Review: Farmer’s Choice Free Range

Over the long Diamond Jubilee weekend, we had several family get-togethers, so I was delighted when Farmer’s Choice offered to send me one of their frozen food deliveries for review.

What we got:

Topside  1400g
Diced beef  750g
Steak mince  750g
Chicken large
Diced turkey breast 750g
Diced lamb  750g
Minced lamb  750g
Leg lamb half boned and rolled 1400g
Diced pork  750g
Leg pork boned and rolled  2000g

How we used it:

For our jubilee party, I defrosted three packs of the diced meat overnight in the fridge, then marinated them in various different flavours (the lamb in mint and rosemary, the turkey in soy sauce, honey and garlic and the beef in spicy plum sauce), threaded them onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers and grilled them.  They were all delicious – the beef went down particularly well.

I mixed the minced steak and lamb together with breadcrumbs, an egg, mustard seeds, cumin and coriander with some crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and formed them into burgers.  Oven cooked, then stuffed into burgers with some Manchego cheese they were beyond delicious.

The chicken was defrosted and used in my patented ‘lemon up the bum’ roast chicken recipe for Sunday lunch.  It was utterly delicious (see my note below).

What we liked:

The free range chicken was fantastic.  I usually avoid frozen chicken as I think it alters the texture, but cooked from fully defrosted the whole free range chicken was plump and juicy.

Any gripes?

Not really, only that some information about how to defrost specific items would have been helpful.  I had no idea how long it takes to defrost a chicken and had to defer our roast chicken dinner an extra day!

For more information, click on Farmerschoice.co.uk

 

One Response to “Review: Farmer’s Choice Free Range”

1. George@CulinaryTravels says:

   June 21, 2012 at 9:01 pm

   I usually avoid frozen meats, tending instead to buy what I want as and when I need it from the local butcher. This looks like a useful standby though for times when time doesn’t allow for shopping at conventional times (e.g. people working shifts etc).

   Reply