Beef Pot Roast

Braising is best suited for cheap but tough cuts of meat, where the time that slow cooking affords goes into tenderising the meat and mingling of flavours, leading to a very rich dish, and meat that has melt-in-the-mouth texture. Finding braised meat while dining out however is difficult, unless you happen to be in Chinatown, where cheap cuts of meat are favoured for their cost-effectiveness. Braised beef brisket happened to be one of the few things I ordered when I was out with friends for dinner while at university. I still order it today, and it happens often enough that in recent times I found myself looking at the Sainsbury's Basics Beef Pot Roast, wondering if I can braise beef the way the Chinese restaurants do.

There are a couple of techniques that the Chinese use for tenderising meat that I was told about quite some time ago. While searching for recipes to braise the beef, there appears to be some confusion and lack of familiarity on the Internet about using such techniques, and as such, I thought I will try to shed some light on the matter, and use the techniques in my braised beef to see if they will work.

The first techinque involves adding bicarbonate of soda to the beef, leaving it to stand for a while, and then washing it off. This is the more difficult of the two techniques as if the soda is not properly washed off it will adversely affect the final flavour of the food. From what I've read on the Internet so far, the bicarbonate works by making the beef more alkaline (hence the ruined flavour if not washed off), allowing the coiled up proteins in the beef to straighten out, making it more tender.

The other technique involves covering in cornflour. This then acts as an insulating layer when frying so that the direct heat doesn't result in a toughened cut of beef. Since we are limited to the Sainsbury's Basics range, we shall use Basics plain flour instead, along with whatever we want to marinate the beef in (we use Basics black pepper and herb mix here). An extension of this technique, known as 'velveting', involves marinating the meat in cornstarch, egg white, and rice wine along with other seasonings for about 30 minutes.

So while waiting for the beef, prepare anything else that you want to braise together with the beef. I have opted to go 'Yankee-style', as described by Wikipedia, and included a parsnip and carrot. Chop up some onion as well.

Heat a wok, before adding olive oil. Fry the onions until they just start turning brown, and then start browning the beef.

Deglaze the wok using Sainsbury's Basics vinegar, and then transfer contents into a saucepan or pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until tender.

This was only fairly successful. The parts of the beef that were in contact with the bicarbonate of soda and flour were tender, with the rest of the beef making for rather tough eating. While it is reassuring to know that the techniques work, my approach to braising beef might need a bit of tweaking before I can try it on my friends. 

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Beef Pot Roast	£6.49/kg	by weight	+£unknown	Better quality beef?

Chocolate Wafer Biscuits

While stocking up on snacks that I might want to have for my flight out of London for the holidays last month, I came across these Sainsbury's Basics Chocolate Wafer Biscuits. I bought myself a pack, thinking that I would be able to kill two birds with one stone, having something to eat and featuring it on this blog. Given that the length of this blog post will not amount to much though, I thought I might as well write about it while everybody is away on holiday, and save the meatier material for after the festive season.

For its price, the chocolate coating is decent and is light enough to not spoil your main meals even if you eat these close to dinner or lunch time. At the same time, have a couple of these and you would be able to last for a bit. As with the Bourbon Creams reviewed some time ago, these are really good so it's probably safe to assume that quality across the Basics biscuits range is on par with their regular own-brand counterparts.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Milk Chocolate Coated Wafer Biscuits	£0.42	6	+£0.58 for 9	Not known

Mince Puffs and other Christmas sweets

Christmas is upon us, and with that comes the usual festive dinners and general eating. We are in the midst of a eurozone crisis however, as the states that make up continental Europe have put various austerity measures into effect. Since Europe is the UK's largest trading partner, it's no surprise that people here would feel it too, but nonetheless it was rather surprising to have come across so many more Christmas-themed items in the Sainsbury's Basics range than the Basics Christmas Pudding I spotted in 2010. Seeing that this is the run up to Christmas I thought I should interrupt my usual publishing to write this so that you may know what is currently available.

I can't buy them all though, since I didn't want to spend all of winter eating them myself, so I decided to make do with the Basics Mince Puffs. These particularly amuse me, as about 3 Christmases ago, Sainsbury's actually did a Basics version of Mince Pies, as reviewed on Terrific Horrific. I have failed to spot them last year though, and given that mince-related items come out around this time of year, I'm guessing this is the substitute.

The puffs contain 42% mince, and as you can tell from the pic below, they fail to take up the generous space offered by the pastry. While they are not unpleasant, and are pretty cheap, I believe they are relatively poor value, and are no substitute for proper mince pies that are one of the key things that make a Christmas dinner.

I will be taking a break from writing to commemorate Christmas, and I'm sure that you would be enjoying yourself over the next few weeks or so. Have a blessed Christmas and a fruitful New Year!

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Mince Puffs	£0.63	8	+£0.37 for 6	Actual mince pies. Recommended.
Christmas Pudding	£0.98	454g	+£1.52	Higher fruit content, healthier
Iced Rich Fruit Cake	£1.90	400g	+£0.25	Higher fruit content, healthier

Grapes

EU regulations on food create a lot of waste - fruit and vegetables that are perfectly edible but oddly shaped cannot be sold in stores, as per the EU's Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1677/88 . Only vegetables and fruit that are considered as close in appearance and size to the European ideal are given the dubious honour of Class I, with those that are not, but not grotesquely misshapen enough to be discarded, designated Class II.

