Palat-a-Bull Sauce Pack product reviews

This is one of the most appealing "gift hampers" I have come across in ages! Walking around Fieldays, I saw so many items, but these not only caught my eye through heavy rain, but made me detour from getting to a meeting so I could check them out.

In this cute wooden carry crate you get 3 sauces, a salad dressing and a mustard - everything you need in the way of sauces for a Summer BBQ really. Starting with the most mild - the salad dressing. Tangy and rich, full of flavour, I found it wasn't too oily but did have a somewhat buttery aftertaste which was quite pleasant, though a little strange on a salad. Upon opnening the bottle I was hit with a powerful vinegar smell, but that dissipated quickly leaving a nice herby smell instead.

The Bull's Blood tomato sauce was next, with a rich red tomato base and a hint of spice. I found this really nice on a ham & cheese stuffed beef schnitzel, and was pleased to note that it also went really well in mashed kumara, and replacing regular tomato sauce in a savoury mince dish I make regularly. I am not sure it would push the classic Wattie's sauce aside, but it would stand up for itself in a show-down against the Tui-mato sauce.

The Worster - or Worcestershire to the Brits - was quite potent, with a decent bite to it and a rich body of flavours. This was really tasty on freshly grilled ham steaks, and made a wonderful base for a rich gravy with fried onion and capsicum for a bangers-&-mash meal recently. I was actually really impressed at how versatile it was, and I only wish the bottle was bigger, because this one is now all gone!

The Bull's Eye Chilli Sauce really was vicious - in a good way. Rich, deep spice flavours that reached back up from your tummy and tried to pull your tastebuds down for a second round. I personally didn't notice any "Pacific Rim" symptoms, but with my past track record with hot sauces in my Uni days, that's no indication of how this may affect 'normal' people. If you like it spicy, but not face-meltingly hot, then this is a sauce you will want to try at least once.

Finally, the most versatile of them all... the Calf Custard mustard. I have used this in almost every potato mash I have done in the last 3 weeks, as well as in savoury mince dishes, and even in a cheese sauce to help mask the Brussel Sprout flavour my kids so dislike. To have even Young Mr Fussy ask for seconds of the dish - Brussel Sprouts and Kale lightly fried in garlic butter, then thrown in a shallow casserole dish and covered with cheese & mustard white sauce before grilling it for a while - was astounding. He hates veges, *LOATHES* greens, and really has no place in his stomach for mustard... so I was left with my jaw on the floor. What a testament for this mustard!

Overall, though the price for this pack is out of my "regular groceries" budget, if I saw it again at a show or farmer's market, I would snap one up if I had the cash on me!