General Tao Chicken (PC Blue Menu)
Feb. 22nd, 2011 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deaneDon't worry, I should be done with these food reviews by the end of the week.
For lunch today I had President's Choice General Tao Chicken, from their Blue Menu line.
The dish consists of breaded chicken bits in a sauce which looks like it's made from a tomato base but isn't. There's also a side dish of rice with peas which probably accounts for 2/3 of the meal's total weight.
The sauce was sweet and spicy. Not eye-wateringly spicy, just a bit of a chili kick. I liked it.
The chicken was moist but a bit chewy. Whenever I've had General Tao Chicken in a restaurant it's been a bit chewy as well, so I'm going to assume that that's how it's supposed to be, rather than a flaw in the meal.
The rice and peas were very bland. I mean, even blander than the plain white rice that I cook for myself. (Mind you, I do use basmati, so that helps.) The rice was light brown in colour which I'd expected to mean that it had been flavoured with soy sauce. However it turns out that that's just caramel colouring. I ended up adding some soy sauce to liven it up which, unfortunately, also boosts the sodium level. If the rice in all of the Blue Menu dishes is like this, I'll be disappointed.
Despite the poor showing of the rice I'd buy the dish again.
Here's the nutritional breakdown:
Weight: 365g
Calories: 470 [1.29cal/g]
Fat: 4g [10.9mg/g]
Saturated Fat: 1g [2.74mg/g]
Trans Fat: 0g
Omega-3: 0.1g [0.27mg/g]
Omega-6: 1g [2.74mg/g]
Omega 6/3 Ratio: 10.0
Sodium: 690mg [1.89mg/g]
Fibre: 3g [8.22mg/g]
Vitamin A: 4% [1.1%/100g]
Vitamin B: 4% [1.1%/100g]
Calcium: 2% [0.55%/100g]
Iron: 8% [2.2%/100g]
Taste: Tasty-
On the plus side it is quite low in fat and includes some omega fats. (I'm going to stop highlighting the lack of trans fat since all of the Blue Menu products appear to have either no trans fat or minute amounts.)
On the minus side it's the most calorie-laden of the three dishes reviewed so far. (In absolute terms, that is. In terms of calories per gram of food the quesadilla wins hands-down.) And the omega 6/3 ratio is 10 to 1, which is far too high.
As far as the sodium goes, it has the highest total amount of sodium so far, but the lowest per gram of food. So call it a wash.
For lunch today I had President's Choice General Tao Chicken, from their Blue Menu line.
The dish consists of breaded chicken bits in a sauce which looks like it's made from a tomato base but isn't. There's also a side dish of rice with peas which probably accounts for 2/3 of the meal's total weight.
The sauce was sweet and spicy. Not eye-wateringly spicy, just a bit of a chili kick. I liked it.
The chicken was moist but a bit chewy. Whenever I've had General Tao Chicken in a restaurant it's been a bit chewy as well, so I'm going to assume that that's how it's supposed to be, rather than a flaw in the meal.
The rice and peas were very bland. I mean, even blander than the plain white rice that I cook for myself. (Mind you, I do use basmati, so that helps.) The rice was light brown in colour which I'd expected to mean that it had been flavoured with soy sauce. However it turns out that that's just caramel colouring. I ended up adding some soy sauce to liven it up which, unfortunately, also boosts the sodium level. If the rice in all of the Blue Menu dishes is like this, I'll be disappointed.
Despite the poor showing of the rice I'd buy the dish again.
Here's the nutritional breakdown:
Weight: 365g
Calories: 470 [1.29cal/g]
Fat: 4g [10.9mg/g]
Saturated Fat: 1g [2.74mg/g]
Trans Fat: 0g
Omega-3: 0.1g [0.27mg/g]
Omega-6: 1g [2.74mg/g]
Omega 6/3 Ratio: 10.0
Sodium: 690mg [1.89mg/g]
Fibre: 3g [8.22mg/g]
Vitamin A: 4% [1.1%/100g]
Vitamin B: 4% [1.1%/100g]
Calcium: 2% [0.55%/100g]
Iron: 8% [2.2%/100g]
Taste: Tasty-
On the plus side it is quite low in fat and includes some omega fats. (I'm going to stop highlighting the lack of trans fat since all of the Blue Menu products appear to have either no trans fat or minute amounts.)
On the minus side it's the most calorie-laden of the three dishes reviewed so far. (In absolute terms, that is. In terms of calories per gram of food the quesadilla wins hands-down.) And the omega 6/3 ratio is 10 to 1, which is far too high.
As far as the sodium goes, it has the highest total amount of sodium so far, but the lowest per gram of food. So call it a wash.
