Best of Both Worlds?

Lay's Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese

Everyone likes bacon. Everyone likes mac & cheese. This should be the perfect flavor of potato chip, right?

I've actually tried these before back when the flavor first came out, but I didn't write anything down so I guess it never really happened. That means it's time to have them again so I can do it right.

As I opened this bag I was greeted with a puff of bacon scent, not overpowering but enough to leave no doubt.

The flavor is surprisingly mild. The balance of bacon and cheese flavor is good with neither one masking the other. The chips are a bit cheese-powdery but not excessively so. I can't decide if there's an underlying flavor of macaroni or if it's just natural potato chip flavor.

The burps definitely taste like bacon mac & cheese.

On the whole these aren't bad. The flavor is a bit muted compared to some of the other chips, however one doesn't always want one's taste buds decimated with spice.

Celeste found them disappointing and declined to eat any more of them.

Rating: 3/5

Miss Cheese

Miss Vickie's Farmhouse Cheddar

Cheesy potato chips are generally a safe bet. Everybody knows what cheese tastes like, everybody (?) likes cheese, and apparently it's an easy flavor to add to chips.

When I opened this package I didn't get quite the scent I expected. The chips smelled cheesy enough, but it was more of a musty, aged cheese than the bright plastic neon cheddar that the masses are used to. Of course I suppose that's to be expected since it clearly says "White Cheddar" - I just didn't expect to be able to smell the difference.

On the flavor side of things, these chips were really good. None of the musty aspects of the smell came through to the taste. They had a decent amount of cheddar flavor without going overboard.

There was a notable amount of white cheddar powder on the chips. It wasn't up to the level usually found on cheddar popcorn, but you'll still want a napkin handy when eating these.

Rating: 4/5

A Small Wave of Barbecue

Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ

This is one of (what I assume are) the standard line of Lay's flavors available at most groceries. I've liked most of the barbecue flavored chips I've tried to one degree or another, so this one was a fairly safe bet.

The opened bag smelled decently barbecue sauce. The chips had a bit of color powder on them but not to the finger-staining level. The flavor was fairly mild and in some ways I thought these were actually a big boring. Their saving grace though was the clear note of hickory smoke.

I wouldn't go out of my way to buy these, but given a choice between these and plain potato chips I'd be happy to have the extra flavor.

Rating: 3/5

Infused Basil

Cape Cod Infused Mediterranean

I saw these at the local grocery and bought them just to see what Mediterranean tastes like. Kettle chips aren't generally my favorites - they tend to be almost painfully crunchy to me. Cindy likes them more than regular chips though, so I know they won't go to waste.

Opening the bag gave a mild, herbal scent - nothing bad but nothing really impressive either. The overall flavor was basil, with notes of rosemary, basil, olive oil, basil, and a touch of tomato and basil.

These are probably the best basil-flavored chips I've ever had.

Rating: 3/5

Thai Basil?

Lays Sweet Basil Flavor

After a couple of recent experiences with chips from overseas, I hesitated a bit before buying these. Still, your intrepid chip-taster must carry on!

I got them at Jungle Jim's (of course). From the packaging it looks like they were made for distribution in Thailand - the ingredients and product information is all in Thai, covered over with a sticker in English to meet US labeling laws.

Opening the package yielded an ... interesting ... smell ... that I couldn't quite identify. It wasn't the basil or chili pepper I would have expected from the picture on the front. I suppose it could be something like nam pla (fish sauce), but if so then it's not very fishy.

Just so you know, I also hesitated a bit before trying one.

They weren't bad, per se. They had a little bit of a bite that was closer to wasabi than chili, though it did have an afterburn. The taste was sweet, with a hint of Worcestershire sauce, which probably really is nam pla. I suppose there might be basil buried in there somewhere.

All in all it wasn't a bad experience, but it also wasn't one I'd be eager to repeat.

Rating: 3/5

Chip Dip Chip

Pringles French Onion Dip

This chip uncovered a generational gap when Celeste looked at the can and asked if French onions were different from American ones. I had to explain how back in the 70s it was a big thing to make dip by mixing powdered French onion soup mix into sour cream, and how that became something you could buy ready-made.

Which is all kind of weird now that I think back on it.

