Wednesday 30 December 2009

Lewis and Cooper Hand Made Traditional Plum Pudding 220g

Purchased: Gift 2008 (I think)
Best Before: Mar 2011
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Simply wrapped in baking paper and then with a green plastic wrap - Gold sticker telling me it got an award for great taste in 2007.
Appearance: This is a lighter coloured pudding than your average. There is the odd nut (almond?) visible.
Texture: Lovely and soft. Pretty similar to the Tiptree pud reviewed at the same time.
Taste: Another lovely pudding. What a treat to have two at once! Lighter coloured puddings can often have bizarre flavours (Carved Angel springs to mind), but this is one of the best. Fruity is the order of the day and a lovely lasting flavour. However, in comparison to the Tiptree I think it is just about beaten by a whisker.

Score: 7/10

Tiptree Organic Christmas Pudding 454g

Purchased: Dec 2006
Best Before: Dec 2009
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Earthenware basin with cloth in a thick, green, cardboard box
Appearance: Mid-shine, very dark, pudding. This looks the business.
Texture: It doesn't get much better than this. Soft, but not too soft. No nuts, which is interesting, I do like nuts.
Taste: Wow. This is so nice. I'd have another if we had one (actually I have a tiptree non-organic on the shelf!). No nuts, but it's so tasty, so fruity, just the right amount of alcohol. Good spice level. Everything just works beautifully here. If you can find them - buy them...

Score: 8/10

Friday 25 December 2009

Christmas Day - Marks and Spencer Vintage Christmas Pudding 907g

This year I went for an M&S pud as I always think they are pretty good. This one had also been on the shelf for a couple of years!

Purchased: Dec 2006
Best Before: Feb 2007
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: Yes!
Cream or Custard: White Chocolate Sauce (see recipe on blog)
Packaging: Rounded Plastic Tub but in a lovely Red and Black Cardboard Box with Red Elastic Tie
Appearance: Shiny dark pudding. Really tasty looking - but I may be biased as I look forward to Christmas pud on Christmas Day especially!
Texture: Soft and fruity, but also some nuts give it a nice bite. A touch gooey, but not too much.
Taste: As I thought before I ate this it was a pretty solid pudding with a decent taste. I had a pretty alcoholic couple of mouthfuls to start with, but I think this was more likely the brandy I poured over when I lit it up! Nothing too spectacular, taste wise, but decent enough. Good balance of fruit, nuts and alcohol.

Score: 6/10

Saturday 12 December 2009

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Cognac Laced Christmas Pudding 100g

Purchased: Dec 2009
Best Before: Mar 2011
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Black Plastic Tub with Purple Cardboard Box
Appearance: Shiny dark pudding, pretty similar to the standard one also reviewed today. However, noticeably more nuts visible.
Texture: Soft and fruity, but also some nuts give it a nice bite. Pretty decent I'd say.
Taste: This pudding is definitely nicer than the other Sainsbury's one I've just reviewed, however it's nothing special. There is a good level of alcohol that does not over power the flavour, however there's just not too much going on with it. There are better puddings around, such as the Finest one from Tesco I tried earlier in the week; so Tesco have beaten Sainsbury's this year on Christmas Puddings I reckon.

Score: 4/10

Sainsbury's Christmas Pudding 100g

Purchased: Dec 2009
Best Before: Mar 2011
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Red Plastic Tub with Red Cardboard Sleeve
Appearance: Shiny dark pudding - what you expect from a supermarket pud.
Texture: Soft and very fruity. Not really gooey at all. I'm convincing myself a bit that maybe the microwave adds some gooeyness when it cooks a pud. Will endeavour to try the same pud cooked both ways at some point.
Taste: This was so dull. There was pretty much no flavour to this, beside a few sultanas. Nothing much redeeming about it. If I had this on Christmas Day after a lovely dinner I would be seriously disappointed. Steer clear.

Score: 2/10

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Marks and Spencer Classic for Christmas Luxury Christmas Pudding 113g

Purchased: Dec 2008
Best Before: Feb 2009
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Rounded Plastic Tub with Cardboard Box
Appearance: Shiny dark pud with a rounded top.
Texture: Just about the right side of gooey. A few nuts give it a nice bite.
Taste: Classic pudding taste, but too much alcohol that's overpowering and lingers in the mouth too much. Otherwise pretty solid, if nothing spectacular.

