Overall Rating: 8.5/10
This is a big one. Heston. Equal parts inventive and bat shit crazy.
Heston turns his attention to the mince pie for Waitrose once again. This year’s offering has a ‘lemon twist’. What he’s actually done is mix a mince pie with a lemony Sussex pond pudding (no, I’ve never heard of that either).
The result is…extremely tasty and lemony. The crumble on top and the base are both exceptionally well made and perfectly crumbly, flavoursome, spiced and sweet. The filling, or least the lemon part, is perfect too – super lemony as described on the box, but what this means is that the humble mincemeat is a little lost. In fact you could serve this to someone at any point in the year without telling them it was a ‘mince pie’ and they might not guess it contained any mincemeat at all.
That’s not a bad thing. Other than the fact this is meant to be a mince pie. There’s no doubt the Heston offering is amazing – the ingredients appear top notch and it’s really unusual and rich – but as a mince pie it falls short. Not too far short, and it should certainly be something you consider purchasing to serve alongside a traditional mince pie.
Thanks Heston.