Anyway, the chips had a nice, onion-y smell and tasted exactly like French onion dip. Caramelized onions, sour cream, and chip all in one. It probably was nostalgia or something but I think I liked them a lot more than Celeste did.

Rating: 4/5

Feel the burn!

Pringles Jalapeño

With a couple exceptions I've been pretty impressed with the various flavors of Pringles, and this one turned out to be with the majority.

On opening the package I was greeted with a strong, but not unpleasant, vinegar scent similar to what you get with most salt & vinegar chips. That was promising, but I've learned that sometimes a good smell doesn't end up matched with a good taste, so I proceeded with caution.

The first chip had a good, recognizable jalapeño flavor mixed with vinegar - pickled peppers then, no problem. I like pickled jalapeños. There was also a mild amount of heat.  After the third or fourth chip I realized that the burn was steadily building. The jalapeño flavor was still there but zowie!

I kept eating them.

The level of heat never quite got to the point of painful and never overwhelmed the other flavors. This is one of those chips that I can easily scarf down the whole package.

Rating: 4/5

Chickened Out

Tayto Roast Chicken

Leaving the whole "Big" bag thing aside, Ireland, what the heck is wrong with you?

Way before I started keeping track of the potato chips I've tried, I got the chance to taste some of Walkers brand Roast Chicken chips. They were pretty impressive - it was exactly like eating a piece of crispy roast chicken skin, only vegan. That was kind of what I expected with these.

Well, that was dumb of me.

You know how people will often give kids the lower grade of stuff? It's understandable, really. Why give a 6-year-old a decent piece of steak if they're just going to smother it with ketchup? Kids will happily stuff down the cheap foil-wrapped novelty chocolate so why waste the money on a premium brand?  Tayto seems to have taken this approach with their customers.

I wasn't sure what the smell was when I opened the package, but it wasn't chicken. The chips didn't taste like chicken either.  It was only after eating a few that I figured it out. It was "chicken flavor" - the stuff in the little foil packet that comes with the ramen noodles. It tastes like chicken the same way that "banana" flavored candy tastes like bananas ... which is to say, not really.

Rating: 2/5

Seems Kind of Fancy Schmancy

Lay's Kettle Cooked Olive Oil & Herb

Saw these at the local grocery and was a bit surprised. They're not part of Lay's regular summer fun flavor promotion and I hadn't heard anything about them. Maybe there are TV commercials I'm missing because we don't watch broadcast television? Ok, even if there are commercials and I'm not seeing them, I still don't really miss them.

Anyways, this is a fine example of truth in advertising. The opened bag had a light scent of herbs. The chips weren't too salty and tasted distinctly (but not heavily) of olive oil and herbs (predominantly rosemary and thyme).

Really these were quite nice. It was a large bag, but it didn't last long.

Rating: 4/5

Not Okey-Dokey

Hunky Dorys

If anyone could truly understand how to make potato chips, you'd think it would be the Irish. I mean, Ireland and potatoes go together like bacon and eggs, death and taxes, politics and corruption. Sadly, while they may grok potato chips, they don't seem to have a clue about flavoring them.

The package had almost no scent on opening - if there was anything it was more of a smell than a scent.

The taste was equally unimpressive. A bit of salt, maybe a hint of something dairy - more cheesy than sour cream but not really anything I'd call "cheddar". There was also a faint sort of plastic flavor that I suppose could be confused with spring onion by a heavy smoker who had only two taste buds left.

Honestly, it wasn't worth finishing the tiny bag.

Rating: 2/5

SSSSMOKIN'!

Zapp's New Orleans Kettle Style Mesquite Bar-B-Que

After the amazing Voodoo Heat chips I was curious what other surprises Zapp's had in store for me. I bought the bag above from Potbelly's the next time I was there. In a way, just being "good" was kind of a let down.

The newly-opened bag had a decent barbecue scent - not too strong, and no strange notes. The chips also didn't have any significant amount of powder on them that would turn the fingers funny colors. Both of those are good signs.

The taste was pretty good. They had a nice barbecue flavor with a touch of smokiness, but not so much that it was overpowering.

On the whole, these are pretty good but easily forgotten in the sea of barbecue out there.

Rating: 4/5

Where's the beef?

