, it didn’t wow me either, and I can’t see it earning a spot on our Christmas dinner table.

So, while it’s an interesting concept, this Roast Potato Mayonnaise didn’t quite hit the mark for me. If you’re a fan of strongly herbed condiments, it might be worth a try, but it’s not one I’ll be repurchasing. Oh well. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Chip Shop Curry Mayonnaise (Asda) by @Spectreuk

Whenever I have a fish and chip takeaway I always have chip shop curry dipping sauce with my chips. Unfortunately it's been quite a while since I've found a decent Chippy that hasn't changed to a cheaper brand of cooking oil. My stomach doesn't agree at all with the cheaper oil, so I end up ill for a few days afterwards.

So, finding something reminiscent of the chip shop curry sauce I miss so much is a boon to dip my chips in. This new Asda Chip Shop Curry Mayonnaise should fit the bill. I've recently been converted to dipping my chips in mayonnaise. Usually it's BBQ sauce for me, but more often than not nowadays I pick mayonnaise.

I dolloped quite a bit of this Asda Chip Shop Curry Mayonnaise on my plate next to my home cooked fish and chips. On my first dip, this curry mayonnaise tasted exactly like chip shop curry sauce, but with added creaminess from the mayonnaise. It went perfectly with my chips, and I also dipped in some of my fish to try too. Oh, I wish I could try a battered sausage with it as well. Gorgeous, I'd recommend you give it a try.

Harvey Nichols Bloody Mary Ketchup (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I'm recovering from a particularly nasty bug, so I'm unfortunately off the booze at the moment. I'm hoping to feel better by next Saturday for some beer after my Birthday. Not off the booze completely though, as Cinabar found me this Harvey Nichols Bloody Mary Ketchup. It has a little vodka in it. It's £4.95 a bottle, so I'm hoping I'm going to like it with my scampi and chips tonight.

 

On opening the bottle the deep red sauce was runnier than regular ketchup. It smelt like a really good tomato soup. There was a juicy sweet and sour tomato flavour to start with, then a decent chilli burn followed by the kick of vodka. There was lots of different flavours like balsamic vinegar, mixed with other peppery spices. It was super flavoursome with chilli and a kick of alcohol at the end. It would make an amazing tomato soup with that kick to it.

If all Bloody Mary's taste like this sauce, I could quite happily drink them in a bar. It felt like I was wasting this sauce on my chips. So good I could drink it, this Harvey Nichols Bloody Mary Ketchup was an expensive treat, but well worth a try.

Heinz Classic Barbie-cue Mayo Barbecue Sauce (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Oh my, what have I let myself in for now? This bright pink sauce is the new Heinz Classic Barbie-cue Mayo Barbecue Sauce in celebration of Barbie's big anniversary this year. I do love barbecue sauce, especially with burgers and chips. I also love mayonnaise, which goes well with pretty much anything from any flavour of crisps, to chips, potatoes and any meat and salad besides.

We watched the new Barbie film recently, and I'm sad to admit I wasn't a fan of it's surreal elements. Anyway, with my new Heinz Classic Barbie-cue Mayo Barbecue Sauce at hand, I decided to try it on a chicken and tomato sandwich to begin with. As you can see from the photograph, it's hard to miss the colour of this sauce.

I tasted this barbecue mayo sauce on my finger first and noticed its smokiness, sweet barbecue and mayonnaise flavour. It went rather well on my chicken and tomato sandwich, and left me with a really moreish taste in my mouth afterwards. Later I tried it with KFC style chicken and chips, and loved that too. I'll try it with a burger and chips next. Don't be out off by the colour, this is a great barbecue and mayonnaise sauce.

Heinz Tomato Ketchup Smokey Bacon Flavour (Iceland) By @Cinabar

Heinz has been bringing out quite a lot of new sauces recently, but mostly they have been flavoured mayonnaises. We had Heinz MayoMust, which is mayonnaise with mustard. That was nice on ham sandwiches, but not something I went out to buy a second bottle of. Ketchup is their classic product, so I’m rather hoping that this Heinz Tomato Ketchup Smokey Bacon Flavour works well. This is a sauce that I hope when I taste it I think I hope this hangs around on the shelves.

