The truth about MRE manicotti!!!!!

[Big Galloot]

I decided to try yet another MRE entrée and having recently dined on manicotti at my favorite local Italian restaurant, I opted for a 2004 Wornick “Cheese and Vegetable Manicotti in Tomato Sauce.”

Let me preface this review by making a confession, I have long been a fan of frozen pizza. It is important to understand that I am talking store brand $ 1.99 generic frozen pizza, the cheaper the better. I do not consider a frozen pie to be an analog for pizzeria pizza; I see it as an entirely different food group unrelated except by name. Fairly or not, I am approaching this manicotti with the same generous interpretation.

Manicotti is constructed by filling a pasta tube with a ricotta cheese mixture, covering it with a tomato sauce and cheese and then baking it. I was especially interested in seeing how well Natick did in providing the interesting blend of textures present in a “good” manicotti. Most particular is the cooking of the pasta, which is to be cooked “Al Dente,” just firm enough to be resistant to the tooth. This was named, by the way, after Alphonso Dente, a shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He married an Irish woman who always over-cooked the pasta which caused him to toss her out a window. Fortunately, it was the first floor but he became famous for his insistence on a properly cooked noodle.

Let’s start with the good news, I really liked this entrée.

Here’s the bad news, until I checked pictures on the internet, I was convinced that I had somehow gotten a beef enchilada by mistake. First, the filling LOOKS and tastes like the finely ground beef used in enchiladas and not like the whitish ricotta cheese filling of a manicotti. The pasta shell was also off-color and very thick and had a distinct corn taste similar to that of an enchilada shell. The sauce was no closer to a marinara sauce than to a picante sauce.

This is where my comment about frozen pizza becomes relevant, just as a frozen pizza is not a pizza, MRE manicotti is NOT manicotti. It was, however, really tasty.

[C-rats]

Can you say "Suuuuuuuuck - er"




`rats

[kman]

Great review! Yuuummmmmmmm.......cheap generic grocery store frozen pizza! Love those tiny little cubes of pepperoni!

I tried the MRE Manicotti once and despite its appearance, it wasn't that bad - just kind of like a giant cheese ravioli. And that's a Chef Boyardee canned cheese ravioli...just to be clear.

[Enchilada]

How strange is this??
I ate a manicotti yesterday for lunch, and I must say I thought it was wonderful.
Ok I have never eaten manicotti in a restaurant(you rarely see manicotti in England if ever-the closet thing we have is canneloni).
I think the veggie MRE'S are the best, better than most of the meat ones anyway. Its a shame manicotti has been replaced on the menus by veggie lasagne if Im correct.
Saying about the filling looking the wrong colour, maybe its because real ricotta has to be refridgerated?
By the way the other pasta dishes in MRE's cavatelli and tetrazzini we rarely see these pasta types in England/UK.

[Big Galloot]

Although manicotti is considered Italian food, it is doubtful that they ever made it in Italy. It's like an American version of Italian food.

The last time I was in England I ate at a Cantonese restaurant and was surprised to find that none of the things I normally find in an American-Chinese restaurant were on the menu. Chow mein, Chop Suey, wonton soup, egg drop soup, egg rolls, Mu Gu gai pan, and egg fu young are apparently unknown in the UK or at least in Eton.

I also went to an "American" restaurant in Windsor named "Uncle Sam's" and the food was utterly unfamiliar. It was worth it to have the waiter explain how food is prepared in the US.

[kman]

I also went to an "American" restaurant in Windsor named "Uncle Sam's" and the food was utterly unfamiliar. It was worth it to have the waiter explain how food is prepared in the US.

Hey, what do you know?! I stayed in Windsor a few years ago for a couple of weeks and ate at that restaurant a couple of times. I don't recall exactly what I had, but I think they had a hamburger that was ok and maybe some ribs. I do recall seeing a salad that looked like it was more from the movie "Alien" than it was from any bag of salad I had ever seen. Either that or the salad was something like you'd see on the front of a weed-killer bottle.

[Big Galloot]

The highlight was when we stopped for lunch in Salisbury and I tried to order a Salisbury steak. I should have known better.

[Big Galloot]

I stayed in Windsor a few years ago for a couple of weeks and ate at that restaurant a couple of times.

Do you remember that insane little teashop at an angle across the street? And the supporting columns at the bank that didn't quite reach the ceiling?

[kman]

I think I remember the bank, but the tea shop isn't ringing a bell.