Guinness Rich Chili

I picked these chips up in the British section of Jungle Jim's. I'm not sure quite what I expected, but it was probably something along the lines of the flavor of meat in a tomato and chili pepper sauce. What I really didn't expect was OVERWHELMING BEEF!!!!

I opened the package and was immediately clubbed over the head with a twelve-pound roasted brisket. The scent of beef was so strong and so accurate that I checked the package to see if it mentioned anywhere something like, "NOW WITH THREE WHOLE COWS!!!!".  Nope, no such text. Instead I disturbingly find that the chips contain no beef at all, and are in fact vegan.

With great amusement, and no small amount of trepidation, I tasted a chip. ZOMG! BEEF!!!! Almost no taste at all of tomato, chili pepper, or anything else except for an amazing amount of BEEF!!!!

The English may not have the faintest clue as to what chili tastes like, but they've been roasting BEEF for over 600 years and are experts at packing six thousand pounds of GENUINE ROAST BEEF FLAVOR (!!!!) into a tiny plastic package. Nothing I ever eat for the rest of my life will taste more like BEEF (!!!!) than these chips.  I have achieved MAX BEEF!!!!

Cindy agreed that these were very BEEF!!!! Just one chip had her making shocked faces for at least twenty minutes.  Celeste refused to try them.

Rating: 2/5

(unless you really like beef)

Natural Doesn't Always Mean Good

Lorenz Naturals Mild Paprika

I picked these up from the German section of Jungle Jim's hoping for something more interesting than the last couple of flavors. I thought maybe it'd have a bit of heat to it - after all, there's all the red color on the package and a picture of red peppers.

There wasn't much of a fragrance on opening, but I've learned that can be deceiving. This time? Nope. You know how plain tomato paste tastes right out of the can? Flat tomato and not very salty either. Maybe a hint of bitterness from bell peppers but nothing pleasant. No spiciness at all - when they say mild, they mean it!

I had to check twice to make sure I was eating the chips and not the bag.

Rating: 2/5

Not as Buffalo as the last Buffalo

Pringles XTRA-ordinary flavor Tangy Buffalo Wing

Given how awesome their Buffalo Ranch chips were, I had high expectations for these. Sadly, they didn't reach the mark. The scent on opening the package was pretty low-key, and the flavor wasn't all that impressive. There was a touch of vinegar and maybe a hint of greasy chicken, but mostly it was a very mild spice potato chip. Not bad per se, but kind of boring.

I guess the hyphen in the name was intentional. Instead of being extraordinary they're extra-ordinary.

Rating: 3/5

Pringles Misfire

Pringles Loaded Baked Potato

I've liked some of the other varieties of Pringles so I thought these would be worth a shot. Sadly, they missed the mark with this one.

They didn't have much of a noticeable smell and the color was almost like that of unflavored Pringles. That's not too much of a problem in itself, but they really failed in the flavor department.

Other than being overly salty, there wasn't much else to taste. A hint of bacon and maybe a tiny bit of cheese or sour cream ... hard to tell really.  If they were a "loaded" baked potato at a restaurant I'd expect I'd see maybe a couple imitation bacon bits, a dab of butter, and a single lonely shred of cheddar.

Everyone else in the family agreed, these were a disappointment.

Rating: 3/5

That Voodoo That You Do So Well

Zapp's New Orleans Kettle Style VooDoo Heat

I picked up these at Potbelly's recently, and I'm really glad I did. I was a bit concerned because of the name - "Voodoo Heat" sounds like one of the Takis flavors that is intended to burn a hole in your stomach. I like spicy foods just fine but I also like them to have some flavor other than just HOT. Reassuringly, the guy behind the counter saw my selection and said it's his favorite flavor.

On opening the package I was greeted by a nice fragrance, both sweet and spicy. The chips have a good amount of color to them without it coming off on your fingers.

The taste of these is really quite good. It's a mix of barbecue, vinegar, and sweet that reminded me a bit of South Carolina barbecue chicken. There's a good amount of heat but it's not at all overpowering. I could eat a heck of a lot of them. In fact it's going to be hard to resist buying more even though I already have a bunch of other kinds of chips at home.