Tonight for our dinner, we have Southern Fried Chicken and chips, the homemade kind rather than the takeaway kind. With this, we would normally have a spicy sauce to dip in, but I was looking forward to trying this as an alternative. The flavour worked really well with this meal. The ketchup is sweet with the tomatoes, but the smoky taste just works so nicely with it. There is a meatiness too, and I found myself making sure I got every last drop with my last chip. I hadn’t expected to love this as much as I did, but I’m so glad it worked as well as it did. This Heinz Tomato Ketchup Smokey Bacon Flavour is one that I want to buy again, and I will be going back for another bottle. 

Heinz The Godfather Pasta Sauce (Waitrose) By @Cinabar

When Heinz made this new product, I guess they were making an offering I couldn’t refuse. Sorry. Inspired by the legendary movie, we have a new sauce in town: Heinz The Godfather Pasta Sauce. I picked this up because of the novelty and the film reference. There is authenticity, though, and it is made as per Peter Clemenza’s instructions in the film. 

I made a mistake here; I thought this was a jar of pasta sauce, and as such, I also bought a packet of meatballs to have with it. It turns out it wasn’t a jar of pasta sauce in the sense that it was a sauce that needed meat; it was a complete package with mini meatballs already in it. So we ended up having a lot of meat in the ratio with this! The meatballs in the jar are small and not like the drawing of the front of the jar, or indeed, the ones I added. 

Anyway, I cooked some pasta (not spaghetti, oops), made the sauce with large meatballs, and served. The pasta had a lovely aroma, and I could pick up on the garlic, tomato, and really nice herbs. 

Taste-wise, it needed the proper meatballs; the ones included were small and not that flavorful. With the large meatballs, it worked well. The flavours were fresh and rich, and the contrast of meatballs and tomatoes was lovely. This sauce worked well. I’m not sure I’d buy this Heinz The Godfather Pasta Sauce again, though, just because of the mini meatballs inside the jar. They didn’t add value, and I’d rather add the meat element myself. 

Bacon Mayo (Aldi) by @Cinabar

This is not Peri Peri Mayo. We do a monthly order with Aldi and use their ‘Click N Collect’ service. On that order, I asked for Peri Peri Mayo, and this is what I received as a substitution. I didn’t mind at all, but the person from Aldi who brought our groceries to the car was thoroughly embarrassed. I kept trying to reassure him we didn’t mind and could still use it as a dip, but he listed all the other items he would have used to replace it, and he pointed out that at his last store this would never have happened as a substitution. I think it is safe to say he wouldn’t have touched Bacon Mayo had it been the last condiment on the shelf. I was quite looking forward to it.

We decided to have some Bacon Mayo with chips, and it did work really well as a dip. The flavour wasn’t quite as full on of bacon as I thought it would be. The start of the flavour is a little acidic and sharp, like a concentrated tomato taste. Then came a wave of a smoky taste, which was very strong but pleasant, and then there was a little creaminess at the end. It was a really nice combo of flavours and went really well as a dip. Perhaps even the Aldi guy would have liked it if he had been brave enough to give it a try. 

Heinz Dutch Style Chip Sauce (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I’d like to start by saying I am a big fan of mayo on chips, and I know that idea came from Europe, and I have European heritage. When I was a kid, people used to look at me strangely for putting mayo on my chips, but it does seem to have caught on a bit more in recent years.

When I first saw this Heinz Dutch Style Chip Sauce, my thoughts were that it was repackaged mayonnaise. After all, that's what goes on chips in Holland. So I decided to give it a try, and the sauce is very much mayonnaise based, but it seems stronger somehow. There is a touch more vinegar in the flavour, and there is something a little richer too. I liked this; it had a stronger, more defined mayonnaise flavour, and it went really well with the potato taste. You could call it mayonnaise plus. I totally recommend a big dollop of this for dipping, and it went well with our Southern Fried style chicken breast too.

Spectre tried some of the Heinz Dutch Style Chip Sauce though and said he liked it, but it was just mayonnaise. Oh well, perhaps my palette is more refined!

Brussel Sprout Ketchup - Sauce Shop (plus leftovers) [@NLi10]

 Christmas has gone, and leftover season is here. And to cope with that you need sauces - and if you got some as presents then even better!

