The h2g2 Post Recipe
Created | Updated Mar 21, 2005
Now, some of the recipes in my Recipe Book are bloody tasty, but quite a few of them require a bit
of hard work, and a lot of time all you want to do is chuck some sauce on some meat and eat it with
rice/chips/couscous. And, that's not a problem, I feel the same way myself, but it's worth getting the
best you can. So, in the name of dedicated research, I have taste-tested a few of the better known UK
brands and here are my considered opinions:
Indian
As you might have guessed, I eat a fair amount of sub-continental (to call it Indian would be
narrow-minded, a lot is Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi) food. Without a doubt, my nominee for the best
sauces in this style is Patak's. I say sauces, Patak's mostly produce a range of pastes which, if you
follow the instructions, produce an almost restaurant-quality curry. Their tandoori paste, when mixed
with an equal volume of yoghurt, does wonders for chicken, turkey or lamb when well-blackened over a
BBQ.
For a long time, Sharwoods was the accepted name for home-curry-makers in Britain, but I
find their sauces and spice powders to be very bland and insubstantial, with that nasty old-spice (not
the aftershave!) overtone of school curries.
Knorr do a range of 'Sizzle n Stir' two-stage cooking sauces, which include several curry recipes.
Their chicken tikka massala is extremely coconutty, but the rest are quite acceptable.
Uncle Ben's curry sauces are hideous...
...As are most supermarket brands. If you have to get any, get the masalla sauce, which isn't an
Indian invention at all, therefore there's some justification for getting it so badly wrong.
Italian
There are many, many, many commercial pasta sauces on the market, most bearing some vague
similarity to 'tomato', and absolutely none are even vaguely comparable to making your own with some
fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil. However, if you really must, avoid Dolmio sauces (which are
horribly sweet), and plump for Bertolli or Lloyd Grossman. The only supermarket brand worth
considering is M&S.
Sacla are new on the market with their thicker, more authentic sauces. However, I find them
somewhat overpowering and salty. An acquired taste perhaps.
Generally, the best pasta sauces are the ones available in small (tuna-tin or Dorito's-dip sized) jars.
There are several brands who produce these, which are designed to stir into cooked pasta. How the
Italians do it, in fact.
Again, avoid Uncle Ben's at all costs. Whoever the chap is, he should stick to rice.
Chinese
Unlike with the Indian range, Sharwood is justifiably the market leader here. Their range of stir-in
sauces are all extremely tasty and very recommendable.
Blue Dragon are now pretty widely available, and specialise in many of the stock Chinese
ingredients that are otherwise hard to get, as well as the usual variety of sauces (Black Bean, Teriyaki,
Hoi Sin and so on). The general quality is excellent.
American
There is an American Beef Marinade called 'Stubb's' which isn't too widely available in the UK,
but turns any steak into pure heaven. Seek it out if you can.
If you like it damn spicy, you could do a lot worse than seek out Walkerswood's exceedingly
addictive jerk marinade. They do a mild jerk for wimps, as well.
As far as Mexico is concerned, there is pretty much only one name in the UK market - Old El Paso.
The general consensus is that these are nice once in a while, but are awfully repetitive if you try to
cook them every week. I use El Paso's flour tortillas with a whole range of sauces for variety.
Dry spice rubs
These come in any amount of flavours, and do a lot for the average pork chop or chicken breast. I
generally choose Bart's as my brand for whole spices, but Schwarz have an astounding range of spice
rubs (some conveniently available in 2-serving packets). Remember if you buy these that they become
absolutely useless a week after opening - ground spices have no shelf-life whatsoever.
I admit this list must be far from complete so please let me know - what do you, the Post's dedicated readership, regard as a good buy for a quick meal? All suggestions to the forums below please.
