Marks and Spencer Salted Caramel Chocolate

Having spotted this by the checkout at M&S I knew I had to buy some to greedily devour taste test and blog about as a purely scientific exercise.  Any sweet food which contains a salty or savoury element immediately fires my imagination and taste buds, so I was already enthusiastic about this before I even tried some.  Being M&S too, I was expecting it to be not just any caramel chocolate, but an M&S caramel chocolate.  It didn't disappoint in this respect, being far removed from what is probably it's nearest mass market relation, Cadbury's Caramel.

The bar was 100g, or 12 generous squares (large squares are probably required for a flattish bar with a liquid filling to work).  The chocolate itself was excellent.  It broke with an agreeably crisp snap and melted very smoothly in my mouth.  It reminded me of swiss chocolate though I am sure if it was it would have been blazoned on the pack.  I will return to the flavour of the chocolate later.  

The caramel was quite runny, although again this may be a practical requirement given the dimensions of the bar.  I feel that a chewier caramel adds more textural interest, and a cube or sphere of caramel is my ideal as it is easier for the caramel to shine and the chocolate to play a supporting role rather than the other way around, which was the case here.  I am aware, however, that my mental archetype of a salted caramel is from Galler (http://www.galler.com/index.php).  That was a definite 10/10 when I tasted it- alas, in pre-blogging days- and has inevitably suffered from mental exaggeration of its awesomeness so I try to remind myself not to compare others to it, but I just can't help it.

Back now to the UK in 2010.  The caramel in the M&S version has a perceptible but subtle amount of salt which works well in highlighting the buttery element of the flavour, and by some kind of synaesthetic trick also enhances the smooth mouth feel of the caramel.  Despite this I can't help but feel that if you're going for a salted caramel it's worth really nailing your colours to the mast and going for a more prominence with the salt. I think I'd have to try an salted caramel that overdid it with the salt before I could specify what the happy medium would be.

The chocolate was sweet, and I wondered if it could do with being a bit darker, before realising that the chocolate does need to be sweet to be able to stand up to all the sugar in the caramel. 

This bar has a beautiful, lingering aftertaste of caramel which I absolutely loved, and thus had to chase by eating another square.  Health warning: the huge sweetness of this bar creeps up slowly but after about 6 squares, wow you are aware of it.  

Verdict: a solid 7/10.

Thinking about both  this bar and about lime-tequila-salt shots, I wonder whether salt a) makes things feel smoother in the mouth and b) prolongs a smooth aftertaste. 

Bakewell Pudding

A camping holiday in the gorgeous surroundings of the Peak District was not going to be complete for me without a pilgrimage to Bakewell.  This was the birthplace of the Bakewell Pudding, made even more famous (particularly to masses of southerners) by Mr Kipling's Bakewell Tart.  I know their pastry tastes of cardboard.  I know you can feel the icing corroding your teeth as you bite through it.  I know the almond flavouring was what Agatha Christie had in mind every time she described that tell-tale almond scent of cyanide.  Despite all this I am quite partial to these, especially the newish Bakewell Slices they do as this equates to more almondy goodness with less pastry. 

Back to Bakewell: The Blonde and I were in an outdoor kit shop when the very friendly shop assistant started chatting to us about our plans.  She explained to us that a Bakewell Tart was the variety topped with icing and a cherry, but that 'pudding' referred to the true Bakewell delicacy.  She also told us where to go to find one, and the story behind the origins of the Bakewell Pudding. 

According to her, there was already a pie which featured a layer of almond filling topped with jam.  A maid at the Rutland Arms hotel in Bakewell once made the mistake of putting the jam into the pastry first and the almond mixture on top.  The resulting pie was serendipitously better than what was intended and the Bakewell Pudding was born.

We were also advised where to go to buy a truly authentic Bakewell Pudding- The Bakewell Pudding Shop is one of these places and off we went to get a pudding.

By the time we ate it, the paper bag it came in had turned translucent which left us in no doubt about the health credentials of this treat!  Aesthetically the pudding wasn't that impressive.  Nicely burnished on top but otherwise all the same shade of pastry beige. 

The crust was flaky pastry, rather than the shortcrust we were anticipating.  I think the jam layer was plum jam, at any rate the sweet fruitiness was complemented by a a hint of a woody/bitter note.  The almond topping was quite custardy, rather than the sponge cake-like affair used by Mr Kipling.

I enjoyed it, and think it merits 7/10.  It was quite aptly less synthetic and more subtle than the tart version.  It was also more filling, due to the fat content no doubt! 

