So today I succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and marketing from fellow Vegans and I tried the dish Sainsbury's introduced over the New Year, BBQ Pulled Jackfruit. I have seen so many pictures of pulled Jackfruit, for a long time I have wanted to try it as it looks incredible and I wondered what all the fuss was about! What I write may surprise you, however I feel it necessary to speak my opinion and give my honest feedback on the product, so here it is!
Availability of Product:
With the scale of support behind this product, it was unsurprising for me to be able to walk into my local Sainsbury's and find it straight away in the prepared vegetables section of the chiller. In mine alone there were still 6 left at 7pm so I imagine there is more than enough stock. As it is only a Sainsbury's product it is obviously only available there, however with the support of the ever-growing Vegan community I believe it to be in most Sainsbury's branches and online. A much better availability then the actual Jackfruit itself, which is very hard to find and then much harder to prepare!
7/10
Easiness of Cooking:
As a prepared ready meal, naturally it should be a very easy dinner to prepare and of course be ready in a short space of time. All that needed to be done was pull the cardboard off and peel away the film, which is always easier said than done as this one peeled into pieces making it impossible to get every bit off. Then all to do for now was place it in the preheated oven and wait 25 minutes, the hardest part was to come at the end of the oven time where you have to take two forks and pull it apart. I started on one of the smaller pieces and starting tugging at it, it wasn't as easy as I thought though and it very much felt like the consistency of pineapple. I did it the best I could with the rest, however most strings were left attached to a bigger part. 5 more minutes in the oven and it was ready, looking very tasty indeed but not as pulled as I had expected.
7/10
Quality of Taste:
The smell of the BBQ Jackfruit was wonderful while it was simmering away in the oven, I was surprised how much it looked like the real thing and the smells of smokey BBQ sauce was something to make the mouth water. When it was ready I set it aside with some rice in a wrap with a little to the side so I could taste it properly as well first. I took my first bite of it and the BBQ sauce was deliciously sweet and smokey, sorry to describe the packaging exactly but it was true, the smaller strips of the jackfruit were delicious and mixed well with the other bits of vegetables in there. However, there was a strange aftertaste that was somewhat bitter and the larger bits of jackfruit that I couldn't pull weren't a good texture which it ruined it for me. I think this dish was hyped up so much by a lot of people online that I was of the impression it was going to blow me away, the issue is that it just didn't and although it was nice to try it, I think I should have waited to find it prepared fresh in a restaurant instead of in a ready meal form.
5/10
To quote my wonderfully smug boyfriend Chris, ready meals aren't everything and he very rightly took me away from that section when we did a food shop today. Sometimes, when things are hyped up so much it is hard to go against the groove and you can pretend to enjoy it even though it isn't to your taste. I'm not afraid to admit this isn't my favourite dish and I have gotten into the habit of really easy dinners, I think this has kicked me into wanting to try more cooking.
Chris is now on a health kick (not a vegan one) so he is going to help me get away from all of the temptations of the growing ready meal population and I'm going to help him keep on track. So much so, I have to end this with a picture of our shopping trolley from today...