I love cooking from scratch but when you're in a rush, it's great to be able to rely on ready-prepared spice mixes or sauces that will deliver you a tasty dinner without all the hassle and that will surely be better for you than something straight out of the freezer. I've used lots of sachets of spices before as marinades, glazes or cook in sauces so I thought it would be the same-old-same-old when Colman's offered to send me one of their new Season and Shake sachets to try out.
How wrong could I be ?! This is a totally different way of using spices and, in fact, a whole new way of cooking. As Colman's explain, "Brand new Colman’s Season and Shake combines delicious seasoning with a revolutionary baking bag that allows you to cook an entire meal while sealing in the flavours of the herbs and spices to create an instant family hit." Not only does the bag seal in the flavours, it also seals in the moisture and juices so I have never eaten such succulent chicken in my life. But the bag has another huge advantage - it makes washing up afterwards so quick and easy !
Colman's explain how it all works in five easy steps :
Step one – Place chopped chicken and vegetables into the special baking bag (you’ll find recommendations for vegetable combinations on the pack of the pack of the Mediterranean and Rustic variants)
Step two – Pour over the Season & Shake seasoning
Step three – Seal and shake the bag for a few seconds
Step four – Cook on an oven dish for 40-45 minutes – no mixing or stirring required!
Step five – The meal is ready to serve for the whole family to enjoy!
I was sent Mediterranean Chicken to try, described as "a delicious seasoning containing tomato, herbs including basil oregano, rosemary, bay leaf and spices such as paprika, cayenne pepper and garlic" - which suggests using courgettes and tomatoes in the bag with the chicken. This makes a light, low-fat dinner packed with flavour that we served with rice and that the whole family enjoyed. I even let 9-year-old Sophie do the shaking part and she very proudly told her dad that she'd made dinner tonight !
I'll definitely be trying the other two varieities - Paprika and Rustic - and hope that the range will be be completed with some recipes that can be used with other meats too.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £1.49
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Not a fan at all of instant cooking aids, such as these. Through experence cooking from scratch takes no longer than using the instant aids. It is all down to time management. I can see why people buy these sort of products, if they dont have the 'raw' ingredients already to hand or its a new taste to try out to see if it is liked. If using one of these packets and the dish is enjoyed then the next step is to slowly buy in the raw ingredients so you can make it yourself. In the long run it will be a lot cheaper and you can then tweek it to your taste. As for the bag idea. Basic proper cooking techniques will preduce the same results.
ReplyDeleteYou can buy them bags in every single supermarket. And then just add your own spices. I am Polish and in Poland they have been on the market for twenty odd years at least. Everyone roasts meat in these bags. And not only meat, but also veg, fish etc.
ReplyDeletefucking shit product, the bag pop
ReplyDeleteMaybe you put too much in it ? Not sure, haven't had a problem here.
DeleteTried it, absolute crap. Bag split. A casserole dish with a lid, that way you don't have to piss about with a bag. Why try and overcomplicate things.
ReplyDelete