Rating: 5/5

Sweet Chilli of Life

Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli

We needed something to help us recover from the horrific ordeal of Tingly Prawn Cocktail, so we opened up this bag. Given the past performance by the Wizards of Walkers, I had no doubt that these chips would provide a pleasant experience. We were not disappointed.

While there was nothing really remarkable about these chips, aside from a notable afterburn, the flavor was still very nice. Most importantly, the flavor was also recognizable ... and in a good way. Slightly sweet, with a light chili pepper flavor and a burn that slowly built over time but was never overpowering.

Everyone liked them well enough, and three-year-old Evelyn polished off the bag. That being said, I'm not sure I'll remember them next week.

Rating: 3/5

A Cautionary Tale

Skips Tingly Prawn Cocktail

On Sunday I took another trip to Jungle Jim's (because I can) and, of course, I picked up several more bags of chips. Among them was a bag of "Skips Tingly Prawn Cocktail" caught my eye. Tingly, huh? The Walkers Prawn Cocktail had been ... interesting, but what the heck would make that "tingly"?

On opening the bag I was greeted ... no, assaulted ... by the odor of a pound of raw shrimp left in the trunk of a car for a week in July.  To paraphrase Chef, these don't have a fragrance that promises, they have a smell that threatens.

Dumping a few out, I discovered that they're not potato chips.

They're some kind of puffed, processed ... thing. Well, I like all sorts of processed things, so I might as well try these. How bad could they possibly be?

Answer: very. They taste almost exactly like they smell.

The weird part is that I ended up eating three or four of them. It wasn't because they were strangely compelling. It wasn't even because shock caused me to keep forgetting the experience of eating them. No, it was because I simply couldn't believe that they were really that awful. It was essentially the culinary equivalent of a double-take.

The maker of this fine product is KP Snacks, who describes Skips this way:

Playful by nature and fun to eat, Skips is the uniquely fizzy, light, melt in the mouth snack.  Forty years on, it's just as popular as ever, selling three bags every minute.  Best known for its legendary prawn cocktail flavour.

I can see why the flavor would be "legendary", after all the bubonic plague is legendary so why not.

I really don't get the "fizzy" aspect though. They didn't fizz at all for me. What they did do was melt, and in the exact same way as those ecologically friendly foam packing material pieces.  A quick check of the ingredients label explained why.

Skips are primarily tapioca starch. The dissolving packing foam is mostly corn starch.

These things really are just flavored foam packing material.

Um ... no, thank you.

Rating: 1/5

It's BACON!

Tayto Smoky Bacon

Bag five of the Jungle Jim's haul. I almost didn't buy this one because artificial bacon flavoring can be so over-the-top that I feel like I've been licking the floor of a smokehouse just before it was shut down by the health department.

This package turned out to be a pleasant exception. On opening, I was greeted by a light scent of bacon, but it wasn't even close to overpowering. In fact it was subtle enough that I actually sought it out. That gave me the necessary courage to actually eat the chips.

The taste was also pleasant and not too strong, and more importantly it was dead-on accurate. With the saltiness and crispiness of the chip the experience was surprisingly close to eating properly cooked bacon (which is to say, cooked until crisp enough that it will shatter - anyone who says they like floppy bacon is just plain nuts).

If I were inclined to like bacon-flavored stuff (rather than just eating actual bacon) I'd buy these regularly. As it is I quite enjoyed trying them.

The whole "BIG BAG" thing still bugs me. Just how small are regular bags of chips/crisps in Ireland?

Rating: 3/5

They didn't shrimp on flavor

Walkers Prawn Cocktail

Bag four of the (not so) big Jungle Jim's excursion. I'll admit to a little trepidation on this one. I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but something about the idea of shrimp flavored potato chips seems a bit ... iffy. Still, it's for science, right?

On opening the package I was greeted with a strong smell of cocktail sauce - notes of vinegar, ketchup, and a little horseradish in a reasonably pleasant mix. There was also a faint touch of fishiness that was similar to the one in the Wuster chips. That being said, it wasn't a bad smell though, so I continued undeterred.

The taste of the chips was pretty much all cocktail sauce, and pretty good at that. If I stuck my nose into the bag and inhaled deeply at the same time as eating one of the chips the flavor did shift into shrimp cocktail territory, but it didn't really last.