Secret Santa clearly got the same targeted Facebook adverts I do and spotted this lovely ketchup that's made with sprouts instead of tomatoes.

Heck - it might even be gluten free.  Considering it's 61% sprouts though the flavour is very much that of a standard ketchup - sweetened vinegar!  And it's pretty good and quite compulsive.  We had it with beef and veggies and I got so excited I forgot to take the pictures!

Here is a pre-leftover version instead.

This will sit with my other sauce shop bottle - the buffalo hot sauce which is used sparingly to add pizzaz to normal food.  Can't wait to mix them up and to see what happens!

Enjoy this festive gap and make sure nothing goes to waste!

Heinz Mayocue Sauce (Asda) By @Cinabar

Mayocue, what kind of name is that? I’m not a fan of these portmanteau words, to be honest, mainly because my spell checker insists on underlining them in red. However, if Heinz Mayocue Sauce is a combination of mayonnaise and barbecue sauce, I think I’m still in. I really enjoy both sauces and couldn’t wait to give this a try. Tonight we had chicken and chips with our dinner and decided to use this as a dip on the side.

I poured some out, and it was runnier than usual mayonnaise, but not by any means thin. I gave the Heinz Mayocue Sauce a taste, and it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. The predominant taste was a smokey flavour, followed by the creaminess of mayonnaise. This was a nice combination, and it worked with chips dipped in. As much as I liked the sauce, I think to qualify as a barbecue sauce, it needs some sweetness from a hint of tomato or something like that. Barbecue sauces aren’t all about the smoke. Maybe this should have been called Mayosmoke, but perhaps not! I would still buy this Heinz Mayocue Sauce again, though, as it went ever so well with chicken and chips.

Heinz MayoMust (Iceland) By @cinabar

There have been a bunch of hybrid sauces recently, and I’m never quite sure what to make of them. I’m still recovering from the Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise I tried before, what were they thinking. Well, this one is from Heinz and combines Mustard and Mayonnaise, hence the name MayoMust. Hopefully, it is a ‘must and not a ‘must not.

I tried this new sauce with chips, that seemed to be the easiest way to taste it. All sauces should work with chips, that is the rule. I gave it a try, and oh my, I actually liked it. This Heinz MayoMust is a very creamy mayonnaise, it has a bit of a Dijon flavour, but it is very mild and worked surprisingly well as a dip. I ended up mopping up the entire amount and wanting more, so that is a win.

Tomorrow I will try this Heinz MayoMust on a ham sandwich because that goes well with either mustard or mayonnaise, so why not both? I’m still not convinced on gravy-mayo, and nobody can sway me on that.

Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I have always been a big fan of barbecue sauce. I usually have it on my chips and dunk whatever burger I have in it for a greedy bump up of sauce. This new Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce sounded like a new regular treat. I have liked all other Guinness snack products that I have tried in the past, especially Guinness crisps. It states on the bottle that this BBQ Sauce is packed full of sweet, smokiness with a Guinness flavour. So, I should love this Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce.

I decided to try this Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce with a beef burger and chips, traditional style, with a little salad on the thick burger, and chunky baked chips. It did warn on the bottle that this BBQ Sauce was thick in texture. It certainly was, thick and a little gloopy once I'd managed to squeeze some out of the bottle. It's fortunate I have a strong right hand (enough said about that the better). On taste, whatever I dunked into this almost black gloopy sauce tasted okay, but didn't have the promised "oomph" on the front of the bottle.

This Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce tasted almost in the middle of a pint of Guinness split on a plate of burger and chips and barbecue sauce during a bar fight. It wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't necessary either. I was really surprised that I didn't like this sauce, as I love Guinness, especially washing down a good steak and chips. There wasn't so much sweetness or smokiness, or Guinness, just a mishmash of all three that didn't complement what I was eating at the time. I don't like writing negative reviews, but I'm afraid this Guinness Smoky BBQ Sauce was just not for me.

Skeeter’s Original BBQ sauce (Aldi) By @SpectreUK

I love barbecue sauce. I haven't written about a sauce for a good long while. I always like barbecue sauce on chips, and sometimes even potatoes. I also have a habit from when I was a child in fast food takeaways, of dipping my cheeseburger in barbecue sauce. I would not dip it in any other sauce mind, only barbecue.

