...
The product I am reviewing is made by the company Mattessons, who make the smoked sausages that I so often see in the supermarket and a range of basic, premium and children's cooked meats.
-- PRODUCT DESCRIPTION --
What they say about the product:
"Spoil your tastebuds, not your ... Read review
Advantages: Quick to cook, low fat Disadvantages: Bland and extremely salty taste
...tastebuds, not your figure with Mattessons Turkey Rashers - you can now enjoy all the great taste of bacon, without the guilt!"
Sounds good to me!
In your 150g pack you get six turkey rashers, which come in at a tiny 25 calories and 0.4g of fat each. You can fry (in a little bit of oil) or grill them to cook them and it is possible to freeze them and keep them for up to three months.
They do contain ... ...This is a saving on Mattessons recommended retail price of about twenty-four pence. A normal pack of unsmoked back bacon is going to cost you about £1.58 for about 250g (or eight rashers), so it is slightly more expensive to pick the healthy option.
-- WHAT I THOUGHT --
My initial thoughts before I picked this product up off of the shelf and put it into my shopping basket was "how on earth is this going to replace ... more
You might be fooled into thinking that all I do is eat when you take into account the number of food reviews I am doing at the moment. I can assure you that this is not the case and that I am actually eating a lot more than I usually do on this diet of mine and am still losing lots of weight. I am still in my first month and am only a couple of pounds off of losing a whole stone, so I must be doing something right.
I am always searching for a lower fat equivalent to some of my favourite meals. Last week it was sausages, this week it is 'bacon' sandwiches.
I put bacon in quotation marks as the product I am reviewing is a bacon substitute, rather than bacon itself. Rather than being made of pork, these rashers are made of turkey which when compared with other meats, has fewer calories, less fat, less cholesterol, and very little sodium, but is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals.
The product I am reviewing is made by the company Mattessons, who make the smoked sausages that I so often see in the supermarket and a range of basic, premium and children's cooked meats.
-- PRODUCT DESCRIPTION --
What they say about the product:
"Spoil your tastebuds, not your figure with Mattessons Turkey Rashers - you can now enjoy all the great taste of bacon, without the guilt!"
Sounds good to me!
In your 150g pack you get six turkey rashers, which come in at a tiny 25 calories and 0.4g of fat each. You can fry (in a little bit of oil) or grill them to cook them and it is possible to freeze them and keep them for up to three months.
They do contain soya, milk, wheat and gluten and are obviously not suitable for vegetarians (being made of turkey and all).
-- PACKAGING --
The nutritional information is quite in depth which is good as I quite often have an issue with not knowing how much salt or fibre is in some things.
My one gripe with the packaging is that it is a bit misleading. On the shelf it looks like the rashers are quite a generous portion size, but had I checked in the shop the underneath of the packaging I would have seen that they are actually half the size of your average slice of uncooked bacon. This is due to the top of the packet being bigger than the bottom - not a major problem, but a bit of a shock to the system when you first realise.
-- PRICE --
I got mine in Asda, which is where I do most of my shopping, for £1.35. This is a saving on Mattessons recommended retail price of about twenty-four pence. A normal pack of unsmoked back bacon is going to cost you about £1.58 for about 250g (or eight rashers), so it is slightly more expensive to pick the healthy option.
-- WHAT I THOUGHT --
My initial thoughts before I picked this product up off of the shelf and put it into my shopping basket was "how on earth is this going to replace the yummy-ness of crispy, chewy, greasy bacon?" But I am always game to give something a try, so in it went.
They sat in my fridge for a couple of weeks as I wasn't entirely sure what to do with them. They do have quite a long shelf life - I think it was about three weeks from date of purchase - which is a good point, and you can freeze them for up to three months as long as you do it at least two days before they go out of date, so if you don't use them straight away the won't go to waste.
After getting over my initial shock at the size of the rashers (about six by three centimetres) I felt myself starting to worry about the appearance of my 'replacement bacon'. It looks completely processed, a smooth, pale rectangle of questionable origin… it might be turkey, but it doesn't look like it, and it certainly doesn't look like bacon either.
The uncooked aroma is pretty disappointing as well as all my nose can detect is a strong smell of salt.
Hoping that they won't taste as bad as they look I check out the cooking instructions. My choice is to fry them with a bit of oil or grill them… I choose the latter as the addition of oil to a low-fat foodstuff doesn't make sense to me, even if it is for the purpose of cooking it. A positive point is that these take less than two minutes on each side to cook, so they are good for a quick snack. A negative is that they do leave a bit of gunk on the grill pan - looks like water, which is not surprising as the second thing on the ingredients list is water. You are advised not to overcook the rashers and I can imagine it is because they would become very dried out as the longer you cook them the more water that comes out.
The cooked aroma isn't much better than when it is raw, very salty with only a fleeting resemblance to the yummy smell of cooked bacon. They don't shrink very much when you cook them, but they don't look any more appetising either as they stay the same uninteresting pale colour.
I bravely make a sandwich with some Weight Watchers bread and three of the rashers, and deposit the remaining three rashers onto my plate for eating on their own - for the purpose of this review, of course, not because I am a greedy-guts! My first bite of a rasher on it's own is what I expected… a mouthful of very salty, watery mush with only a passing resemblance to meat. Very disappointing! Considering that these are made up of 84% turkey, they don't taste very meaty at all and the saltiness actually started to bother my tummy a bit.
