Thai red curry and mashed potato in a giant mug

The last time I had the flavour of curry and the texture of mash out of something this sort of shape was, I believe, around 2002. "Pot Mash" was still in the shops, and I liked it.

For this recipe, I carefully removed the tendrils from some potatoes that must have been reaching their first birthdays, left the skins on for the most part, and boiled them just long enough to get through 9 holes of Wii Golf. The viscosity of the mashed potato held up however, allowing me to pack the mug half and half right to the bottom with mash and sauce, two near-perfect semicircles extruded to the base of the receptacle.

The thai red curry itself was not a traditional version, containing bacon, mushrooms and assorted frozen vegetables. This sat well with the hearty mash, and as a result the feeling upon completion was very much more winter in Rochdale than summer in Phuket. Pleasing but very wide of the mark.

In addition, the dish was utterly unapproachable without a spoon. This is very much a fault of the idiosyncrasies within the recipe, not the culinary tradition from which this terrible remix of curry sprang.

A final note on the mug itself. Inscribed with "I [Heart] Coffee", it was chosen merely to cater for the volume of food. Thankfully this slogan was not off-putting and soon after consumption began, was forgotten.


Mug-food rating: 3 out of 10

Rice Krispies Multi-grain Shapes in a Mug

Rice krispie shapes in a mug:
snap, crackle, meh

It’s worth noting that the receptacle for this experiment had a 12-hour old coffee residue. In addition, the foodstuff under review also had a best before date of 22/09/10, making it nearly 4 months past its best.

Despite these issues, or perhaps due to them, the meal had a pleasant malty taste, which in combination with the mug method left a milk-draining reminiscent of cold, thin Horlicks.

There was a great deal of milk remaining because unlike Coco Pops in a Mug, these crunchy multi-grains retained their shape, resisted the urge to stick to the side of the mug, and were easy to retrieve without the use of cutlery (spoon, pictured, was redundant).

Mug-food rating: 6 out of 10

Triple-cooked Chicken Bolognese in a Mug

Chicken bolognese in a mug:
stays hot but requires ice cool eating skills.

As you can tell from the photo, the pasta is actually sitting above the mugline. This made it easy to eat initially, as one might use one’s lips to consume an ice-cream at speed. Unfortunately once past the mugline, the sauce itself was too stodgy to remove through pouring.

Pros and cons emerge from the next stage — the small exposed surface area ensured that the meal remained hot, which is excellent, however the only non-cutlery based consumption method was to use the tongue to scoop, which resulted in the sensation of burning. In the end I was forced to employ a teaspoon.

In summary, pasta from a mug is not something I relish again, although I realise that I have used an atypical dish as a first attempt.

Mug-food rating: 3 out of 10

Coco Pops in a mug

Coco pops in a mug:
in this case, they don't turn the milk chocolatey

Distinctly average. If you don’t put enough Coco Pops in you end up with just milk, whilst the solid matter floats on top. The milk doesn’t go very chocolatey because there is no stirring going on.

Another pitfall is that at the end of the meal, there will be some of the soggier coco pops stuck to the side of the mug. In my experience, you can’t be 100% sure to knock these off by applying more milk, so your best bet is to run an extended finger around the mug when done.

Mug-food rating: 5 out of 10