AN INNOVATIVE cooking bag from Sirane which flavours the food during the cooking process has helped one food producer grab a top industry award for packaging.
Kepak won the Best Packaging award at the recent Irish Food Awards (Blas na hEireann) for their Irish Smokey BBQ pork ribs which are sold through the Super Valu chain.
The award-winning product uses Sirane’s popular oven/BBQ cooking bag along with a blend of kilned beech and frozen herbs and spices, which are placed in a sachet and then slipped below the bag’s non-stick layer – releasing smoky flavours while the food cooks.
Simon Balderson, Sirane MD, said: “Congratulations to Kepak on a well-deserved award. This is an innovative food packaging solution, and Kepak were one of the first on board… so it is nice to see the concept recognised in this way at a top industry event.
“We’ve got a great range of cooking bag solutions, and this is a fairly simple idea, but one which transforms any cooking bag in to a bag of flavour. Retailers and customers alike are often looking for the same thing in their food – the best possible flavours with the least amount of fuss, so this is a solution which should find favour with everyone.
“This provides a great option for retailers and a very versatile solution. It could be used over the fresh food counter, supplied shipped into store with the flavour sachet already placed in the bag, or could even be used as part of a ‘smoky meal kit’ for home use.
“We’ve some interesting flavours options on offer, so this product has lots of potential – as demonstrated by Kepak. Smoked food is becoming more and more popular, and this is a great way to offer exciting flavours to customers with minimal effort on your part.”
Sirane can offer six flavour combinations as standard: onion, mustard & spices; rosemary, juniper & spices; garlic, ginger & spices; mustard, sweet basil & spices; bay leaf, onion and spices, and juniper, pine cone and spices. However, other flavours can be developed.
There are flavours designed to complement fish, poultry, red meat, shellfish and even game.
The Best Packaging Award topped a great night for Kepak, as they grabbed 11 awards in total at what is one of the most prestigious events in the Irish food industry.
Now in its 10th year, Blas na h’Eireann (Irish Food Awards) is the biggest competition for quality product in Ireland, and more than 400 finalists competed in 130 categories.
The Sira-Cook Supreme bag for oven/BBQ is simple to use, cooks food to perfection. The wood chip sachet blended with dried herbs and spices is placed below the perforated non-stick layer, allowing the flavours to permeate through while the food is cooking.
Simon Balderson, Sirane managing director, said: “Our popular Sira-Cook Supreme cooking bag has so many potential uses and using the bag as a ‘’bag of flavour’ could really help retailers stand out on the crowded shelves – as demonstrated by the Kepak product.
“It is a foil bag capable of withstanding significant direct heat, allowing for its use on a barbecue as well as in an oven. The food will remain tender, retain all the juices and flavours as well as the goodness. This product is a great idea for meat, poultry and seafood.”
As well as BBQ/oven bags, Sirane manufactures a wide range of other cooking bags including steam-cooking bags for oven/microwave (including a new stand-up version), nylon roasting bags and sous-vide bags and even multi-compartment bags.
Sirane recently launched the Bags of Ideas campaign as a way of combining and simplifying all our cooking bags solutions and our ‘Bags of Flavour’ form a key campaign component.
For more information on any of our cooking bag solutions, contact Jeremy Haydn-Davies at [email protected].