The same applies to grapes. When I came across these I suspected that these grapes failed to pass muster due to their colour, not being red enough for consumption. The labelling also seemed to suggest a problem with sizing as well. Either way I found them to be perfectly fine.

And in this case, they were seedless too. Given the regular grapes cost more than twice as much, I feel rather smug about finding this. I'm still not sure what exactly made these fail classification as Class I, but if there is an opportunity to engage in a consumer's version of what finance professionals call regulatory arbitrage, I will surely take it.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Grapes	£1.00	500g	+£1.25	Choice between white, red, or red and white.

Cod Fishcakes

I never understood the appeal of fishcakes. Wikipedia suggests that the fish cake, as the British know it, came about as a means for astute housewives to make the most of leftover fish and potatoes. So as I snubbed them for the umpteenth time at the company canteen in favour of the steak pie on Fish Friday, I wondered to myself as to why catering would offer them in the first place. Who would want to deliberately eat leftovers?

However, as I wandered through Sainsbury's later looking for something to pop into the oven while I showered, I came across the Basics Breaded Cod Fishcakes. I realised that I was getting bored of most of the other things that I usually have on weekdays, namely breaded chicken, fish fingers and pizzas, and so decided to give these a go.

The fishcakes are smaller than the ones offered in Sainsbury's own-brand fresh and frozen ranges; you would probably need 2-3 of these to make a meal. Don't be fooled by the labelling - 53% of 66% (that's the amount of cod that goes into the fishcake, ie. 53% of the fishcake that makes up 66% of the total) is somewhere around 34% which means that this is more carbohydrate than protein.

The fishcakes were pleasant, although the texture leaves much to be desired, with very few reminders of flaky fish and more of creamed potato. To be honest, I would rather have the fish fingers, which are cheaper, and yet have more fish per unit weight.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Cod Fishcakes	£1.39	10, 500g	+£1.61 for 2, 300g	Includes bacon,slightly higher cod content

Taste Test: Bourbon Creams

A while ago I had the chance to talk to two people who worked in the groceries sector. Through our conversations they got to know that I ran this blog and asked me certain queries about their own value line, specifically my attitude towards it, so that they could understand what their consumers want. I noted that while most people I know treated value lines as a way to reduce expenditure on frequently used essential items, I have noticed that there is another demographic distinct from this - that of university student societies and clubs.

Some memories came back of eating Sainsbury's Basics crisps and other such tidbits while attending various meetings held by the societies I participated in. A thought occurred to me if what they were doing was just a way to stretch out of extreme necessity the club's budget for as long as it can hold out, or if they were really on to something.

Where I work now, it is customary for a member of the team to bring something to snack on for our weekly team meetings. I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity for me to bring along two lines of Sainsbury's Bourbon Creams, one Basics, one own-brand, and arrange for a blind taste test. With that in mind, I got to the office early that morning, piled the biscuits into two separate plates and set them before my colleagues to sample from. Surprisingly it was difficult to tell them apart, as they tasted the same. That is, until somebody spotted a visual difference in the biscuits themselves.

The photograph you see below is a poor attempt at showing that difference. The Sainsbury's Basics Bourbon Cream on the left has less chocolate cream compared to the regular own-brand one on the right. To be honest, as noted above, none of us at the workplace could tell the difference, so considering the savings of almost 50%, if you are buying biscuits in bulk for the next gathering of any sort, do give the Bourbon Creams a try.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Bourbon Creams	£0.45	400g	+£0.38	Thicker chocolate filling.

Cashew-crusted Salmon

As I start to actively explore other areas of the Sainsbury's Basics range that I have not gotten round to reviewing, I noticed that there is a lack of coverage on fish. Given that my flatmate is fond of salmon, I decided that I should write up on the salmon fillets.

Unlike most of the other cheaper fish options available under Sainsbury's Basics, which are usually available as proper cuts, the Basics Scottish Salmon Fillets are off-cuts - in other words, whatever happens to be left of the fish after fillets have been cut from it for Sainsbury's own-brand range, or for that matter, other brands that the supplier happens to cater to. If you are lucky though, you might get a healthy sized steak - the pack shown in the photo above contains one small chunk, right, and a whole fillet, left and covered by the label. The sizes of the cuts I got in the pack can be seen later on.

As I am also clearing down my cupboard in preparation for my holiday out of town I searched on the Internet for recipes that use both cashew nuts and salmon. I've seen salmon prepared with almonds before, so I reasoned that cashews would not be too radical a departure from normal preparations. As it turns out, not only does the blogging community generally approve of my idea, the first page of hits on Google suggest a recipe which also uses Parmesan and Basil, ingredients I can easily substitute with Basics grated hard cheese and herb mix, which ties in nicely with clearing as much as I can.

The preparation appears straightforward enough. Blend in a food processor,or grind manually, the following things to make your crumb coating: Basics dried mixed herbs, cashew nuts, grated hard cheese, garlic cloves, and a bit of olive oil. Use the resulting mixture to coat the top of the salmon, placed skin down.

Bake at 210 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.

Even though the coating looks fairly innocuous, it is packed with nutrition, containing cheese and nuts, both high in protein and fat. This might be a filling alternative to the usual breadcrumb mixture that you might use to coat oily fish, though use of this to coat other meats is as yet unproven. From experience I would not recommend using this to coat white fish given its lighter taste.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Scottish Salmon Fillets	£10.98/kg	by weight	+£5.69/kg, +£2.06/kg for wild salmon	Guaranteed boneless fish, more regular cuts.