Farmland Fine-Sliced Corned Silverside product reviews

I remember winning a pub quiz in West Auckland and our team won 28 cans of corned beef. The second place winners got 9 fully roasted chickens, and boy did I wish I had not come first. The corned beef sat in my pantry for several months as I tried to find ways to stomach this incredibly salty meat. To be honest, I never found a solution and ended up giving it away as it ruined every meal I tried it in, no matter how little I used.

So when I realised that this product was also "corned", I was more than a little concerned. Corning is the process of treating meat with large-grained rock salt (the large grains are called "corns"). Silverside is also the cut of meat that is generally chosen to create Corned Beef, so I really thought I had picked super salty meat that I was going to hate.

I both like and dislike the packaging. The hard plastic base I like. Well, I hate plastic, but it really is so much better than polystyrene. The hard plastic is at least easier to recycle. Holding the packet shut is a simple thing plastic sleet that peels away very easily from the corner. In the dislike column, however, I found that the size of the packaging seemed excessive. The meat took up maybe half of the container, leaving the other half empty, The thin plastic sheets also tear very easy, so once you open it, you pretty much have to eat both servings (two 50g servings) straight away or risk the meat spoiling, as you can't recover it.

The meat itself has quite a deep pink colour (a result of the salt treatment) and is sliced quite inconsistently. Some pieces are incredibly thin, but then there are other pieces that are maybe 4-5 times the thickness. Regardless, the slices are all still less than half a centimetre thick, and that works really well in the products favour. The thin slices mean the salty flavour is reduced, and it gives greater control to the consumer. I can easily can a sandwich with 1-2 slices and it suits me well. It was very flavoursome and tasted like ham with the added saltiness of bacon (quite odd for a beef product I know). Obviously, if you prefer a stronger flavour, you can add more slices, but for me, that I way more than 2 servings!

The meat has an odd perforated look to it, which must have something to do with how it is prepared, but that is great in itself as it allows any butter or sauces to really mix and mingle with the meat. You can effectively give the effect of marinating the meat without having to leave it for ages.

Consider me converted. No longer will I run from corned products. I will no longer let that one experience affect how I see the meat. It is well worth the price. Just halve the size of that packaging!

Corned silverside is one of those dishes that has a fond place in my memories, a meat that was a staple at many a Christmas and birthday and one that I love to have with a good cheese sauce. I hadn't yet had it as thinly sliced as this packet provides so I wasn't sure if it would still be a nice, tender, flavourful meat. I do like that the Use By date is nice and easy to see, other brands I've found very hard to find this info. You can easily see what you're getting and whilst the packet says it will do two servings, I knew that this would do a few sandwiches or the like.

My eight and nine year olds didn't like the flavour of this at all with my nine year old adding that she didn't like the texture of it. My eleven year old thought it was delicious and would love it if I bought some again. He said he would eat it nice and slowly so he could make it last longer and enjoy it for longer, so it was easily a hit with him. I found that it has a nice flavour, it wasn't salty and had a lovely taste with it. Sadly, though, I found that the texture wasn't the great, I found it to be a bit tougher than I would have liked, I did find that adding it to a cracker and dip made it better but I still didn't like the texture enough to buy it in the future.

We only had one person in the house enjoy this, however for him it will be bought as he's such a fussy kid.

To start I have to be honest and say that Corned Silverside is not my favourite meat ... I'm not sure what it is about but I am certainly not a fan, I think it has something to do with when I was a child I have many not so happy memories of it being dished up to me often and being made to eat it along with a big helping of cabbage, both of which are my most un-favorite things to eat even 20 or so years later. Miss 6 however when at daycare used to love it when it was Corned Silverside for lunch as it was the only time she ever did get to it and so on this occasion I decided to get it for her to try, and for me to taste and review... I have to say that Corned Silverside in this form is much better than how I remember it to be, not ridiculously over salty and nice thin slices not covered in the fatty bits that come on a boiled Corned Silverside!

The packaging of the Corned Silverside was nicely presented, with a label to the left hand side of the plastic packaging, leaving the right hand side free, so that you are able to see the product which you are getting before purchasing, something which I love being able to do before buying a product, especially one which may spoil or have a short used by date. Straight away I could tell that there was a generous amount of meat in the 200gram package, Farmlands seem to be very generous on their meats which is great to see! As I opened up the package Miss 6 came over and asked to try the meat, "yummy, can you make me a sandwich with that? was the first thing to come out of her mouth as soon as she had finished sampling a piece. Immediately after the bread was brought out with the butter and she was already starting her sandwich preparation, the sandwich consisted purely of Corned Silverside and cheese but to Miss 6 it was the best sandwich ever!

For dinner that night Miss 6 was desperate for me to use the Silverside in the meal and so I agreed since it was just so much nicer than when I ate it as a child! I decided to make up some homemade style hashbrowns, I grated up some potatoes and cheese and then diced up most of the remaining Silverside, and some chives which I bound with a beaten egg. I fried these up in a bit oil until golden and crisp and served them up with a simple side salad. The Corned Silverside added an amazing flavour and texture to the potatoes, it provided a nice hint of salt for extra taste, and I loved all the crunchy pieces of the Silverside around the side. Even my partner enjoyed these and he too is not a Corned Silverside fan.

If your not usually a Silverside eater give these a go, it's very different from the traditional meat you might just like it.

Some time ago, I lived on the boundary of Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill in the East End of London. It was a food lover's paradise; I shopped at Bethnal Green market on the way home from work each day, and when I wanted fast food there were delicatessens and food outlets on every corner. One of our favourites was the local kosher takeaway where they sold the best hot salt beef sandwiches, Ashkenazi style. As soon as I tasted the corned silverside, I knew what I was going to do with it!

I used thick slices of very fresh white bread (the actual bread variety does not matter, but to get the required thickness you need to use an unsliced loaf and there was not much choice in my local supermarket). One slice is then spread with mustard. I used a Bavarian blend, but it is a matter of personal choice. I then heated four slices of meat and two tablespoons of red cabbage sauerkraut in the microwave, piled it all on top of the bread, then finally added the second slice. The result was wonderful; I was immediately transported to my memories of winter nights in London with the heady scent of hot salt beef pervading the streets. The meat used then was probably brisket rather than silverside, but personally I have never thought there was much taste difference anyway!

I don't know what it is about corned beef and cabbage, but they seem to go so well together. Someone even once wrote a song about them! The next day I had the rest of the silverside for lunch, but this time I had it cold with a good helping of coleslaw. When I was a child, we used to eat it hot with mashed potato, boiled cabbage, boiled carrots, and mustard sauce, but I actually prefer this meat cold. Silverside is quite lean, unlike the fattier brisket rolls we sometimes had and which had to be eaten hot, so it goes very well with salad. I had planned to have a friend drop in to taste it but he was late so I finished it all on my own - not that I had an issue with that; it was just as fresh tasting the day after the pack was opened.

I do like the convenience of having meat packed like this. The fine slices are useful too - they can be used in many different ways, and if a recipe requires a thicker cut of meat (as the salt beef sandwich did) it is no problem to use more than one slice. I used four slices in my sandwich and that was exactly the right amount.