Score: 5/10

Holly Lane Festive Luxury Mini Panettone Christmas Pudding 2 x 100g

Purchased: Oct 2009
Best Before: Aug 2011
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Plastic Tub with Cardboard Sleeve
Appearance: Mid-coloured pudding with a flat top.
Texture: Fairly soft with no real bite to it. A tad dry perhaps.
Taste: I tried the first one of the pair a while back and really didn't like it. I thought I'd give the second one a go tonight. There's not much to like about it to be honest and I wouldn't recommend these puds. A pretty poor effort. At least there's no lingering flavour in the mouth particularly (might be because I smothered it in cream to make up for the poor taste).

Score: 3/10

Tesco Finest Matured Christmas Pudding 100g

Purchased: Dec 2009
Best Before: ?
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Rounded Plastic Tub with Dark Blue Cardboard Box
Appearance: "Normal" dark coloured pudding. Shiny.
Texture: Kind of what I have come to expect from supermarket puds. A little gooey probably best describes it.
Taste: This was quite a nice pudding. A good blend of fruit and nuts and the right amount of alcohol, it's gooeiness drops the score a touch. I am trying to find a pud for Christmas Day at the moment. There will be seven of us eating and I'm not sure on the correct size of pud! Tesco currently have an offer on their 907g version of this pudding - half price, only £5. I think that is excellent value for money and would recommend it. I guess this offer will be for a limited time only, so get in there quick if you want one. I will be buying one, but not sure yet if I'll use it on Christmas Day!

Score: 7/10

Tiptree Christmas Pudding 112g

Purchased: Dec 2009
Best Before: ?
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Plastic Tub with Dark Blue Cardboard Box
Appearance: Pretty light in colour compared to the majority of puds I have eaten
Texture: Soft, not too gooey. Good!
Taste: I really quite liked this. I was trying it because I have two Tiptree puds on my shelf (both 454g one, but one is the Organic version) and am thinking of trying one on Christmas Day. There was a good blend of fruit and you notice the alcohol without it being alcoholic, which is good. I might have another before the big day to decide. Dad wasn't so keen though, after the mouthful he had, and he's coming on Christmas Day, so perhaps I'll choose another?

Score: 8/10

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Thorntons Christmas Puddings?

I am quite distraught. It would appear that Thorntons are not selling a Christmas Pudding this year. I will endeavour to write to them to find out what is going on!

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Thorntons Luxury Christmas Pudding 454g

Purchased: Gift - so not sure
Best Before: Mar 2009
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Plastic Tub with Cardboard Sleeve
Appearance: Round top because of the rounded tub, nice shiny pud
Texture: Really great texture. A few nuts, which worked well. Soft pudding without being too gooey.
Taste: Wonderful. This was appreciated by the CCCPC in a tent! It was steamed in a saucepan over a Cobb BBQ, which worked really well. This has to be one of the best puddings we've tasted. Everything about it just worked, taste wise. I could have just done with it being a bit more melt in the mouth and some nicer packaging, particularly for a "luxury" pudding, and that would have given it an even better score. I'll be buying one of these when they appear again this year.

Score: 8/10

Waitrose Richly Fruited Christmas Pudding with Remy Martin - UPDATE

It's been a while since I have posted a review, so now two at once. Well, one and a half. (This is the half)

Recently I had the pleasure of having some more of the above pudding. This time we had cooked a 1.2kg weight pudding and it was seriously impressive. This leads me to up my previous score of 6 by a point. The larger pudding was not apoilt by the alcohol content and was better balanced. So updated:

Score: 7/10

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Marks & Spencer Classics for Christmas 113g

Purchased: Dec 2008
Best Before: Feb 2009
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Black plastic tub with round bottom wrapped in red plastic wrap and a red cardboard sleeve.
Appearance: Round top because of the rounded tub, good for a small pud, dull, rather than shiny.
Texture: Mushy pretty much describes it! Not very distinct texture of fruit or nuts beyond this. It was also a bit stodgy.
Taste: It's OK and definitely nothing spectacular. E quite liked it, but I'm not so sure. Not much alcohol to taste, although it's listed on the box. It doesn't really light my fire.

Score: 5/10

Friday 16 January 2009

Lakeland Traditional Christmas Pudding 425g

Purchased: Dec 2008
Best Before: April 2010
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Red cellophane wrapped plastic tub with lid
Appearance: Rough appearance, shiny pud.
Texture: Very soft and fell apart as it was served up. Lots of orange peel made for a slightly odd texture in the mouth.
Taste: This is a seriously fruity pudding, with what felt like tons of orange peel. Unfortunately this is not a good thing in my opinion and I didn't much like it. I think it's the peel that ruined it for me and E felt the same. The alcohol balance was good, but that didn't really help things. It was one of those rare occasions when I didn't finish my bowl.

Score: 3/10