Episode 225: Caribbean Food Delights Jamaican Style Beef Patties

17 Sep, 2009

Posted by: Gregory Ng: The Frozen Food Master

It is hard to ignore the brilliance of meat stuffed into pastry. It is an idea that is so universally recognized as being brilliant that I bet it has the power to end war and reunite Ace of Base. But just because it is an idea that begs the sounds of trumpeting angels and sparkly rainbows doesn’t necessarily mean it is executed in a way that is delicious for the Frozen Food Master. So it was with great hope and mild trepidation that I sunk my teeth into these little meat pillows: Caribbean Food Delights Jamaican Style Beef Patties. Would they make the Frozen Food Master Jammin’ or will they send him running for the chuck bucket?

Nutrition Facts:
Serving size 1 patty (128g)
Servings per Container 2
Calories: 360
Calories from Fat: 160
Total Fat: 18g
Saturated Fat: 9g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 40mg
Sodium: 710mg
Total Carbohydrate: 38g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 12g

Price: $3.99

This product has received a rating of

Rating: 0.5

Tags: Beef, Caribbean, individually wrapped, Jamaican, nasty, pastry

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jesstess

i actually really liked it. its my all time fav food. guess u gotta hav acquired taste...lmao the look on ur face was priceless when u tasted it.

Henry Ng

Great video. I'm in NYC, and these patties are everywhere, right next to the pizzas in most pizza parlors. But they all mostly taste better than the Carribean Food Delights (CFD) brand. I bought a box of "mild" Tower Isle and a a box of CFD just to do a side-by-side. CFD's meat tasted like old, "going-bad" beef. Not bad enough to hate, but def. not fresh/beefy tasting. Tower Isles meat filling is ok, but the flakiness of the pastry is too much. It's like a baklava-with pieces flaking off everywhere. Today I chopped up cilantro and mixed it into the patty fillings of each. Not bad.

I actually like the CFD crust. However, the box of CFD/Tower Isle patties I bought are "bake-only" style, and do not contain individually packaged, microwaveable patties.

Anyhow, thanks for posting!

DHL

I never had a Jamaican Beef patty until 2008. I had seen the commercials for Tower Isles Jamaican beef patties all my life and since my wife was prego I was free to eat whatever I wanted. I fired up one of them (Spicy) and really did not like the way the crust came out, however the meat was spicy enough that when my 8 1/2 month pregnant wife took a little bite, her water broke that night and out popped baby. So we joke that the Spicy Jamaican Beef patties cause women to go into labor.

Echo710

I can't believe no one has mentioned Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee yet. One of the best tasting ways of getting that morning caffeine fix... albeit far too expensive for every day, I have to admit.

Hmm... as brilliant as the *concept* of pastry-encased meat sounds, it certainly seems to fail you quite often in the realm of frozen foods, I'm sorry to say! Even before I watched this episode, I was remembering your video featuring the infamous Goya Pizza Empanada, and I had a feeling that this one couldn't possibly end well! (Then again, did that Goya "empanada" have any actual meat in it, or just some scary cheese-like substance? I can't recall for sure; I'll have to watch it again.) Still a brilliant concept, of course; I'm not disputing that... however, it is a brilliant concept that can go horribly wrong unless it is put in the hands of an equally brilliant frozen food manufacturer... and this product *definitely* did not live up to that standard.

I wonder what makes this product qualify as "Jamaican" in the minds of the manufacturers...? Not that all Jamaican cuisine has to be drowned in jerk spice, of course... but I would think that at the very least, a minimal amount of *flavor* would be required...

I agree that the "Hostess Fruit Pie-esque" packaging is awesome... but couldn't they have given equal attention to the actual taste of the product? What a disappointment.

alex

Best thing about Jamaica?
Rum.

xiufetish

Cricket is the best thing about the whole of the West Indies.

"Don't like Jamaica - I LOVE her!" Name that tune (extra points for the band).

Greg, you must get this question a lot, but does your daily FreezerBurns dose of fat, salt, preservatives and mystery meat scare you at all?

Jason

First off I can't beleive no one has mentioned Bob Marley!

And the new format rocks...very smooth and it hits all the highlights perfetct. I know it has been awhile since I posted but I caught up on all the other videos today and added you to my Facebook. Keep em' coming!

Jeff

Great job landing on the new format. I agree with another Jeff above (imagine that) who said that as you get used to the segments, you will get a better sense of "playing with each segment." There was one edit within a segment that was a bit disruptive is such a short segment, but I am extra sensitive to that.

Now that you have completely trashed your workflow with editing, you can add close-ups of the package and the food too. And if you use stills as B roll, it can save setup time.

By the way, I have always wanted dreadlocks so I could tuck them under one of those giant, knitted red, yellow and green hats.

velvetnose

Ahh Jamaica!, reminds me of where they filmed the first James Bond film, Dr No...it also reminds me of Red Stripe Beer. Greg, I do believe you have got! I like the transitions and loved the review. Seriously when you peeled back that dough, it looked and probably tasted like Fancy Feast.