Thursday, April 03, 2008
Review: The Fillo Factory and Aunt Trudy's - Various Products
It took a while to work through the phyllo-based products of the Fillo Factor and Aunt Trudy's (both from the same company). You spell fillo, I spell phyllo, it doesn't matter when, for the most part, the products are great. The underlying product is the dough. Typically people buy phyllo frozen because, from what I understand, it's a bigger pain in the pantry to make from scratch than even strudel dough. In everything we tried, the phyllo was perfect - crisp, never overly greasy from the fat that gets spread between layers when you actually bake with it. In sheet form, there is the regular kind as well as organic. Some types listed on the site that I didn't have to test were organic whole wheat or organic spelt. You can also buy pre-made 1.5-inch diameter organic round shells for either savory or sweet treats. This is a great tool for your next entertainment extravaganza.
The pocket sandwiches - broccoli and cheese, cheese and tomato pizza, spinach and cheese, organic eggplant and roasted peppers, organic Asian vegetable - were great. The teens liked them as well. Microwave according to the directions, and they come out surprisingly crisp. Appetizers were, sadly, more hit and miss. Spinach and feta were good. The potato and roasted garlic would have been good just as that, but there was an overly aggressive rosemary presence, which no one here found pleasing. The roast vegetable one filling cubed a bit too fine for my taste. Now, I know these are small, and that you couldn't use larger cubes, but maybe more roughly chopped, or even mashed. I found the texture a bit off-putting - not bad, just strange. The spanakopita was fine.
On to dessert. My wife, who loves baklava, loved the walnut variety that we got. I tried it as well and agreed that it was fabulous.
So, all in all, if your taste is like mine and you stay away from the potato and roasted garlic appetizers, at worst you'll find something acceptable, and at best you'll be impressed. Later on I'll report on the various prepared chilis that came in the test package from the company.
The pocket sandwiches - broccoli and cheese, cheese and tomato pizza, spinach and cheese, organic eggplant and roasted peppers, organic Asian vegetable - were great. The teens liked them as well. Microwave according to the directions, and they come out surprisingly crisp. Appetizers were, sadly, more hit and miss. Spinach and feta were good. The potato and roasted garlic would have been good just as that, but there was an overly aggressive rosemary presence, which no one here found pleasing. The roast vegetable one filling cubed a bit too fine for my taste. Now, I know these are small, and that you couldn't use larger cubes, but maybe more roughly chopped, or even mashed. I found the texture a bit off-putting - not bad, just strange. The spanakopita was fine.
On to dessert. My wife, who loves baklava, loved the walnut variety that we got. I tried it as well and agreed that it was fabulous.
So, all in all, if your taste is like mine and you stay away from the potato and roasted garlic appetizers, at worst you'll find something acceptable, and at best you'll be impressed. Later on I'll report on the various prepared chilis that came in the test package from the company.
Labels: appetizers, meal, opinion, product, review, sandwich
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Review and Opinion: Dunkin' Donuts Bacon Lover's Supreme Omelet
As proof that no product is too lofty, humble, or mass-market (actually, the mention of bacon caught my sensibilities), I told the Dunkin' Donuts PR people that I wanted to test the limited-availability Bacon Lover's Supreme Omelet: a croissant-bound egg scrambled with what appears to be red and green bell pepper and topped with "Colby-Jack" cheese and three slices of "thicker-cut pepper bacon." The cheese is supposed to be an "orange and white marbled cheese produced from a mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack," according to Wikipedia. I couldn't tell, because the stuff was melted and essentially gluing the top slice of the croissant to the base.
Because the sandwich seems to be steamed, the croissant is mushy, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has ordered breakfast sandwiches on croissants at any fast food emporium. The "thicker-cut" bacon must have been compared to a paper-like slice, as it perceptively thicker than I'd have expected from most supermarket varieties. I realized that the pepper treatment - which made the bacon seem more like weak slices of pastrami - is one of those food service techniques, using a really strong flavor addition to create the impression of a higher quality ingredient. For example, the pieces of pepper in the eggs give a touch of flavor in something that is ordinarily bland. (I've yet to find the commercial egg that has the taste of the ones we get from our own chickens, though that's a pretty touch standard to meet.)
In short, it's OK for fast food breakfast sandwiches, and the cracked pepper on the bacon adds a pleasant bite. If you're at a Dunkin' Donuts and want something more substantial than a doughnut, it's a decent choice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to track one down.
Because the sandwich seems to be steamed, the croissant is mushy, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has ordered breakfast sandwiches on croissants at any fast food emporium. The "thicker-cut" bacon must have been compared to a paper-like slice, as it perceptively thicker than I'd have expected from most supermarket varieties. I realized that the pepper treatment - which made the bacon seem more like weak slices of pastrami - is one of those food service techniques, using a really strong flavor addition to create the impression of a higher quality ingredient. For example, the pieces of pepper in the eggs give a touch of flavor in something that is ordinarily bland. (I've yet to find the commercial egg that has the taste of the ones we get from our own chickens, though that's a pretty touch standard to meet.)
In short, it's OK for fast food breakfast sandwiches, and the cracked pepper on the bacon adds a pleasant bite. If you're at a Dunkin' Donuts and want something more substantial than a doughnut, it's a decent choice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to track one down.
Labels: bacon, breakfast, Dunkin' Donuts, opinion, pepper, review, sandwich