All of this would be good and fine, and I'd say this was a winner of a flavor ... if I hadn't stopped eating them. About a minute after I did though I started to get a strong shrimp aftertaste, and not a good one. It tasted like those precooked, frozen shrimp that you can buy at the grocery, half of which get eaten and the rest sit in a plastic bag for months getting freezer burn before being thawed, sniffed at, and thrown away.

Yeah, iffy.

Rating: 2/5

Wuster?

Tayto Wuster Sauce

Bag three of the Recent Jungle Jim's purchase, Tayto is a brand from  Northern Ireland (easily confused with Tayto Crisps in the Republic of Ireland which is a separate company).

By "Wuster Sauce" I assumed these were meant to be Worcestershire sauce flavored, and I was right. I was greeted with the smell of Worcestershire on opening the bag, and the taste was dead on right. The only iffy part of the experience was a slightly fishy odor from the package that I noticed after a few chips, though given the ingredients in Worcestershire sauce I suspect that's how it should be.

I was a bit amused at the "BIG" bag label. The package seemed like a typical size for a single portion. I'd hate to see a small bag.

I could eat a lot of these.

Rating: 4/5

ONION!

Walker's Pickled Onion

This is the second bag of chips from the (not so) wild shopping spree at Jungle Jim's. After having such a good experience with the ketchup chips, I thought I'd try another Walkers flavor.

On opening the bag I was greeted with a strong, but not unpleasant fragrance of vinegar. These things smell pretty much the same as every salt and vinegar chip I've ever had. I have to admit that this led me to expect disappointment - but it was not to be so.

With the very first chip there was a serious taste of onion. Not just any kind of onion either, but those little pearl onions. It was a taste I can only describe as "green". Oh, and by "serious taste of onion" I mean something along the lines of "my taste buds were just scolded to death by a potato chip for presuming they knew what an onion tasted like."

While these weren't bad, they're not something I would willingly eat a lot of. Kristen liked them, but then she didn't care for the ketchup chips, so ... well, actually I'm not sure what that means.

Rating: 3/5

For the folks in Canada...

Walkers Tomato Ketchup

I got these chips in a recent unsupervised visit to Jungle Jim's - possibly the most amazing grocery store in the world. There's an earlier post with pictures of some of the other chips I saw there.

Walkers is a UK snack company owned by PepsiCi (which also owns Lays in the US). They've been making funky flavors of chips (or for the UK, "crisps") for quite some time and are really good at it. I remember having their barbecue rib flavored chips many years back and they were frighteningly accurate (especially given that they were vegetarian).

The last time I had ketchup-flavored chips was about 20 years ago in Canada (I guess they're a thing there?). I remember that they were kind of creepy looking, all covered in red powder that came off on my fingers like the cheesy stuff from Cheeto's. So you probably can understand the mild apprehension I felt as I opened this package.

It turns out these are really quite nice. There's no evil-looking red powder, just normal potato chips with a slightly pinkish tint to them.  That being said, the flavor is impressive. It's got a strong tomato taste, slight sweetness, proper ketchup spices, and just enough of a vinegar bite to make you think you've just eaten a chip covered with ketchup.  Well done, Walkers!

Rating:  4/5

Jungle Jim's Has All the Chips!

Over the weekend I took some time to wander the aisles at Jungle Jim's, America's most unique grocery store.  While I was there I saw all sorts of chips. There were too many for me to buy all of them - after all, if I ate that many chips then I'd be a lot rounder than I already am.

Anyways, I took photos of some of the chips I didn't buy. I'm fortunate enough to live close by so I can always go back and get some of them later.

I think these were in the Korean section. It was the "Roadhouse Barbecue" flavor on the lower right that caught my eye.

Utz is a US brand based out of Pennsylvania.  They've got a lot of flavors that sound interesting, such as the "Crab" and "Baby Back Ribs" flavors pictured above.

Zambos is a brand from Central America. While these aren't potato chips, they've still got me curious.

Barcel is a brand from Mexico. With flavors like "Diabla", "Fuego", and "Habanero" I think I'm detecting a theme. I've tried some of their Takis snacks before.

Mike-sell's is local company based out of Dayton, Ohio.  I hadn't realized they were also getting into the funky flavors. I guess that's another brand I'll have to keep an eye on.

I'm going to need a bigger pantry.