Fortnum & Mason is widely acknowledged as the poshest grocery store in the UK. With a Royal Warrant from His Majesty King Charles, it’s undeniably the top peoples’ shop.
By contrast Aldi is hailed as just about the cheapest supermarket in the country, and it’s seen by many as the best place go if you’re shopping on a budget.
But, in a blind taste test, can the average person tell the difference between a meal cooked with ingredients from Fortnums and one whipped up from similar produce from Aldi?
YouTuber Sam Wilder cooked two dishes – one spaghetti carbonara, and one cottage pie – using two sets of ingredients.
While the Fortums’ ingredients were in one case over three times the price, the difference in quality turned out to be almost impossible to detect.
Sam went to the tastefully decked-out Piccadilly headquarters of Fortums first to source his ingredients. The ingredients for his carbonara came to £19.37, and while he had to do a little mathematical adjustment to even up the quantities, the mince, shallots and other items he needed for the cottage pie came out at just over £30.
By contrast, the carbonara and cottage pie ingredients from Aldi came out at £8.89 and £9.47 respectively.
Sam whipped up both dishes in short order. There were some minor differences in the preparation of the two recipes: while he was able to source the more authentic pancetta for the carbonara from Fortnums, he had to make do with bacon lardons from Aldi.
Both of them provided a similar saltiness to cut through the creamy texture of the buttery egg sauce, though. While the final result of the Fortnums-based version had a slightly more luxurious edge, there was little to choose between the two.
Sam said: “The main difference I can tell, is just the colour of the sauce, and I think that’s down to the colour of the eggs. There was a much richer orange colour in the fancy Fortnum & Mason eggs.”
It was partly the luxurious appearance of the posh version that gave the game away when Sam tried a blind taste test on his wife Carolina, but the cottage pie provided a more challenging puzzle.
Sam, who had cooked the dish, obviously had a slight advantage when it came to spotting the difference. “The main difference here to me, the mincemeat,” he said. “[The Fortnums mince] is a much thicker cut of mince meat. And it has a slightly more intense flavour.”
However, without Sam’s insider knowledge, it was a good deal harder to determine which one had come from the budget supermarket. Carolina identified the budget version as the Fortnums’ one.
Even without the inside knowledge, the more affordable version had the edge. Sam said: “Honestly, in this instance, I think I prefer the Aldi one.”