Tasting Testing: Can the French pick the Foie Gras, Audrey & Marco Online Deli (21 April 2011)

http://www.audreyandmarco.com.au

French palate put to the test

Thanks to Melisa from Audrey & Marco for supplying me a sample of their online deli product of Duck Foie Gras, La Truffe Cendree ($48.50, 130g). To put it to the taste test I conducted a blind tasting against three cheaper patés. Myself and three other friends, including one who is French, were given a sample to taste without looking. We each had to nominate our favourite tasting and also pick which one we thought was the foie gras. I unfortunately failed miserably in picking the foie gras and ashamedly picked the cheapest paté while everyone else picked the foie gras out of the lineup. In my defence I was influenced by sneaky favourable comments made by the French friend when we tried the paté and learnt after he was trying to mislead everyone — it worked on me. Surprisingly everyone but the French friend picked the Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Paté ($5.40, 120g) as their favourite. I think it was the robust and peppery flavour that we enjoyed matched with a nice smooth texture. The other two friends did correctly pick the foie gras out of the lineup.

With blind folds off the Duck Foie Gras was enjoyably smooth in texture with a good depth of flavour. In the words of the French guest, he 'loved it' and it was a no brainer for him in choosing as his favourite and the one that was the true foie gras. The cheapest Drava Liver Paté ($2.49) which I ashamedly picked as foie gras was also smooth but didn't have the same depth of flavour and also didn't look particularly appetising in appearance. The Real Paté Duck Paté ($3.99, 125g) was the least liked and was too firm in texture accompanied by a non-distinctive flavour. To help enjoy the foie gras we toasted De Luxe Brioche bought from David Jones and our French taste tester also generously brought along a bottle of 2006 Chateau de Suberne, Loupiac, France which matched very well.

Other Audrey & Marco products taste tested:

• 21 April 2011 - Duck Foie Gras

• 23 Mar 2011 - Tahini, Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate, Smoked Sea Salt Flakes, Calissons d'Aix, Mixed Fruit Jam, Marmalade, Wafers, Spaghetti

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Unique taste, Quality product, Available for purchase online

CONS: Production of foie gras is contentious, Expensive

WORTH TRYING: Duck Foie Gras, Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Paté

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Foie gras versus three patés

Duck Foie Gras, La Truffe Cendree ($48.50,

130g

)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Paté ($5.40, 120g)

WORTH TRYING :-)

The Real Paté Duck Paté ($3.99, 125g)

Drava Liver Paté ($2.49, 100g)

De Luxe Brioche from David Jones toasted as the base

Chateau de Suberne 2006 Loupiac, France goes superbly with foie gras

Tasting notes. First number is the one we liked the most and the second number is the one we thought was the foie gras

Taste Testing: Audrey & Marco Online Gourmet Deli (23 Mar 2011)

http://www.audreyandmarco.com.au

International deli products

Goods have been predominately sourced from Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Lebanon and the United Kingdom.

Thanks to Melisa from Audrey & Marco for contacting me to try some of their online deli products. Their website had so many tempting choices it was hard to decide where to start but in the end I received nine products to taste test. I’ll be tasting the products in stages and reviews of each product will be listed below as they become available.

Other Audrey & Marco products taste tested:

• 21 April 2011 - Duck Foie Gras

• 23 Mar 2011 - Tahini, Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate, Smoked Sea Salt Flakes, Calissons d'Aix, Mixed Fruit Jam, Marmalade, Wafers, Spaghetti

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: International products available online, Well-packaged delivery, Decent variety, Website quite easy to use and well-designed although would prefer an option to be able to view all products in each section at once

CONS: Some products seem to be quite expensive, Carbon points for importing rather than buying local

WORTH TRYING: Duck Foie Gras, Marmalade, Spaghetti, Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate

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Duck Foie Gras

Duck Foie Gras, La Truffe Cendree, 130g ($48.50)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Perhaps not produced in the most moral way but if you're a fan of foie gras then it's best enjoyed on toasted sweet brioche with a good quality French wine. Please check out my Blind Tasting Review to see how it compared to paté.

