Archive for the ‘Stovetop’ Category

Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

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Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken

These photos and descriptions come courtesy of reader Amy Hill.

Looks: “There’s some room for variation here, since you have packets of sauce/rice/chicken/vegetables and have to put them together yourself, so if the chicken doesn’t get as brown as on the package that might just be your fault for not following directions. Still, it looks almost exactly like the package (note that the IRL photo shows only one serving, while the package shows two).” 5 out of 5

Taste: “Sweet and spicy sauce; good amount of vegetables; not greasy at all. Better than a lot of Chinese takeout, even. My one complaint is that the servings are a bit small for the price.” 4.5 out of 5

If you, like Amy, want to read about your own food on the Internet, send your photos to food@foodirl.com. On the other hand, if you like Amy, that is something I cannot help you with.

Kraft White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese

Friday, December 4th, 2009

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Kraft White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese

Looks: The sauce isn’t quite thick enough to fill in the holes in the ends of the noodles, and the noodles aren’t long enough to curve like the noodles on the box; both are minor nitpicks though. 4 out of 5

Taste: It’s very similar to the normal Kraft Macaroni & Cheese that everyone has had at least once in their life, except without the sharp bite of the yellow cheddar cheese mix. I definitely preferred the more mild taste of the white cheddar, but like most Kraft Mac & Cheese, every subsequent bite was a little worse than the one before it, and by the end, I felt a little queasy. My body must immediately start building immunity against whatever chemicals Kraft is using to make this dish taste so good. 4 out of 5

Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

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Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne

Looks: The chicken and tomato bits blend into the sauce much more than the package shows, and there was no melted cheese to be seen (although you could taste it). The sauce is thicker and coats the noodles more than expected, but the noodles themselves appeared as advertised. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: My wife claims this is her favorite of all the Bertolli meals, but I’m just not feeling it. (The Chicken Alfredo & Fettuccine and Chicken Florentine & Farfalle are both superior.) The noodles are fine, but I found the chicken a tad too soggy, and the sauce was underwhelming: it doesn’t taste much different than jarred Ragu. Definitely less than I’ve come to expect from Bertolli. 3 out of 5

Knorr Creamy Chicken Pasta Sides

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

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Knorr Creamy Chicken Pasta Sides

Looks: Much flatter than the noodles on the box, and where are the carrots? The sauce too is lacking, making the whole dish stick together rather than fluff up like on the package. 3 out of 5

Taste: It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. It had a nice subtle chicken flavor, and while most of the noodles cooked nicely, the hard bits of uncooked pasta that somehow didn’t cook at all almost ruined it. As I was eating it, I was thinking about how I would score its taste. I would take a couple bites, enjoy them, and think, “It’s maybe a 4.” Then I would get a bite that had a hard piece of pasta that managed not to cook, and I’d think “Not so fast, 4.” If the pasta had all been cooked, it might have ended up with a 3.5. 2.5 out of 5