Curious croquettes (Morrisons Potato Croquettes)

Member Name: GentleGenius

Product:	Morrisons Potato Croquettes
Date:	11/04/09 (323 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smooth potato, reasonably priced

Disadvantages: Bad coating

COST: £1.09 for 6 croquettes (240g)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per 100g):

Calories: 188
Kj: 776
Protein: 2.9g
Carbohydrate: 21.2g
- of which sugars: 0.06g
Fat: 9.9g
- of which saturates: 2.4g
Fibre: 1.4g
Sodium: 0.4g
Salt equivalent: 1g

INGREDIENTS:

Potato (74%), breadcrumbs (7.3%), wheat flour, yeast, salt, wheat starch, cornflour, vegetable oil, sodium diphosphate, sodium bicarbonate, wheat gluten, salted butter, dehydrated potato, egg albumen, white pepper, methylcellulose

ALLERGY/DIETARY INFORMATION:

Contains egg, gluten and milk

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Morrisons 6 potato croquettes come in a clear plastic elongated tray, which is wrapped in clear cellophane and sealed at both ends. The nutritional information, ingredients, allergy/dietary information and cooking instructions are on the rear of the pack. The product is to be found in the fruit & vegetable section of my own closest branch of Morrisons, but I consider it possible that in other branches, it might more logically be placed in the chilled cabinet.

Each potato croquette is approximately 3 inches in circumference and about 2½ inches long, covered with a nice golden colour breadcrumb coating. These croquettes can either be oven baked, fried or grilled, so I decided to opt for the oven bake method. I placed them on a flat, un-oiled baking tray and hoped they wouldn't stick. My accompaniment to the croquettes on this occasion was a huge mixed salad, with a mixture of cold meats.

During the cooking process, no smell emanated from the oven at all, and when the croquettes were ready, I was pleased to note that they hadn't stuck to the un-oiled baking tray. Other than the golden colour of the breadcrumbs being a shade darker, the croquettes looked exactly the same as they did when I first removed them from the packet....to the point where I even wondered if I'd remembered to turn the oven on - but, they were piping hot, so I must have done.

On my plate next to the other parts of my meal, the croquettes looked very appetising, so I slid my knife into one. The breadcrumbs sounded crispy rather than hard, and on sampling the first mouthful I was pleased that there were no uncooked little lumps of potato inside, as there often can be with some of these ready prepared potato dishes that use mashed potato. The breadcrumb coating was very easy to bite through, but it had a rather peculiar flavour - sort of a little like rancid cooking oil mixed with raw flour. The potato inside the breadcrumbs didn't have much of a flavour at all really - but was lovely and smooth.

As I continued to eat the croquettes, I was beginning to find the strange taste of the breadcrumb coating not inedibly unpleasant exactly, but not something that I'd sit back afterwards from, smacking my lips just wishing I'd cooked more. I did manage to eat them all though, and I think part of what helped me finish them off was spearing a forkful of salad together with a piece of croquette - the salad seemed to weaken the rancid cooking oil mixed with raw flour taste.

After having eaten the croquettes (which was half the packet), I waded through the remainder on the following day. I won't say that I never, ever will buy them again, but in future I will always make sure that I have them with something strong-tasting, to blot out the rather suspect taste of the breadcrumbs. It's a shame really because if the breadcrumbs tasted good, then it would probably get full marks from me for the lovely, creamy mashed potato, and the general consistency of the breadcrumbs - plus, these potato croquettes are reasonably economical - only pennies more than the equivalent in fresh potatoes that anyone would use for a meal.

My thumbs are hovering in a halfway up and halfway down position for this product, as it is perfection, except for the breadcrumb flavour needing some tweaking to make it more palatable.

Thanks for reading!

Summary: Would be beautiful if the coating were more palatable