I soldier on and try my 'bacon substitute' sandwich. The bread soaks up a lot of the water that came off the rasher and goes a bit soggy, but the saltiness is absorbed a bit by the bread which should have allowed me to taste the actual flavour of the rasher. Unfortunately, once I got past the saltiness there was no flavour and all I could taste was the bread. I leave my taste test experience extremely disappointed.
Now a couple of hours later I have heartburn brought on, I believe, by the high levels of salt in the rashers.
-- CONCLUSION --
I think I would have been better off having a few extra calories and sticking with real bacon as these were pretty horrid. I couldn't taste anything but saltiness and I was reviewing the unsmoked version! Considering their vile taste and the fact that I actually paid nearly one pound fifty for the experience, I would have to say that this product was definitely not value for money.
Advantages: Simple and quick to cook, and healthy too! Disadvantages: Bland without extras.
...for these.
Made by Mattessons (you know, MMMMMMattessons) they are made from reformed cuts of turkey meat into the rough shape of bacon rashers. About 6” long and a 1” wide they are cut a little thicker than average bacon rashers. The main difference a bacon lover would notice is that look so pale compared with the darker bacon meat and they have no strip of fat/rind either…L The packaging looks nice but by the time the rashers are in there the ... ...knife. Emblazoned with the Name Mattessons on their trademark purple(ish) colour the words Turkey Rashers is above the brand name in white on a green background. The picture on the pack looks good with the rashers in slices of toasted brown bread with tomato and green stuff you KNOW it’s never going to look like that when you’re finished cooking them. Cooking them is simple – the pack says 1½ minutes either side whether you grill or fry them in a ...
philipjohn001 08.11.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mattessons Turkey Rashers
Advantages: Tasty, healthier Disadvantages: see review
As a diabetic I am constantly watching my diet, and when my diabetic control became a little OUT of control recently I was told to make a diary of exactly what I ate and measure my Blood sugars before every meal.
As the weeks have unrolled I have been able to watch exactly what I do eat, and although my diet wasn’t that bad – it certainly could have been better. I can give up many things: I have given up smoking, I have given up eating several bags ... ...cake with every tea meal. But one thing I simply can’t give up is Bacon.
I know according to some we shouldn’t we shouldn’t eat the meat of pigs, but I’m sorry I simply can not resist bacon. However, bacon is fairly salty and although you can buy low fat bacon these days it’s still not that healthy, I have found a different answer.
Is there anything like a bacon sandwich with either vinegar or brown sauce splashed on it? Or simply eaten by itself ...
dabmim 08.10.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mattessons Turkey Rashers
Advantages: Healthy and quite tasty Disadvantages: None
When I am keeping to my diet ( when!!!) Mattesons Turkey Rashers will always be found on my shopping list and in my fridge.
These turkey rashers are available in two varieties - plain and smoked; and they are a great alternative for people who do not eat red meat, do not eat pork for religious reasonsor who are watching their weight but still fancy a bit of a 'bacon fix' !
Mattesons are a well know name in the cooked meat business and it is the ... ...are on sale at the moment for £1.85 for a 150g pack
=== WHAT ARE TURKEY RASHERS ===
The Turkey rashers consist of meat that comes from the turkey thigh and it is chopped, and reformed into strips that is supposed to look like 'real' bacon.
Turkey rashers have been designed and produced as a healthy alternative to bacon, they are lower in fat and calories than pork bacon but can be similar in flavour. They can also be used in the same way as traditional ...
oldchem 12.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mattessons Turkey Rashers
Advantages: Not real bacon. Low in fat. Easy to cook. Disadvantages: Not real bacon.
It might be helpful to explain why I am a big fan of this product... I can't eat bacon... But it smells so good. It smells so very very good and I see other people with their bacon sarnies or their Full Englishes and I want in... I want it I want it I want it... but alas, I am a good girl so have never tried it!
Many years ago I saw this advertised and I made it my mission to seek out this product and make me a fake bacon sarnie... and this is what ... ...packet you would get cold meat in generally... and you will find it in the refridgerated meat section of the supermarket... near to the real bacon etc. I believe there are two varieties for this product... smoked and unsmoked. This is because I am sure I have see two different versions in the past... At the moment I have only been able to locate the unsmoked version so either I dreamt up the existance of the other variety, they have stopped doing ...
starsally 14.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mattessons Turkey Rashers
Advantages: Tasty, Quick & easy to cook, Good alternative to bacon for those who don't eat red meat, Less than 2% fat. Disadvantages: These are obviously not as nice as real bacon, Contains Additives.
***ABOUT MATTESSONS***
Mattessons produce products such as smoked pork sausages, Simpsons hotdogs, sliced meats, and of course the bacon flavoured turkey rashers that I am going to review.
The turkey rashers are available as smoked or unsmoked. I will be reviewing the unsmoked product as I haven't yet tried the smoked. The price of the product is fairly reasonable: £1.59 for 150g. You will find this product at the supermarket.
After reading Mattessons ... ...bacon. Therefore I think Mattessons have done a good job. ***THE HEALTH ISSUE***
I wouldn't necessarily recommend turkey rashers to people who enjoy bacon and are not worried about their health. This is because you can't really beat real bacon. However I think that turkey rashers are good for people who are on a diet and miss bacon. This is because they are less than 2% fat: therefore they are a healthy alternative to bacon. I think this could be ...
HannahBoo 11.03.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mattessons Turkey Rashers
