Tag: Leek

Three Kings

The Three Kings

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Congratulations to our Gold* of the Three Kings at Christmas, the Wisest of Wise men, Heinz Potato and Leek soup.

Our Frankincense King is Baxter’s Potato and Leek soup. Not much between it and last place, sadly as our reviewer wasn’t impressed.

Our Myrrh King is Sainsbury’s own Potato and Leek soup, which was found to be flat and unexciting by our reviewer.

*we have decided to rank our Christmas soups in order of Three Kings/Three Wise Men due to the yuletide atmosphere. Ranked highest is Gold, followed by Frankincense and then Myrrh (Frankincense smells nice and no-one really knows what Myrrh is).

Sainsbury

Potato & Leek (Sainsbury’s)

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  • Cost £0.65
  • 23rd December 2022
  • Features:
    • Can is durable

Texture

This soup is a little bit slimy which is a disappointment, as you may imagine. It is also punctuated by strangely hard potatoes which does give a strange effect. This makes for a disconcerting experience as you whiplash back and forth between hard potato and slimy leek for the duration of lunchtime. At least this soup keeps you on your toes.

Flavour

The flavour is acceptable and the leeks aren’t super sweet, but instead lack punchiness. These leeks wouldn’t last half a round against Christopher Biggins, let alone Mike Tyson.

Creaminess

Instead of potato and leek propping things up, we sadly have a milky, creamy base that some may like, but I find is detrimental in a ‘chunky’ soup like this. This is especially true when that cream lacks flavour. Cream of mushroom soup is imbued throughout with mushroom flavour, this just tastes of cream with stringy leek in it.

Tolerability

To wax philosophical for a moment – ultimately, our team at Tinned Soup Review are reviewing soups that are probably not going to be served in Michelin star restaurants. We are under no illusion that these soups regularly outclass homemade or even shop bought fresh soups. Therefore, in some cases we will simply cut some soups a little slack. Yes, we aim for hard-hitting, thoughtful food criticism here, but sometimes when you step back and think about it, a soup is simply ‘fine’.

Conclusion

Would I strongly recommend this soup? No. Is it probably ‘fine’? I guess so.

/ 5

Heinz

Potato & Leek (Heinz)

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  • Cost £1.10
  • 21st December 2022
  • Features:
    • Contains many disparate molecules

What is a potato’s job?

Potato in soup is there to fill you up and provide the starches you need to fulfil your afternoon schedule. I don’t know, maybe you are a tennis coach or something. These potatoes are just the right texture and have a decent bite to them. I felt truly invigorated for an afternoon of not-Tennis.

Power

A leek is something that must be handled with care and this has been seemingly swaddled and cosseted to an absurd degree. These leeks are the most powerful since those in the hull of the Titanic. They pack quite a punch and are a bit peppery, which I am always grateful for.

Liquidity

The liquid in this soup feels like it’s full of tiny baby leeks all vying for attention. It is unctuous and flavourful in a way that ties things together nicely. This may be gross, but I think I would be happy with just the broth?

Heartiness

Considering the bare bones list of ingredients, this soup is more than the sum of its parts when it comes to the comfort factor. Good soup can take you back to a childhood cold winter’s day, sun making the long frosty grass shine like the sea as you warm your hands over the bowl. Bad soup can take you back to urine-weak cawl, strewn with lumps of lamb fat, hatefully spooned into your bowl by a dinner lady who’s cigarette appears to be stuck to her bottom lip.

This is the first one.

Conclusion

This is a great example of potato and leek soup that I would definitely recommend to anyone who is a fan of those two vegetables.

/ 5

Baxters

Potato & Leek (Baxters)

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  • Cost £1.10
  • 20th December 2022
  • Features:
    • Adopts the shape of container it is put in

Three Kings at Christmas

This review was suggested by @AshleyHeinson on Twitter, who very much enjoys leek and potato soup. I have to agree with them, and this ingredient combo is usually in my weekly rotation. As a special Christmas treat, I’m going to review three potato and leek soups back to back and crown this year’s winner. Of course, other potato and leek soups are available for purchase and may be better than these. I guess we’ll never know. Or maybe I’ll do them next year.

Sweetness

The reason that a leek-containing soup holds an element of danger, is the ever-present risk of over-sweetness. The leek is naturally quite sweet and usually needs something else to balance it out, otherwise the results can be too cloying. Unfortunately, the fine folks at Baxters have practically made a dessert here. I felt the need to brush my teeth at the halfway point and it’s so sweet that it almost tastes artificially so.

Potato-ness

There is some good potato work here. The texture is ideal and there are plenty to go around, but they’re just overpowered. Potatoes are the most suggestible vegetable around, seemingly impregnated with whatever flavour gently brushes against them in the queue at the post office. Here, they tragically have a rubbish bedfellow – these leeks snore, hog the duvet and have feet like icicles.

Wet-ness

Some soups thrive in liquid form (see Tomato, Oxtail), but others wither and seem frail when they’re too soggy. This is one of those. I’ll just come out and say it – these ingredients feel like bystanders in their own soup. It’s not cohesive or complete and therefore it just feels sad.

Conclusion

If this was some kind of truly evil experiment in leek-flavoured lumpy hot chocolate, it would be a great success. However, as I am not the kind of mad scientist who would ever create this, I was disappointed.

/ 5