For the majority of people, a Christmas dinner plate just isn’t complete without a few delicious pigs in blankets. They are a staple of the ‘big Christmas shop’, and you’ll always end up buying more than one pack. But which chipolatas wrapped in bacon should you give the supporting role to this Christmas? Here’s our review of this year’s supermarket offerings. Morrisons 12 Frozen Pigs in Blankets - £2 Easy to buy now and keep in the freezer for the big day, and you don’t have to worry about defrosting them either. They do have quite a long cook time - 40mins at 200 degrees Celsius - and upon taking them out of the oven, it looked like this might have been too long. However these pigs in blankets definitely tasted better than they looked. A reasonable size, the sausages had a faint reminder of a certain ‘little William’ offering, while the bacon was salty, if a little too much. The convenience of being able to buy them now, along with a good, albeit not amazing taste, should make these a contender for your basket. 3/5 M&S 16 Delish Pigs in Blankets - £5 These pigs in blankets are a good size, and have a great ratio of sausage meat:bacon. Easy to cook, they take just 25 minutes. They are pricier than others, but you get 16 chipolatas, rather than the usual 10 or 12. The sausage itself is very flavourful, and is more of a Cumberland, herby offering rather than plain pork. The bacon is good, but doesn’t have an overpowering flavour, creating a great combination. Overall, M&S lives up to its reputation for reliable, tasty Christmas food, and these would complement your Christmas dinner plate very well on the 25th. 4/5 ASDA Extra Special 10 Pigs in Blankets - £2.75 First impressions of these pigs in blankets are good, with a nice, even offering of sausage meat and bacon. Just like M&S, these take 25mins in the oven, and looked just like the picture when they were done. However, it’s the taste that really lets these pigs in blankets down. Somehow, despite the usual winning combination of pork sausage wrapped in bacon, they are really bland, with only a hint of smoked bacon. Despite being from their ‘Extra special’ range, these were a disappointment. 2/5 Iceland 12 Pigs in Blankets - £2 As you might have guessed, Iceland’s pigs in blankets come already frozen - and ready to cook in just 30 minutes. First impressions - they’re much smaller than any of the others; but how do they taste? The sausage meat is plain pork (almost like something you’d pop on a roll on a Sunday morning) but really quite tasty, while the bacon is salty but not too much. These bite-sized pork treats really did surprise with their flavour. They’re definitely the smallest on offer, but you get 12 in the pack, compared to most of the others, which have 10. Despite their size, these pigs in blankets were a lovely surprise - just pop a few more on the plate than usual and enjoy.3.5/5 Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Pig in Blanket Christmas Tree - £6.50 Now this is what we call festive! A one-metre-long pig in blanket, shaped like a Christmas tree, and it even comes with rosemary and cranberry decorations. Because of its size, this fresh meat product takes a little longer to cook than the others, 30 minutes in the oven. The sausage meat is tasty and tender - not rubbery - and the oak-smoked bacon isn’t too smokey or overpowering. The rosemary gives a lovely undertone to the meat as well. What lets this down is the presentation - while it looks great and super festive - it’s not exactly practical (unless you plan to eat the whole thing yourself - no judgement here). You do have to end up cutting it into normal-sized pigs in blankets, and although a metre sounds a lot, you don’t end up with as many individual piggies as you’d hope for the price. 3/5 Lidl Deluxe Range 10 cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon - £2.49 Not the biggest chipolatas on offer, but these are a reasonable size with nice thick oak-smoked bacon - no stringy blankets here. The quickest to cook of the bunch, just 20 minutes in the oven, these can even be bought fresh and then frozen ahead of the big day - before being cooked right from frozen with no need to defrost. These pigs in blankets were super flavourful. The sausage meat is juicy, and the bacon is just the right level of salty to complement its chipolata friend perfectly. They are on the oily side, but in a good way. The quick cooking time, very reasonable price and most importantly, the taste, make these top of our pigs in blanket wish-list for December 25th. 5/5 Tesco Finest 10 Pigs in Blankets - £2.50 Tesco’s pigs in blankets aren’t as big as M&S or Asda, but look great even before cooking, with a good ratio of sausage meat:bacon. They can be oven cooked for 25 minutes or grilled for 16 minutes - a great option if you’ve got limited space in the oven on the big day. The sausage meat is really nice, very juicy and tender, although the smoked, dry-cured bacon is underwhelming, with not much taste. Overall, these pigs in blankets would complement your Christmas dinner well, but they won’t be the star of the show. 3.5/5 A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, The Scotsman.
