On the fence about the new Chilli Crunch peanuts - these are coated with their (delicious) chilli crunch that’s available in a jar. The peanuts are good, there’s just nothing enough of the chilli crunch flavor. I’m sure they’ll be really good as a salad or soup topping.
Jalapeño crunch - same type of jar as the chilli crunch - bought but haven’t tried yet.
Reduced fat chips have been rebranded Kettle cooked chips - same blue packet, same delicious potato chips.
Cheese and chile tamales are very good - reminiscent of the old sweet corn tamales but with a masa outer rather than fresh corn. (The chicken ones are also excellent - in a face off with my neighborhood tamale lady, TJs tamales win.)
Junk alert:
Mozzarella sticks - they’re good but always splat out which is a negative
Mac and cheese balls - also splat out more often than not, seems like a design flaw (or they need different heating instructions
Hash browns - these are really good!
An oldie but a goodie - whole milk greek yogurt. It’s delicious. Wish they had an organic version. The cream top organic yogurt is always sour.
love the whole milk greek. wish it came in the bigger size, like the fat free.
re heating instructions for frozen stuff: this has been an issue with a few things. but, they do listen. the instructions for pan sautéing the cauliflower gnocchi used to say to cook in 1/4 water, then add oil or butter, which left them soggy and gross. so i just heated the oil, then sautéed until brown.
looked at the package i just bought and noticed the instructions are for ‘pan frying,’ which eliminates to water step. . of course, it also says “HEAT FROM FROZEN. DO NOT THAW” (their caps), which i routinely ignore and mine cook a little faster and taste fine.
1 Like
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
204
Struck me that TJs is likely between “seasons” as they define them, as opposed to actual seasons, lol.
There are a bunch of random new things that will probably be gone by September I’d I was guessing.
Naga chillies are back - ghost peppers in a grinder. I’m curious who uses these directly from a grinder - naga chillies do their best work when infused.
They’ve also got Hatch chile flakes, but I’ve decided I have too many types of chillies already, so no.
Red boat is back - I couldn’t resist.
They have Gochujang, which I bought but haven’t cracked into yet.
Tamarind sauce - I thought this would be Indian, but the first ingredient is tamari. I’m curious about the flavor profile.
Hatch chili flakes are a big Yay for me. They’re perfect when you want to add notable chili flavor without too much heat.
The frozen tamales 2-packs have been a long time staple in my household. When steamed they are as good, if not better, than many restaurant tamales. Microwaved though, I find them rubbery and unpleasant.
To cut down on the 20 minute steaming time, I will cut a hole in the corner, trickle about a tablespoon’s worth of water into the package and microwave for 2 minutes with the open end tucked under. While that’s going I get the water and steamer going on my stove. After transferring from the microwave to stovetop just 5-7 more minutes steaming and it’s as good as steaming for 20 minutes on it’s own.
Microwaving alone as per package instructions yields unpleasantly rubbery tamales I do not enjoy at all.
What do they taste like? Different than regular chile flakes?
I don’t follow the package instructions but I do steam them in the microwave. I run the entire husk-wrapped tamale under a tap to get the husk wet, and a bit of water inside. Microwave at 50%. Last time I put a bowl of water in with the tamale, covered the plate with a microwave lid, and it was better than just wetting it.
It’s an emergency meal for me, and I usually don’t have the patience to wait 20 mins!
Clever use of the added water in the microwave to keep them more moist. I’ll give that a shot!
Pretty standard chile pepper flavor apart from being a touch sweeter and milder on the heat. If you’ve ever used jalapeños and removed the seeds to get more of the flavor with less heat, these are basically a dried chile flake version of that. (and milder in heat than any dried jalapeño I’ve bought)
Not sure if it’s a batch issue or different palates but we keep a bag of the roasted corn in our freezer to use in a pinch and have always enjoyed it.
As a point of reference I also make fresh grilled corn on my gas range and intentionally blacken a bit of the kernels just like many restaurants do to get a bit of the smoky char flavor. I find the frozen to be less charred by comparison and think the hint of char is a feature not a flaw.
A YAY here for the Mexican Style roasted corn with Cotija cheese. It’s prettt good, especially when fresh corn isn’t available. And it got me to make my own on the cob using mayo, butter, cotija and Tajin.
Plz forgive if they’ve been mentioned (I don’t want to scroll thru 216 replies RN ), but the hot Italian sausages in the meat section are the hottest commercial Italian sausages I’ve bought.
Really nice kick to them, and good flavor as well. Love the fennel seeds, too
Me three. Grilled corn on the gas stove is my default method. Blackened kernels, rubbed with a lime dipped in salt and red chilli powder.
I don’t love picking corn out of my teeth however.
2 Likes
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
221
I’ve eaten a lot of grilled corn and like toasty notes but this was just gross. Neither my husband nor son liked it, either. Must have been a bad batch!
), but the hot Italian sausages in the meat section are the hottest commercial Italian sausages I’ve bought.