So you can see that barbecue sauce is probably my favourite sauce of them all. Sure I like tomato ketchup, brown sauce, curry sauce, and other sauces, especially hot sauces - though they have to be tasty hot sauces, like Cholula. If a hot chilli sauce just burns my mouth out and stops me from tasting the rest of my food, it's a waste of time to me.

Cinabar saw this Skeeter's Original BBQ sauce in a local supermarket. It was produced by Bramwells. There's not much information on the bottle, but it seems like a classical American barbecue sauce to me. There are so many barbecue sauces on the market, just another one of many needs a flavoursome taste and should probably be a little distinctive from the rest. So chips and a cheeseburger here I go.

There was a good sweet and smoky aroma on pouring out the sauce. I see why they have a bull on the front of the bottle. This is a perfect barbecue sauce for steak and chips, and of course, a cheeseburger and fries. That sweet smoky barbecue flavour really enhanced the chips, and then on dipping my cheeseburger too. The sweet barbecue sauce slapped my tastebuds making my mouth water, and the smokiness complemented the beefiness of my cheeseburger. I'll definitely have this sauce in regularly from now on.

Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I can’t help wondering how this Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise came about. It isn’t exactly an obvious combination of flavours. Don’t get me wrong, I have both a Northern parent where the cultural choice is chips and gravy and my other parent is European, where it is all about mayo and chips. The result is that I like either. I can appreciate both flavour combinations but, significantly, I like them separately. I have never ever thought of combining the two, but here we go.

I opened up the tub of Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise and dolloped a portion on the side next to my chips. I gave it a try and wasn’t sure about the flavour. The mayonnaise base is rich and creamy, which was nice with the salt on the chips. The meaty gravy flavour was also salty, but it was fine. It was okay with the chips. I think I will be quite happy to finish the tub, but I can’t honestly say I’d be rushing out for another pack. The conclusion is that, for me, it is still about chips or gravy, but not both.

As an alternate view, Spectre had some of this Hellman’s Gravy Flavour Mayonnaise the next day with boiled potatoes, and said it was fabulous, so perhaps I will have to give it a chance on other things too.

Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I spotted this new Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce on the Ocado website under new items and I thought this would be nice for burgers, as it is barbecue season. I decided to try it out on chips as a starting point and ( squeezed a dollop of the yellow sauce on my plate. I have to admit the appearance is a strikingly yellow, like mustard. It isn’t a good looking sauce.

I dipped a chip into it and the sauce has a pleasant cheese flavour, I do love cheese and I love choosing different ones from a deli counter. This sauce couldn’t really be identified more than generic cheese, the square slice you get wrapped in cling film for a cheap burger topping, but liquidised. The flavour was nice, I think it needed mixing with something that hard more flavour to start. There is a place for this Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce, on top of burgers, for dipping spicy nachos in etc, it will be handy to have at the side of the barbecue. It isn’t for the cheese connoisseur but it is a fun sauce and it perfect for the summer.

Nando’s Perinaise Garlic Peri-Peri Mayonnaise (Asda) By @Cinabar

I often buy regular Nando’s Perinaise from the shop as a dip for chips, it is one of my cupboard staples, along with the Nando’s Peri-Peri Salt sprinkles which I put on all sorts of things from eggs to chips. I like a little spice and these products are perfect for me as they add a bit of heat without a killer burn. I went to buy my usual mayo and the shop was out of stock so I picked up the garlic edition; Nando’s Perinaise Garlic Peri-Peri Mayonnaise.

This sauce is still labelled as medium and as I like garlic too I was looking forward to trying it. We had some chips and squeezed a portion of the sauce on the plate. I dipped a chip in and gave it a taste and thought there was a lot of garlic and that the sauce was quite creamy. Chips and garlic works well together and I was really enjoying the combination and munching away. After a while I noticed the chilli heat was starting to warm up and that there was actually quite a bit of chilli too, it snuck up on me with the warmth but it was a lovely addition. I’d gladly buy this one over the regular Perinaise as I thought the garlic worked so well, especially with chips. I’m looking forward to trying it out on chicken burgers too.