Beer Review: Peroni Gran Riserva

01. June 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
If you go to Pizza Express, this is what you must order to drink! They may only serve two different beers (the other being bog standard Peroni) but it’s worth it just for this one. At 6.6% and packed with malty flavour (Birra Doppio Malto as it says on the label) it’s a real standout bottled lager. I was seriously happy to see it in the supermarket, and it tastes just as good at home, especially at a third the price the restaurant charges. Repeat – this is not an ordinary lager – just look at the colour in the glass. It is to be savoured.

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Beer Review: Brewdog Punk IPA

30. May 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
This is a challenging beer. It sticks two fingers up to you, even from the shelf with it's "I'm not a fuddy duddy ale" packaging. Once you've picked it up the label continues with the bolshiness, suggesting that you're probably not man enough to drink it. Challenge accepted!

It's a proper old-school IPA at 6% and heavily hopped – as were the original India Pale Ales, to survive the long journey by boat from England to India, if I've got my beer history right. However the bitterness of the hops is a bit too no-holds-barred for my liking and any other subtle flavours are mostly bashed into submission. I wouldn't drink more than one in the same sitting.

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Disappointing Pizza Update

13. May 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Food and Drink
See my freshly updated post to find out what Dr Oetke had to say about my thinly topped The Deep Dish pizza.

Chicago Town “The Deep Dish” Pizza

30. April 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Food and Drink
Stuck for something for dinner and late home from work this evening I picked up a complete bargain at Iceland: £1 for a pack of two Chicago Town "The Deep Dish" pepperoni pizzas. I've always liked these and at this price you can't go wrong.

I liked these particular instances even if I slightly overcooked them, but my enjoyment was tempered by the arguably false advertising on the box, which boasts about how the pizza is "topped to overflowing with tomato sauce, pepperoni slices and so much melt-in-the-mouth mozzarella cheese, that it takes a deep dish base to hold all the topping in". The emphasis is theirs. They even illustrate the point with a photo demonstrating the approximately 15:85 base:topping ratio, complete with oodles of that tempting cheese. Here's their photo on the left, and mine on the right.

DeepDishPizzaTheirs 6565 DeepDishPizzaMine 6564 

Now I'm no investigative journalist but it seems like the 15:85 ratio has been reversed for the actual pizza on my plate compared to the picture on the box. And the near centimetre deep layer of mozzarella? Missing in action. Don't get me wrong – still a bargain for £1 and damn tasty with it – but they've stuck their neck on the block here and should reap the scorn deserved.

Update: I sent an email to the customer service department who have responded to ensure me that the batch in question did not record any anomalies, so my disappointingly topped pizza must have been a one-off. That must go for all four pizzas in the two boxes I bought! They've sent me a voucher for a free pizza to ease the pain. Fair enough, but this is clearly a stock response and I suspect they know full well it wasn't a one off and that their pizzas are always a long way from meeting the promise on the box. Cynical, moi? Can I be bothered to continue to kick up a fuss? I don't think that big corporations should be able to get away with this sort of blatant deceit and disrespect for the customer, but it's just not worth it.

Beer Review: Joseph Holt, Maple Moon

26. April 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
To complete today's beer review triumvirate, a fantastic find from the supermarket shelves (Sainsburys I think, but I'm not completely sure). This is a near perfect bottle of loveliness, beautifully balanced with just a hint of sweet maple coming through to make it special. I can see why it won a silver medal in an international competition a couple of years back. I'm annoyed that I only seem to have bought one bottle. I will seek out more, to check that it really is as great as I thought the first time round.

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Beer Review: Double Maxim

26. April 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
This is an odd one – it promises to be a "premium brown ale" and initially it doesn't disappoint, tasting like the classic Newcastle Brown Ale, but more so. However I found that as I drained the glass it became a bit too much, with the main bitter note being too far to the fore. I didn't feel like I wanted another one.

An unusual – "beer still in the bottle" picture for you, to break with my usual habit.

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Beer Review: Marston’s Pedigree

26. April 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
This is a good honest ale with a long history. In a can it's cheap but tasty, and certainly you get more from it than most of its competitors. It really is a "premium ale" as it says on the can, but at 4.5% it's not going to knock your block off, which is fine by me. Increasingly I find myself happy to pay a bit more for this over something simpler and weaker like Greene King IPA. It's just so much more satisfying.

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Beer Review: John Smiths Original Bitter

05. April 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Beer, Food and Drink
I bought a pack of these unpretentious cans on holiday in Cornwall, as there wasn't much choice in the small Co-op. I could have had John Smiths Extra Smooth, but I'm not a fan of the smooth creamy head on my pint. It's shame that Cornwall seems to be one of those areas that puts the cream-flow spouts on their draught beer taps, like they do up North. A classic way to ruin a perfectly good pint if you ask me.

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There's not much to say for this very straightforward bitter – it's got good colour and a decent enough flavour, but it's very one-dimensional with pretty much zero in the way of extra interesting tastes coming through other than the basic bitterness. A good cheap beer to keep in for light mid-week requirements, but I find Greene King IPA fills that role better.

Non-stick non-tasty

23. March 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Food and Drink

It's easy to just pull out the big non-stick half-wok half-frying pan thing for most meals that involve frying anything (especially if you're going to add liquid later as its high sides mean a good overall capacity), but it's not always best. A good stainless steel thick-bottomed frying pan has some important qualities that you're missing out on. In particular you'll be missing out on building a layer of tasty brown fried-on stuff as you do your onions and meat, which you can then de-glaze into the sauce as you add liquid. In a non-stick pan that just doesn't really happen.

We got a great deal on a set of Prestige stainless steel cookware a couple of years back and it's been a real eye opener. My biggest worry was that it would be a complete pain to wash up, but this really isn't the case at all. Generally things don't stick much anyway, and a short soak soon sorts out even the worst offence. And they look dead professional 🙂

Delia’s Perfect Rice

08. March 2009 · 1 comment · Categories: Food and Drink

I tried doing rice a bit differently to normal this evening, following Delia's approach. Ordinarily I'd rinse the rice a lot under the tap, then put in a saucepan with more than enough boiling water and cook until done, then strain and serve. But it often clumps together on the plate and I thought it must be possible to do better.

Delia's approach involves a large covered saucepan, no rinsing, just enough water, almost no stirring and a couple of important other tips. I'd say that it 'worked' but that it was still just rice at the end of the day and I'm not sure it was worth it. Not having my usual rice alongside to compare with made it hard to know whether it was much of an improvement. I'd post a picture of my result, but it would be really very dull.
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