Noodle Poodles

Own brand v big brand

Okay as you can see from the photo, no actual poodles have been hurt or grilled in the making of this blog article. This was an experiment I did to see if the supermarkets own brand of 'pot noodle' could measure up to the Pot Noodle made by Golden Wonder.
Now for anyone reading this in the year 2100 (when hopefully we will have finally learnt to eat real, nutritional food), a pot noodle is a dehydrated concotion of noodles, dried vegetables, soya and a flavouring powder. Simply add boiling water to it and voila! Tuck in! Students and bachelors love them, ditto couch potatoes.
These things are hardly gourmet cooking, and you could be forgiven for thinking there wasn't much difference between the branded type and the supermarkets own. And you would be right! I bought one of each (see above photo) and did my own Pepsi challenge. But more 'noodly'.
The real Pot Noodle has a thicker consitency and comes with a sachet of soy sauce but apart from that, the supermarket's own brand (in this case Tesco) held up well against its more expensive brother. Especially when I added some of my own soy. In fact I leant more to the own brand because Golden Wonder's noodles taste saltier. (Something that branded 'cup~a~soups' suffer from also).
To put it bluntly as I always like to do, dehydrated grub is always going to taste the same, no matter what you pay so common sense should lead the wise shopper to the cheap seats in this instance. The price difference is big too so only a brand snob (see, 'idiot') would choose the more expensive one. Pot Noodle cost around £1.49p while own branded versions are only 14p! (Again Tesco prices). If my math is correct, that is a £1.35p difference. In other words, £1.35p of fool because you will struggle to find any real difference in terms of flavour.
And looking at what is written on the sachet of soy sauce belonging to the 'original' Pot Noodle (see below), Golden Wonder seem to be admitting their product needs flavour!
But if you happen to enjoy a few tipples, these snacks are great. No danger of setting the chip pan or grill on fire while rustling up some drunken munchies, simply boil a kettle and grab a Scotch Egg. (Check out the Poet's Mudball elsewhere on this blog).


Is a Pot Noodle that bad?

Obviously there is a limit of flavours with own brands. And when I say 'limit' I mean just one: Chicken & Mushroom. (Or this is the only flavour I have come across). While Golden Wonder's Potted Noodles feature a whole host of tasty and erm...'interesting' flavours. But a lot of them are a travesty to the taste buds (stand up 'Southern Fried Chicken') so the abundance of choice isn't so cool when all is said and noodled.
A few flavours are missing too. Where for the love of Glennfidich is the Fish & Chip or Lamb Vindaloo flavour? Or what about Bacon & Egg and Jagerbomb flavours? Hell these cant be any worse than some of them. *Points again at the truly horrid 'Southern Fried Chicken'* which tastes as much as fried chicken as cheese on toast tastes like fried chicken.
But as I say, these are a handy pished up snack and not totally offensive to the palete. Chicken & Mushroom is my preferred choice until Golden Wonder reads this article and decide that my Vindaloo and Fry Up flavours are a great idea and start making them.

Music to eat to ~ just put the radio on.

**** Anorak Metal Moment ****

Pot Noodle flavours:
Original curry
Chicken & Mushroom
Beef & Tomato
Sweet & Spicy
Sweet & Sour
Southern Fried Chicken
Bombay Bad Boy
Sticky Rib
Tikka Masala
Chinese Chow Mein
Sweet Coconut
Chicken Satay
Doner Kebab
Chili Beef
Christmas Dinner (2010 limited edition)

and flavours which were sent to the food gallows:

Cheese & Tomato
Sausage & Tomato
Pizza
Bacon Sizzler
Barbecue
Turkey Stuffing (Christmas limited edition)
Hot Chicken Curry
Lamb & Mint
Mexican Fajita
Seedy Sanchez (basically same as Mexican fajita)

Croque Monsieur

You get these in France (or Lidl)

Every food fan knows that France is one of the leading countries when it comes to culinary delights. Such is their poetry in the kitchen they can even make a boring old grilled cheese sandwich sound interesting. What you see in the above pictures is a Croque Monsieur, or what we in the UK would call a ham and cheese toastie. The cheese usually used is either Gruyère or Emmental.
The cheese used compliments the ham well, but personally I would have bunged some onion in there too. But even without onion, this is not a shabby sandwich by any means. And toasties are a good comfort food to turn too if a spot of the 'glums' has perched its miserable ass on your shoulders.
Its decieving too because whereas it doesn't appear to be very filling, finish one and you'll be more than satisfied.
The only grumble I have is toward the middle of the bread. It got quite 'soggy' from the heat when I expected it to be crisp like the crust. But whether this was due to this particular brand I don't know as I never ordered a Croque Monsieur when I was in France last.

Music to eat to ~ Lita Ford, Ugly Kid Joe, Europe