An old convenience food with a dash of modern food science.
Written: Aug 29 '08 (Updated Aug 29 '08)
Product Rating:
Pros: Not bad tasting, very quick cooking, properly textured. Stackable, recyclable box.
Cons: Too salty, too much "autolyzed yeast" taste.
The Bottom Line: I'd say that this is the Rice-a-Roni of couscous, but it isn't quite that bad. Nevertheless, one can make something better--without overwhelming yeast extract taste--just as easily from scratch.
bkalafut's Full Review: Near East Roasted Garlic Couscous 5.8oz Unit (Pack...
Traditional couscous (a pellet-shaped semolina pasta indiginous to the Maghreb and western Sicily), for which literary evidence exists as early as the thirteenth century, is steamed over a pot of stew. Here in the USA, we are ordinarily sold a quick-cooking couscous, which is pre-steamed and dehydrated, requiring the cook to merely add a bit of boiling hot stock or water and let it sit for a few minutes to soften up. (Using this in recipes calling for the other kind results in a gummy, heavy culinary disaster.) Like all pastas, either form is a convenience food requiring minimal work, with the quick-cooking kind being as simple to put together as a glass of tea. In a pinch, one can make a meal of it by adding some olives, nuts, canned beans, and chopped vegetables.
Near East, an alias of Quaker Oats, takes the convenience of quick-cooking couscous a step further by providing a convenient box (roughly the size of a Betamax cassette tape) containing about 6 ounces of couscous and a seasoning packet with garlic powder, onion powder, herbs, and, above all, salt and autolyzed yeast extract. The cook must simply boil some water, add two teaspoons of olive oil, the spice packet, and the couscous, and let it sit for five minutes, and the dish is done. After fluffing with a fork or spoon, the texture is almost right on--the best one can get with quick-cooking couscous--but the flavors could use some adjusting.
It doesn't taste offensive, but there's far too much salt (24% of the US R.D.A. for sodium per 1 cup serving), and despite the "Roasted Garlic" name, autolyzed yeast extract--think "chicken" bouillon cubes or vegan "parmesan" sprinkles--is the predominant flavor, so much so that the garlic, onion, and herbs are relegated to the background. Like most boxed convenience foods, the dish can be improved somewhat, but not in any delicate fashion. Sprinkle this with a bit of black pepper or sumac, and, as though one said "xyzzy", nothing happens. Cayenne pepper or harissa come through, but the real solution is to omit the spice packet altogether and season this from scratch, which defeats the purpose of buying a boxed version instead of bulk quick-cooking couscous in the first place.
Since it is inoffensive and does accurately duplicate the texture of the "real thing", Near East Roasted Garlic Couscous is a step forward for Quaker from truly off-putting boxed pastas like Noodle Roni, of which I ate far too much while growing up. But with both traditional and quick-cooking couscous being so easy to prepare, there's no reason for even the marginally competent home cook to purchase this. The only advantage it has over bulk couscous is that it comes in a neatly stackable box.
Pack of 12 5.8-ounce boxes of light and fluffy roasted garlic flavored couscous (69.6 total ounces) Made with 100% natural, certified Kosher ingredien...More at Amazon Marketplace
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