In the course of researching the Bakewell Pudding further for this post, I've discovered that it should be served warm.  As with most pastry dishes this would make the pastry seem lighter; it would also make the filling less dense and I think maybe elevate the Pudding up to 8/10.

Lindt's Sea Salt Dark Chocolate

I was very excited to see a new variety of Lindt chocolate on sale.  It's from their Excellence range and the full name is 'A Touch of Sea Salt.'  Of course I had to buy it and see what it was like.  It's available from Whittard's and from Lindt online.

I'm going to keep this one brief after the white chocolate dissertation.  The bar is presented in the standard Lindt format, big squares.

As with all the Lindt falvoured dark chocolates the cocoa content 47%,  so it hits the balance between sweetness for those who don't like chocolate too dark, and intensity for those who do.  The salt is in evidence as fair sized sea salt crystals throughout the bar.

It definitely one that benefits from savouring rather than chomping, as both the chocolate and the salt melt but at different rates.  The interest came mostly from the fact that I found I was oscillating between tasting the salt and tasting the chocolate, rather than tasting the two simultaneously as a blend of flavours.  I think sea salt would work better with a sweeter, milkier chocolate as this would bring it closer to the idea of a salted caramel, where the flavours do blend.  Another point of note was that I found the salt somehow made the rest of the bar- ie the chocolate- seem oilier than normal by comparison.

This is getting 7/10:  it's interesting to eat, rather than being delicious, and hasn't usurped any of my favourites but Lindt have impressed me by marketing an unsual flavour.

Teaboy's Scones

Another day, another cup of tea at The Teaboy's.

This time the biscuits were usurped by The Teaboy's homemade scones.  He usually uses bicarbonate of soda in his scones, but had not brought any to the island.  What he did have was an egg.  So a trial was made of egg scones.

This experiment had a very happy ending. The scones rose well and were consumed the second they came out of the oven by The Fiesta, The Teaboy, The Panorama, and myself  The egg added a richness and lightness to the scones.

Tesco Finest 72% Plain Chocolate

The packaging reflects the 'Finest' pedigree due to the silver colour that always reminds me of the scratch-off stuff on scratchcards, but somehow manages to look classy in this context.  The foil around the chocolate is easily torn with a fingernail, a la old kit-kat tv ad, revealing a dark and shiny bar that breaks with a satisfying snap.  It melts smoothly on the tongue, releasing an earthy cocoa flavour that strikes the balance perfectly between acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. Even The Fiesta and The Diver, not normally fans of chocolate this dark came back for seconds of this.

Now this is interesting: the first time I tried this chocolate I thought it would be a contender for at least 9/10.  I bought some more, and it just wasn't as good as I remembered.  What I had thought was perfectly balanced flavours turned out to be actually quite boring.  I'd like to be non-PC here; this chocolate is the gastronomic equivalent of stereotypical Switzerland- efficiently meeting all that it promises to but lacking something in the personality department. Rated 7/10.

MoD Rice

Today: something totally you-can't-buy-this-in-the-shops exclusive.  The lesser spotted Ministry of Defence 'MoD Cooked Rice.'  This was sourced for me by The Adventurer, who spends much of his free time yomping across remote parts of the world in green splodgy clothes, dining quite well it turns out.

He suggested I might like to try it after I complained to him the limitations of my temporary accommodation kitchen which consisted of 1 microwave and 0 other stuff.

The dull label "MoD Cooked Rice" did not deceive me as I could spy some yellow rice mixed with spice within.  The label said boil in the bag- note well people, microwaving in the bag is not be be recommended unless you want a scale model of The Hindenburg in your microwave.  Fortunately I rescued it just in time to prevent an action replay of what happened to the actual Hindenburg.  The better option turned out to be emptying the rice into a bowl, adding a couple of tbsp water, and heating.

The end result is highly impressive: if I was served this in a curry house I would not be disappointed.  The rice is the perfect consistency, none of that strange bite that pre-cooked-pre-packed rice has.  The label states Basmati Rice, maybe that's why the grains stay perfectly separate.  It also contains onion, sunflower oil, salt, ginger puree, some E numbers (which I will gloss over....) and, to add an air of mystery, "spices."

The ginger and onion work well, and some detective work- i.e. eating them- revealed the spices to be cumin seeds and turmeric.  Delicious!

I also have to hand it to the MoD: if they can make yummy food that will last 3 years or more in the pack and still get 7/10, I am sure they can engineer some shit-hot technology to defend the realm.