Party Food to impress.

With friends coming over we wanted something quick and tasty to pop into the oven so we opted for the 3 for 2 on the Tesco Finest Party Food.

- 8 Bourbon BBQ Beef Waffles
- 12 Hand Finished Duck Selection
-  9 Posh Pigs in Blanket

Having already sampled the Tesco Finest Dim Sum from the Party Food Range we had been a little disappointed, although it offered flavour it was a faff to cook and left us unimpressed.

This time my husband picked the items to offered our guests and decided upon the above items. All 3 items cooked at the same temperature which meant it was a lot easier to control the preparation of food for the buffet.

One downside was that they did all cook for different durations so we kept having to open the oven every 2 minutes to add the next lot of party food!

Contained within the 12 Hand Finished Duck Selection was;
- 4 Spring Rolls with a duck and honey filling
- 4 Crispy Rice Cones with duck and potato in a massaman curry sauce
- 4 Mini Tortilla wraps with aromatic duck in a hoisin sauce.

The flavour in the selection was not overpowering and was a perfect taste sample. I enjoyed the different take on the Spring Rolls and was one of my favourites. The items are 2 bites which is enough to give you a taster. These were the longer cooking for all the party food taking 10-12 minutes.

The Bourbon BBQ Beef Waffles were my personal favourite, they were small enough to handle and around 2 bitefuls. I loved the cheese that had melted on top and the flavour was not too overpowering considering they contained Cherrybell pepper. Combined with the sweetness of the waffle I thought these were really tasty and different to normal party/buffet food, one to get again.

My least favourite was the Posh Pigs in Blanket, I found these disappointing. A pork meatball with a cranberry glaze which in my opinion was completely lost in the overpowering seasoning of the pork and bacon crumb.

Overall the food was nicer than standard buffet food and offered something with little more taste compared to the normal party range but I did have higher expectations for the Posh Pigs in Blankets which to me were a little disappointing.

Our guests appeared to really enjoy the Chinese Selection and the Bourbon BBQ Beef Waffles but we did have the Posh Pigs in Blankets left over so it wasn't just me that had the opinion that it was a little disappointing.

I was provided with vouchers to try these products for free or for less via the Orchard Programme for Tesco.

Party Food that's easy to cook??

As part of the Tesco Orchard Programme* I had the opportunity to try some items from their Party Food Range. 

Wanting to take the opportunity to try something different I opted to try the Tesco Finest Handmade 12 Steamed Dim Sum Selection completed with a soy dipping sauce.

Unfortunately I didn't take the time to read the packaging on how to cook the items before making the purchase and it wasn't until I got home that I realised that we need a microwave or steamer. We had neither. Not exactly a great start.

We decided to make our own steamer to cook the party food.

The food came in transparent packaging with a cardboard sleeve around. You could view all of the items which consisted of:

3 Duck and Hoisin Windmills

2 Chicken and Mushroom Dumplings

3 Prawn and Coconut Snowballs

3 Sweet and Sour Vegetable Dumplings

Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce

One of the comment my husband made when reading the cooking instructions was the packaging. Although it appears minimal to cook the items we had to remove from the packaging, as we were steaming this was not a problem as we just placed simply into the steamer to cook. If however you were to use a microwave you were to remove the cellophane wrapping to remove the dip and then cover once more with cling film, it would be a good idea if Tesco could make this separate to prevent additional packaging waste.

After placing in the steamer for 4 minutes we then served with the dip.

The appearance of the cooked product left a lot to be desired as they were very moist and as we removed them from the steamer seemed to break apart quite easily so for a 'finger' style party food I imagine they would be a little bit tricky.

The Duck and Hoisin Windmill was tasty with generous chunks of Duck and a slight hint of the Hoisin Sauce so it was not over powering.

The Chicken and Mushroom Dumplings were a little bland and my husband and I felt that they were lacking in flavour somewhat.

The Prawn and Coconut Snowballs were my absolute favourite although there taste of the prawn did not really appear to stand out but the combination of the coconut made it a very tasty snack and one I would have definitely liked to have had more of.

The Sweet and Sour Dumplings to me resembled a soggy spring roll, plenty of flavour but no real difference to what appeared to be a soggy spring roll, all the same it was not offensive and was gone in two bites.

The Sesame Soy dipping sauce had a subtle flavour and was really enjoyable to have with the snacks as it just added to the flavour somewhat.

Overall the food was quick to cook and was reasonably tasty. Would I look to buy this selection again? Possibly but I would consider other options first as for a party food it is a bit more of a faff to cook compared with items that can just be cooked in the oven.

*I was provided with a coupon to purchase an item from the party food range to sample and provide my opinion. I was also provided coupons to pass onto friends to allow them to sample.