I absolutely love potato skills filled with cheese and bacon, if I am at a restaurant and they are on the menu then it is unlikely that I will resist ordering them. I don't know what it is about the combination that I find so irresistible but I was quite excited to find this version from Bannisters' in the frozen section of Tesco recently. I've tried a few supermarket potato skins before but they have all been fresh rather than frozen and something about that delicious looking picture on the box made me want these...badly!
The box weighs 260g and contains 4 potato skins with a recommended serving of 2 skins containing 262 calories. They are gluten free and made from British potatoes and the box only cost £1.39 which I thought was a bit of a bargain to be honest.
A frozen potato skin
The skins should be cooked from frozen and can be microwaved, done on the BBQ or as I preferred, heated in the oven for 20 minutes. When I took them out they were lovely and crispy with a golden brown top.
The cheese was more gooey than the stringy stuff that tends to be used in the restaurant version of cheese and bacon skins but I quite liked that. I also loved that the bacon was in quite small bits so it was nice and crispy, the way bacon should be!
Potato skins can be quite greasy and I have to confess that I do like a bit of grease from time to time but in general I prefer the more "potatoey" skins rather than those that appear to have been deep fried. Bannisters' appear to have got this spot on and their skins didn't feel greasy at all, the potato was deliciously light and fluffy but the skin still had a nice crispiness to it.
Verdict
I was impressed with Bannisters' Farm Cheese and Bacon Potato Skins and it's easy to see why they were The Grocer Food & Drink winner in 2010. I will certainly be buying these again and I can't wait to try the Cheese and jalapeño version.
