Chocolate sponge pudding
M&S melting middle, 210g, £1.99
All molten and moreish. Superb, sticky, naughty...everything it should be. 5 stars
Tesco finest melting middle, 300g, £1.99
Not bad at all. In fact, rather delicious. 4 stars
Waitrose, 210g, £1.89
We like this one. It tastes like they are using good quality chocolate. 4 stars
Morrisons, 220g, £1.29
Looks very dry and the main flavour is baking powder. The sauce is OK. 2 stars
Somerfield good intentions, 110g, 99p
This tastes of nothing. There is no richness, just artifical sweet flavour. 1 star
Shepherd's pie
Sainsbury's taste the difference, 400g, £2.49
Not a bad effort and satisfyingly rich. 3 stars
Waitrose, 750g, £5.49
Not a classic. There's cheese on top, and the meat and potato are too chunky. Sludgy mince. The flavour hasn't bled into the sauce. 2 stars
Tesco finest, 720g, £3.99,
It's just not right to put cheese on top. There's a depth of flavour to the mince, but it's not very lamby. 2 stars
Heinz weight watchers, 320g, £1.19, widely available
Not a lot to eat here. Looks mean on the plate, and tastes mean, too. 1 star
Birds Eye, 400g, £1.50, widely available
Hardly any meat under dry potato. Mince costs nothing, so we don't know why they've been so stingy. No stars
Gammon
Tesco finest dry-cured wrapped in streaky bacon, 750g, £6.50
Good flavour. It could do with more fat, though. 4 stars
Waitrose unsmoked joint, £5.29/kg
Moist with full flavour and good looks. 4 stars
M&S ready to roast dry cure, 510g, £4.99
Seemed to be no added water in this, so the meat was dense and flavoursome. 4 stars
Somerfield unsmoked joint, 750g, £4.13
Too much salt and a horrid sinew running through, but redeemed by a generous fat content. 2 stars
Morrisons, £10.99/kg
Dry and chewy. 2 stars
Chicken soup
Waitrose green Thai, 600g, £2.49
This would be very enjoyable at the end of a long, cold day. 4 stars
Loyd Grossman, 420g, £1.40, widely available
Its only downfall is a strange acidic taste left lingering in the mouth. Still, it's nice. 3 stars
Sainsbury's chicken and sweetcorn, 600g, £1.39
Lots of sweetcorn and generous pieces of chicken. Not a bad effort at all. 3 stars
New Covent Garden food our best, 600g, £1.99, widely available
Flat. Little flavour except cardboard. Shredded chicken. 1 star
Morrisons chicken and sweetcorn, 600g, £1.39
You'll have to hunt for ages to find chicken in this gooey, pallid mess. No stars
Yorkshire puddings
Aunt Bessies 12, 370g, £1.10, widely available
There's lots of gluten and fat in this, with a cakey texture. 3 stars
M&S beef dripping, 132g, £1.19
Nice shape, evenly risen. OK, but not special. 2 stars
Morrisons giant baked, 110g, 37p
We like big puddings, but we can't bring ourselves to like this one. 1 star
Tesco 12 sage and onion, 230g, 94p
There is no need to muck about with a classic Yorkshire pud. No stars
Co-op 12 mini, 105g, £1.05
A disgrace. Tastes like polystyrene. No stars
Lamb shanks
Tesco finest Mediterreanean with veg confit, 1150g, £7.99
Best in this whole taste test. Lamb comes off the bone, as it should. 5 stars
Sainsbury's taste the difference in plum tomato and red wine, 900g, £7.99
You can tell a bit of effort has been taken. 4 stars
M&S gastropub slow roasted, 970g, £9.99
Looks more exciting than it tastes. Let down by a sharp taste that goes through the veg. 3 stars
Waitrose with redcurrant and rosemary, 1kg, £8.99
An oil slick over this one - half a cm of fat on top, the meat and veg have almost made a confit. 1 star
Asda, 740g, £5.98
Moist but overpowering mint flavour. So overpowering, in fact, that you can't tell if it's lamb or emu.
No stars
Cornish pasty
Waitrose hand-crimped, 200g, £1.55
This is close to the real thing. There is even a lovely roll to the edge.
5 stars
Pastyman, 10 medium, £29.90, 0845 094 0194
Flavour is spot on; chunky beef is authentic. It's a bit dry and needs a bit more moisture.
3 stars
Sainsbury's, 175g, 52p
They've used puff pastry, which is just plain wrong. The filling is fair, though.
3 stars
Asda, 150g, 47p
Spicy and a bit wet. The pasty fell apart in our hands.
2 stars
M&S, 300g, £1.49
Puff pastry and far too wet and oily. It tastes like artifical fat, leaving a waxy film on the roof of the mouth.
1 star
Steak pie
Waitrose Aberdeen Angus steak and ale, 400g, £4.59
Good quality meat, generously cut and moist.
4 stars
M&S gastropub Aberdeen Angus, Scottish ale and portobello mushroom,600g, £5.99
Good pastry but filling is poor.
2 stars
Sainsbury's, 600g, £2.99
Too much pastry and what little filling there is looks grey and dry. Needs more care over its appearance.
2 stars
Tesco finest, 600g, £3.99
Nice shortcrust pastry, but the inside is bland and boring. Needs wine, needs onions, needs flavour.
1 star
Somerfield steak and ale, 210g, £1.59
Glutinous sauce, broken-down meat.
No stars
Instant hot chocolate
Galaxy, 400g, £1.99, widely available
This has a luxurious flavour, but is let down by its sweetness.
4 stars
Cadbury chocolate highlights, 220g, £2.40, widely available
Good chocolatey flavour, would hit the spot on a cold day.
4 stars
Sainsbury's, 400g, £1.48,
Thin and watery. Where's the chocolate? This is begging for a Flake to be stirred into it.
2 stars
Morrisons, 400g, £1.28
Nice colour, but very thin on flavour. The only good thing is it's not too sweet.
2 stars
Kwiksave, 400g, £1.29
Very thin in both flavour and body. Even the colour is unappealing.
No stars
Apple pie
Tesco finest, 770g, £2.99
This looks like our nan's. Nice chunky apple but it's sweeter than we'd hoped.
3 stars
Sainsbury's, 720g, £2.39
Looks dry and not homely, but it smells good and the filling is nice and tart.
3 stars
Somerfield so good, 660g, £3.45
Latticed pastry is a bit Nineties. The filling is jammy and artificial and needs some whole chunks of real apple.
1 star
Asda extra special, 700g, £1.98
Looks rustic but disintegrates when cut. Overpowering cinnamon.
1 star
Morrisons, 520g, £1.79
Stodgy pastry, unnatural filling. Disgusting.
No stars
Brandy
Hine rare VSOP cognac grand, 70cl, £30, available from Waitrose
Beautiful caramel and pruney nose. Not at all aggressive flavour. Lovely.
3 stars
Grand Bernardine, 70cl, £9.49, available from Threshers
Blended to please all, so doesn't have its own character. But it's good.
3 stars
Martell, 70cl, £17.99, widely available
A great winter warmer. if a little fiery. Lovely fruity smell and rounded taste.
3 stars
Phillipe Rochelle, 1l, £9.99, available from Somerfield
Ginger fieriness, but nicely rounded. Slightly medicinal tinge.
3 stars
Morrisons 3 year old VSOP, 70cl, £8.25
Quite invasive and badly constructed. Nasty bite to it.
1 star
· Jeff and Chris Galvin are chefs patron of their restaurant Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, 66 Baker Street, London W1, 020 7935 4007
