A Tasty Addition

I was at the supermarket today and noticed an interesting offering.

I really, really wanted to do a VS post on this "Hot & Spicy" Spam, but I couldn't think of anything to compare it with other than... well, other varieties of Spam.  But that didn't seem like all that interesting of a battle, though I have to say I was surprised at the wide variety of Spam products offered.  Especially in Hawaii, it seems there's a version for every taste.

So, I picked up a can of my trial product.  I sliced it up and fried it.  It looked exactly the same as regular Spam only with a reddish tint.  However, I was very surprised at the difference when I tried a bite.

This stuff is not bad at all.  I'm not a particular fan of Spam, it's a little too "generic meat product" for my taste, but this surprised me at how a little Tabasco sauce changed the flavor.

 It's almost like going from a cheap hot dog to a spicy sausage.  The quality of the meat and the content are obviously the same between the regular Spam and the spicy stuff, but the difference between the tastes is pretty dramatic.  And I don't just mean the spice, it only has a little kick to it, but it totally changes the taste.  I'm not sure if it's there's some chemical change when they added the tabasco or if it just adds flavor to an otherwise bland product, but this stuff was actually pretty good.

I chopped some up and mixed it in with some chili over some rice and was very pleased with the results.  

It cost the same as the regular Spam.  I didn't see any bulk packages of the stuff, it's probably not very cost effective to prep one can of Spam at a time, but I'm sure it's out there.  It might take a little more searching than the generic stuff, but it might be worth the effort.

So, if you're looking to add a little variety to your preps, something to spice up an otherwise boring meal, this stuff might be just what you're looking for.

Libby's VS Armour... Battle of the Vienna Sausage

Ever since SPAM vs Corned Beef it's been hard to come up with a food battle as good.  Everything else seems trivial in comparison...  Until now.  Vienna Sausage, what could be more important than finding the best Vienna Sausage brand?

The battle of the Vienna Sausages!!!!

Libby's ($.99) VS Armour ($1.09).  Two popular, cheap, brands of Vienna Suasage.  Both of these can be found by the case very inexpensively.  For how cheap they are, I'd be surprised if any prepper didn't have a few cases in their closet.  But which one should you be stocking?

Can you tell the difference by looks?  I couldn't.  For both, it looked like someone had cut up some hot dog pieces and put them in a can.  Nearly identical.

Nutritional Information:
Libby's
Serving size: 3 pieces, 2.5 servings per can
Calories: 130, Fat 110
Total fat: 5g, 18%
Cholesterol: 40mg, 13%
Sodium: 260mg, 11%
Total Carbs: 1g, 0%
Protien: 5g


Armour
Serving size: 3 pieces, 2.5 per can
Calories: 110, Fat 90 15%
Cholesterol: 45mg,  15%
Sodium: 490mg, 20%
Carb: 1g, 0%
Protien: 5g

Libby's had slightly more calories, Armour had slightly more sodium...  Overall, there wasn't a distinct difference when coming to values on the Nutritional Information.   Both were very, very similar.  Even the ingredients are nearly identical.


Taste test.
Raw:

(Doesn't that look wonderful?  The sacrifices I make for you people...)

There was very little to distinguish the two in the raw form.  Both were similar to uncooked hotdogs, though tasted slightly more like ham.  The textures were on the softer side, they kind of fell apart once bitten.  A hotdog is far more solid, these were much more processed-meat-shaped-into-cylinders than solid food.  The Armour might have been very slightly better, slightly saltier, slightly better texture, but not by very much.

(At least they look slightly better now)

Cooked:
Can you tell the difference cooked?  I think the only difference in looks is because the ones on the left were put into the pan while it was still heating up, the ones on the right were put in the heated pan after the first cooked.  Other than that, there was very little difference between the two.  (Libby's left, Armour right)

In short, they taste exactly the same cooked.  I mean, exactly the same.  Just warmer.  It was actually kind of disappointing.


Conclusions:
Yeah, I have to admit that this was a very anticlimactic battle.  I mean, they were very nearly identical.  The Armour might have had a very, very slight taste/texture advantage, but that was it.  And that might have just been my brain struggling to find a distinction.

Both were cheap, the same size, basically the same nutritional information, tastes almost exactly the same...  I'm not sure how to call this one.  Either would be a good addition to your stores and I think price would probably be the deciding factor as to which one to stock up on.