Organic Tahini

Organic Tahini, Melissa, 375g ($9.95)

For some reason I've never been a fan of tahini but I know a few people who simply love it. For me its texture and even smell reminds me of a spakfilla which is a gritty white paste used to fill wall holes — not very complimentary I know. I found out a popular way to eat tahini is with bananas on toast. I try it but it's not for me. Adding honey as an option on top helps give it a more palatable edge but I still don't like how the tahini seems to stick to the roof of my mouth and has quite a savoury dry taste. Give me peanut butter instead any day. I've been told on good authority by a tahini lover that this one was very good though and ticked all the right boxes except for perhaps its premium price, although it is fully organic so it does justify it I guess.

Banana and Organic Tahini on toast with honey (left), Banana and Organic Tahini on toast (right)

Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate

Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate, Centro Tartufi Molise, 80g ($17.95)

WORTH TRYING :-)

It's quite an expensive premium product but has lots of flavour to suit making a simple pasta dish. I combined with sauteed portobello mushrooms and Smoked Sea Salt Flakes to make a simple yet very flavoursome dish. Serve with a fresh side salad.

Portobello mushrooms with Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate and Smoked Sea Salt Flakes using Martelli Spaghetti

Smoked Sea Salt Flakes

Smoked Sea Salt Flakes, Maldon, 125g ($7.50)

Having a definite smoking taste it seemed to be an interesting alternative to the plain Maldon salt. I used with the Asparagus & Black Truffle Pate while cooking some mushrooms to provide a different level of taste which worked quite well. To really appreciate the smokey taste I think you'd have to keep the cooking quite simple with not too many ingredients. Even having with fresh tomatoes would be a nice alternative or with meat to provide an extra smokey taste on the palate.

Calissons d'Aix

Calissons d'Aix, Arnaud Soubeyran, 140g ($21.95)

Made from mostly almonds this not-to-sweet candy-style bite-sized treat had a bit of an acquired taste for me. On it's own it wasn't as sweet and favourable as I was hoping but was more likable when eaten with a coffee or tea. The texture and taste was similar to marzipan with a thin candied icing on top.

Mixed Fruit Jam

Mixed Fruit Jam, Le Conserve Della Nonna, 420g ($7.95)

Tasted tested on top of pancakes

The main criticism of this jam is that it didn't look as good as it tasted. I was expecting to see chunks of fruit but it was very pureed.

Plums 54%, Quinces 41%, Pears 11.5% Oranges 4.7% = 111.2% — That's a little strange?

The colour and texture wasn't overly appealing

Survey results of 14 tasters:

0 people - Hate It

3 people - It's OK

3 people - Pretty Good

5 people - Really Good

3 people - Love It

Old-Times Orange Marmalade

Old-Times Orange Marmalade, Tiptree, 340g ($8.95)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Tasted tested on top of pancakes

'Prepared with 30g of fruit per 100g' but ingredients then says oranges 40%. Some jams are made with higher percentages of fruit but this marmalade was well received and generally liked.

Visible amounts of orange peel throughout the jam

Survey results of 13 tasters:

0 people - Hate It

2 people - It's OK

4 people - Pretty Good

5 people - Really Good

2 people - Love It

Jam tast testing

The taste testing table

Golden pancakes used for tasting jam ($3.53 Woolworths)

Mocca Wafers

Mocca Wafers, Kras, 330g ($4.20)

The wafer tasted drier than expected and there seemed to be more wafer than filling making it quite dry on the palate. It would be better suited to dipping into a coffee to add more moisture while eating.

Survey results of 12 tasters:

0 people - Hate It

7 people - It's OK

5 people - Pretty Good

0 people - Really Good

0 people - Love It

Hazelnut Wafers

Hazelnut Wafers, Kras, 330g ($4.20)

The wafer tasted drier than expected and there seemed to be more wafer than filling making it quite dry on the palate. It would be better suited to dipping into a coffee to add more moisture while eating.

Survey results of 13 tasters:

0 people - Hate It

12 people - It's OK

1 people - Pretty Good

0 people - Really Good

0 people - Love It

Spaghetti

Spaghetti, Martelli, 1kg ($17.95)

WORTH TRYING :-)

I've made a few dinners now with this pasta. It's definitely a notch up from the normal dry pasta I buy in the supermarket. It seems to be more flavoursome in taste and its texture remains more al dente for some reason.

Spaghetti with chicken, broccoli and mozzarella. The pasta had more flavour than the usual dried pasta I've cooked with before. Perhaps considered a bit on the expensive side though it is a quality product.

Products

Well-packaged parcel of goodies