Clam Chowder Notes

Snows - Light on clams, moderate amt of potatoes. Soup base is a thick, gummy gel that never really dissolves with the milk. Extremely bland, almost flavorless.  Add thyme, lots of black pepper, paprika, celery salt to make it non-shitty tasting, also a pat of butter in every bowl. This was once the benchmark canned clam chowder, they are now totally sucked. 3/10

Campbells Chunky - thick and starchy right out of the can, but at full heat turns into nearly perfect consistency. Lots of clams and a fair amount of potato. Still somewhat bland, needs to be seasoned - celery salt, pepper makes a big difference. Not bad, though. 7/10

New England Country Soup - Outstanding. Perfect consistency. Loads of clams and potatoes. Rich broth made with real cream and butter, and it tastes it. Interesting flavor note from the hint of dill that they use, even though I usually dislike dill this was very nice. Top contender. In a pouch. New England Country Foods LLC, Manchester Village VT 05254  www.NewEnglandCountrySoup.net 9+/10

Valu Time (Topco "generic") - Decent flavor, lots of potatos, adequate amount of clams. Unnaturally white. Thick, starchy, gluey. It jiggles in the spoon. Token amounts of cream and butter in the broth, mostly modified food starch. 5/10

Progresso - Good consistency, not overthickened.  Big hearty chunks of potatoes, lots of clams (small pieces.) Very deep flavor with shellfishy notes thanks to addition of lobster powder, shrimp, crab powder, and fish powder. DATEM (Diacetyl Tartaric (Acid) Ester of Monoglyceride) added (emulsifyer) prob because the chowder is gluten-free. A more natural color, not weirdly white. A bit underseasoned, was better after adding some black pepper. I heated it up in the microwave; interestingly enough, it started out very very thick but within a few minutes (as it cooled) it got thinner 8/10

Big Y Chunky - Lots of potatoes, adequate amount of clams.  Like Valu Time, unnaturally white.  Freakishly thick, so thick and starchy a spoon could stand in it unassisted. Odd non-clam aftertaste was vaguely brackish. Would not ever buy this one again. 2/10

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Hargis house vienna sausages

Chicken vienna sausage, made by armour, NASTY. Generic pink flavor, plastic-like texture. Really horrid.

Regular vienna sausage, also made by armour, much better - very much like armour's brand but there seems to be a slightly different seasoning blend.

Whippers

Orange cream - Tastes just like a melted creamsicle (only thinner.) Little bit of an artificial sweetener aftertaste, but not too bad. Pretty much a win.

Blueberry Acai - Another good flavor, heavy on the blueberry, mercifully light on the acai, which just tastes like ass.  Fairly smooth, not really my favorite but not bad.

Strawberries and Cream - Awesome - smells and tastes exactly like strawberry PEZ, which made Lynnafred fall in love with it.  Best sweetening blend of the three, also - has the least aftertaste of any of them.

drinkwhippers on facebook and twitter
www.drinkwhippers.com

supposedly can buy them at thirstmonger.com

Rylee's Chips

Spicy Dill Pickle - sounds disgusting, but actually pretty good.  Dill, vinegar, a touch of garlic...and a spicy heat that isn't noticable at first but creeps up and builds as you enjoy more chips. Surprised at how much i liked these.

Taco Bell Sauces

Mild - Rich chile flavor, like chili powder.  A touch of heat, but not much.  I like the flavor, though.

Hot - Actually, I can't tell this one apart from Mild.  There's no difference in the overall taste, and the heat increase is insignificant.

Fire - Detectable heat (not painful or even uncomfortable) with little nubbins of onion and jalapeno in the sauce.  I really like this sauce - wish TB would sell it in bottles.

Verde - Not very hot, green-tasting and vinegary with a sharp tomatillo flavor.

Fire Roasted - No heat at all, but an awesome sweet/smoky chile flavor that is just awesome.  I mixed some with Fire sauce for a really excellent medium-heat sauce.

Chicken Pot Pies

Banquet - 2 crust, small, as low as 50c on sale.  Gravy is thin and very artificial-tasting.  Meat is in uniform cubes and somewhat spongy (I suspect it's some sort of loaf or composite product.)  tiny cuts of vegetables.  Definitely more gravy than meat/veg.  Veg:  Carrot, potato, peas. Crust is thin but good, I usually like it but for some reason the microwave cooking sometimes leaves the bottom crust a little  gooey in the center of the pie.

Marie Callenders 7 ounce - Same size as the Banquet, made by the same company (ConAgra). Hard to find this size in the grocery store, but available in multi-packs at Costco.  Better gravy than Banquet, better quality meat & more of it, bigger vegetable cuts.  Might be by the same company but they're using a different recipe.  Microwave recommended, paper pie pan so no toaster oven.
Same kind of problem with the bottom crust; sometimes kind of skeevy.


Willow Tree - Top crust only, aluminum pan must be baked in an oven or a toaster oven.  Huge chunks of white meat only, no veg, excellent homemade-tasting gravy. V. expensive.  Locally made in Attleboro MA and distributed primarily in New England.


Valu-Time - Cheaper than Banquet, but otherwise comparible.

Boston Market - 16 oz pie, 2 crust. Lots of meat (white and dark) but also odd chunks of cartilage.  Gravy tastes good.  Good veg: carrot, corn, green bean. Crust is flaky and decent, even on the bottom. This should be a winner, but there is something about this pie that almost nauseates me. The  gravy has a "slippery" mouthfeel, a vague and unpleasant gumminess that triggers my gag reflex. this may be unique to me; with the other positive aspects of the pie you might want to try one for yourself.  Onions are slimy. Made in Canada, est 277

Stouffers - 16 oz, 2 crust.  Lots of meat (all white) delicious, homemade-tasting gravy (with a pronounced onion taste.)  Peas, carrot, potato, onion veg.  Crust is awesome.  A little salty. Totally, however, awesome.  1st place so far.  Canada, est. 186

Bremer Select  - 10 oz, sold in 4-packs at ALDI. All white meat, veg include potato & carrot. Very good gravy and lots of real white meat chicken; top and bottom crust, very good.

Bremer 7 oz - sold individually at ALDI, 55 cents, small cubes of dark meat only, sparse carrots and potatoes, dark and kind of artificial-tasting gravy.  Top and bottom crust.  Comparible to Banquet.

note from Steph re: Mrs. Budd's - This microwave pot pie is surprisingly and delightfully delicious. (twitter 10/6/10)

Swanson - 7 oz, 2 crust - Better crust than banquet, flaky, good flavor. Gravy is thin and dark, white meat chicken is obviously reconstructed chicken loaf, spongy, strange tasting. carrots. no taters, a few very strong-flavored peas. As good as banquet, no better.


Mrs. Budd's - 12 oz - fully baked white meat chicken pie 1, peas & carrots - delicious homestyle gravy, big pieces of carrots, huge chunks of real white meat chicken, awesome quality, excellent crust


Mrs. Budd's fully baked white meat chicken with brocc, carrots, pearl onions. - 12 oz - Big florets of broccoli, not over cooked, huge chunks of chicken, carrots. Didn't find any pearl onions at all in either of the pies we had. Still awesome, excellent gravy and crust, truly top notch. P-629

Bistro Cuisine - flaky puff pastry, really excellent, big chunks of real chicken, corn, peas, carrots delicious gravy but a bit thicker than I like.  Another top-notch pie, also by Budd Foods. 10 or 12 oz I think.