Who would win in a fight? Audrey Hepburn or Heinz?
There’s only one way to find out…
Fight!
Or, to be slightly more refined, to invite chums round for dinner and a blind-tasting experiment.
I was well-chuffed to score a jar of the limited edition Heinz/Absolut collaboration in April 2023.
But it took me ages to get around to staging my FIGHT. So long in fact that after all the fuss about the new product had calmed down I didn’t get around to it until over a year later (I do not believe in “best before” dates).
Nothing makes you realise that you are NOT part of things going viral more than an announcement this week that, “Absolut Vodka and Heinz have partnered to bring back the viral Tomato Vodka Pasta Sauce due to popular demand.” So I guess it’s that old adage in action, if you wait for long enough, everything comes back into fashion.
Here’s the recipe from the Audrey at Home book
and here’s what went down in her fight with Heinz.
I boiled up 500g of fresh penne, split the pasta between a batch of Audrey’s sauce and a saucepan of the Heinz sauce. Served with a chive separating the two, plus half a chive to illustrate which was sauce A and which was sauce B. Can you guess?
Mr Rathbone did of course. Because he is a CHILD OF HEINZ. Mr Rathbone Sr. worked at the Heinz factory for 25 years so Mr R Jr was raised on Heinz. He learned to identify what was in tins without labels that his dad brought home by the codes printed on the lids. Here’s his scorecard.
My other guests Cathy, David and Katy all put in their votes. They were voting for which sauce they preferred, but also trying to guess which was Heinz and which was Audrey’s. Heinz was sauce A – the one with the extra chive and sauce B was Audrey’s. Here are the scorecards from David, Cathy and Katy.
Here’s mine.
I was the only one who voted for the creamy, sweeter sauce and you know what? That one was Audrey’s. Of course, I was the only one who knew for sure as I had made it, and there may have been unconscious bias but I DID like it better because I like creamy sweet sauces.
So there you have it. Heinz won in a fight – 4/1. But in Audrey’s defence, from the Audrey at Home book, it looks as though this recipe originated from Orsini’s restaurant. So let’s blame them!
I made Audrey’s chocolate cake for dessert but burned it. That’s a story for another day!
By the way, I also tried The Godfather pasta sauce that Heinz released as a special edition a couple of months ago.
“You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; you make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. And a little bit of wine. And a little bit of sugar, and that’s my trick.”- Peter Clemenza, The Godfather, 1972.
I should have expected tiny meatballs in the sauce, but I didn’t! I thought it would be a sauce FOR meatballs but it was a pleasant surprise when I sneaked a spoonful out of the jar. Teeny-tiny meatballs!
On pasta with a bit of homemade wild garlic pesto, it was DELICIOUS. Good old Heinz.
It looks as though the Godfather sauce is still available so grab it while you can, as their clever advertising puts it…
Notes – Three of my panel secretly thought the Heinz version was Audreys… There was no salt in Audrey’s recipe and maybe I needed more chill?
Me: “the ingredients are similar”
Katy: “But the experience is different”.
Yes indeed, the experience WAS different but the whole little experiment was mucho fun. I think Audrey would have enjoyed it, despite only me preferring her version.
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Audrey’s always going to win any kind of competition with that cooler than the ordinary mortal fork technique ! That’s how i want to eat my pasta. I was in an Italian restaurant on Gt. Portland St. once and my girlfriend ordered a vodka penne dish that came wrapped in foil and when unwrapped was set alight to finish it off and I assume burn off the alcohol, it was very effective and very delicious. I’ve had both those jars and both nice enough, but perhaps one day i should combine the two with an extra glug of red of wine and bigger meatballs !
Ooh, setting fire to pasta – I love that idea!!! Definitely going to try that. Also love the idea of the vodka/Godfather mash-up – do it!