Will you be adding it to your Christmas spread? (Picture: Getty Images)

We all have our Christmas foodie traditions, and for some families, December 25 would not be complete without a pork pie.

The Leicestershire-born pastry treat appears on buffet tables and Boxing Day spreads year after year.

But let’s face it, the pork pie has its downsides. They can be dry, bland, and that’s before we even get to the jelly.

Thankfully, Asda has come to the rescue with a hybrid pork pie alternative: their Exceptional Melt-in-the-Middle Camembert and Pork Pie, which they say ‘combines this oozing cheese with an iconic Betwixmas classic.’

Described as a ‘festive Frankenstein’, the pie features a gooey wheel of French Camembert, lathered on top with seasoned pork and encased in a crusty pastry, offering Christmas foodies a ‘camembert explosion’.

A photo of Asda's alternatives to Christmas pies
Camembert inside pastry is quite the combo (Picture: Asda)

At £9, it’s not exactly cheap, but its Asda’s way of levelling up the pork pie tradition.

But it’s fair to say the pie has recieved mixed reaction online.

Some, were simply intrigued to try the mash-up: ‘Camembert at Asda is big this year,’ wrote one foodie on X. ‘Including – possibly disastrously, possibly triumphantly – a warm pork pie with an entire Camembert embedded.’

Others however, are pork-pie purists: ‘A Camembert inside a pork pie? Vile, vile bastardisation. How very disgusting in every way.’

Whatever you think to it, the shelves at Asda are going to be full of Camembert this year, as they launch a new range of products focused on the French cheese. The items were introduced after the supermarket found there’s a 92% search increase in the cheese two weeks before Christmas.

As well as the pie, there’s the Exceptional Pigs in Blankets Camembert Wreath, which is a wheel of Camembert, surrounded by pork cocktail sausages wrapped in streaky bacon for £6.50.

Asda store front
It’s a bold offering from the supermarket chain (Picture: Getty Images)

For £9, the Exceptional Camembert and Chutney Pastry is designed to be shared and eaten hot: an all-butter pastry case filled with Camembert and a layer of Asda’s signature Christmas flavour this year, fig, whiskey and honey chutney.

Saving the best for last, the final product in the range is about as fuss-free as it gets, but if recent social media comments about it mean anything, it won’t be a failure.

Joining the range of the supermarket’s Christmas crisps are The Extra Special Roasted Camembert and Garlic Flavour crisps for just £1.

Already earning fans online, shoppers have called them a ‘game changer’, with one person even declaring: ‘I would sacrifice all my organs for a bag of these’.

The crisps are in store now, while the rest of the range lands in-store and online on December 5.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts


This will close in 0 seconds