Hormel Compleats Roast Beef & Gravy

Made By:  Hormel Foods
Tools Required:  Microwave, Sharp object
220 calories per package

Rating:  :)

(Available online through Amazon.com)

Okay, I found something that is probably even more all-American than Roast Chicken Yakisoba--meat and potatoes!  Today I am going to try this Hormel Compleats Roast Beef & Gravy entrée.  The other Hormel Compleats meal I reviewed turned out to be pretty good, so I am interested to see if we can make it a trend.

Preparation consists of taking off the cardboard overwrap, poking some vent holes in the top film of the tray with our handy paring knife, and then microwaving for 90 seconds.  It doesn't get too much easier than that!  Unless, of course, you didn't bring a sharp knife... but even then, I imagine you could peel up the corner of the film instead and be just fine.  I give mine the optional one-minute rest time in the microwave, because I hate cold spots in my potatoes, and then we rip off the film and get ready to eat!

Well, it doesn't exactly photograph that well, but it did look okay in person.  Inside the tray, we find a couple of thin (1/8" or so) slices of beef on a bed of mashed potatoes, covered with enough beef gravy to finish filling the tray.  The meat has a surprisingly good texture; it is firm to the bite, yet tender and marbled well enough to separate easily.  The gravy has a nice homestyle flavor, better than most canned brown gravies; it tastes like a pan gravy you might make from roast beef drippings.  The potatoes are nicely firm as well, and  the flavor is nice; mixed with the gravy, they have that "pot-roasted" beefy flavor as if the potatoes were really cooked alongside the beef in your oven.

I thought this was quite good!  Hormel is two-for-two now; I am coming away with the impression that these Compleats meals are fairly high-quality convenience products.  They'll never replace instant noodles, of course, but this one has my recommendation.  :)