Another from walkers' remake of pop chips and I'm seriously not impressed. The crunch is not the same, the texture is dry and the flavouring is really cheap and sickly. Not the 'Red Sky cream cheese & bacon' I'd hoped for.
2/10
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Another from walkers' remake of pop chips and I'm seriously not impressed. The crunch is not the same, the texture is dry and the flavouring is really cheap and sickly. Not the 'Red Sky cream cheese & bacon' I'd hoped for. 2/10
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The new range from Kettle chips, for the Calorie conscious amongst us. Kettle baked is interesting.. definitely not greasy but definitely quite dry. This would probably make for a pretty nice flavour, the salt levels are right and the cheese & chive is tangy but with it being so dry - after a few seconds it leaves a kind of dusty stale cheese vibe hanging in your crisp hole. It's the same disgust I get from rice cake crisps (NOT CRISPS). The crisps are very thing and light with minimal crunch. 2/10 Pom-bear go to the zoo! Special edition Pom-bears, ZOO FRIENDS. How exciting! These are a must for cheese lovers, and nostalgic crisp eaters. The flavour is full and creamy, exactly the same as the infamous Quavers. The crunch and texture is still a pom-bear, but they are Elephants, Lions, Hippos, Turtles, Bison?, Leopards and from what I can see - a Penguin? They are selling multibags of these in Sainburys. Do it. 7/10 I'm digging the nacho cheese flavouring on these, but didn't really taste much Jalapeno until the crumbs right at the end which was a little disappointing. Again these are long, hard, crunchy crisps so not something to be rushed without the fear of scratching your mouth. What a great crunch though, really liking the mexican rolls. There is a really strong taste of corn coming through these crisps which is good and blends well with the slightly sweet cheese flavouring. They just need to find a way of keeping the Jalapeno flavouring on the crisp and not at the bottom of the bag. 7/10 Still not a great fan of bubble chips, initial crunch is great, but then the interior melts into a soggy squelchy anti-climax. No one likes a soggy squelchy anti-climax. Cheese flavour is a little sickly, but the sweet relish is nice, a sweet onion tang that puts it up a few marks. 5/10 Ok, so as trashy crisps go - these are up there with the wrongest. These are like the pot noodle of the crisp world. Still, I have room in my taste buds for them. There is a lot of flavouring on these beasts and there's nothing hiding how much oil and orange colouring are on them. They're very cheesy and have a big worcester sauce tang. Both of these I like and together although is maybe a bit sickly, works for me. The worcester sauce is strong, stronger than walkers' flavour and it is the lasting flavour in your mouth afterwards. Wouldn't be an every day flavour for me, more of a drunken late night takeaway than a classy dinner party. 7/10 Couldn't help but purchase these on a cold winter's night. They've been on sale for a good while, but I figured they're worth a shout out. Kettle chips do quality crunch very well, that comes as standard, so it's the flavour that's to talk about here. They are very stilton-ey. In a tasty comforting way, but have more than a few handfuls and you'll feel a little queazy. The port is pretty subtle, but it's a red wine-ey sweetness that fits in the flavouring. 6/10 Last week I was invited to Brown Bag Crisps HQ in Shepperton Studios to have a little chat about crisps - and give theirs a try. Here I am with Chloe, a crisp lover who is pretty passionate about the crisps they make. I also met Phil, of Phil & Viv who created brown bag. Both were really nice people who know their crisps so I was in good company. The interview they did with me will be up shortly on their blog: http://www.brownbagcrisps.co.uk/brown-bag-blog/ Before the invitation, i'd heard very little about brown bag crisps - they have a limited amount of stockists, but among them are Harrods - which is a good representation of what brown bag are all about. They are crisps for the crisp connoisseur, I found that to be extremely clear when in conversation with Phil, who's passion in his quest for the best crisp flavours are extremely critical and well educated. I learnt many things about the crisp industry and what actually goes into making a good crisp, some of which I'll share in this brief write-up. First up are Lightly Salted, and immediately i'm struck by the real difference in brown bag crisps. They are the only crisp in the UK to be cooked in Olive Oil (which is why they have the price tag that they do.) This really makes a difference, the flavour of the potato is brought out and it's a smooth, full & rich flavour that you don't get from crisps cooked in sunflower oil. The crisps are curly, but Phil tells me the reason behind this as it's not the usual shape of a brown bag crisp. This year has been very very bad for potato crops as Phil frustratingly explains, every crop is different and you have to adjust your method accordingly. Mostly - it's about perfecting the amount of time that the crisp is in the oil for, they have to experiment on every new crop to get the best out of the potato that they can. This year has been bad, so they've left them in oil for longer - meaning the crisps are a lot more curly. As you may have noticed on my blog, the classics (Salt, Cheese & Onion, Salt & Vinegar) will never get over a 7/10. For fear of not spoiling that regime too much - Lightly Salted get a 7.5/10. The amount of salt is perfect, but it's the smooth flavour of the olive oil that makes this crisp as good as it is. Next up are Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar, I open up the pack and take a mouthful of salt, wince and look up to see Phil's horrified face. As he probably well knows from my site, I give very very honest reviews and for someone who strives to make the best flavours above the rest and has won awards for his salt & vinegar, he was pretty horrified to see i'd found myself an unfortunate odd bag that had been over-seasoned. He quickly rushed to find me another pack, which was very different - and since taking some home I can say that it was just an odd pack so am willing to let it slide, as brown bag have won great taste awards two years running for this flavour alone. Which for a classic - I believe is a big achievement, people have tasted salt & vinegar thousands of times before...so why are these so good? Well the underlying olive oil potato is still quite clear, the crunch of the crisp is almighty and satisfying and the seasonings are perfectly distributed. the vinegar has the right amount of sweet and sourness to it and the salt has a very full flavour to it. Which is a strange thing to say about salt but after noticing this, Phil tells me why there's a difference... Crisp makers in the UK get their salt from the sea and dry them in big oven in the UK. Brown bag have sourced their salt from the continent - meaning that it's not been oven dried - but dried in actual sunshine before it's brought over here. This makes a difference and is one of the reasons Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar has done so well. It's a great 7.5/10 from me. So i'm halfway through their range and am pretty happy. The one thing I was scared of the most was meeting really nice people and then having to slag off their crisps. Luckily brown bag are such crisp lovers & connoisseurs themselves. Now here is the real shock for me. Cheese & Onion has been done and overdone. This classic is the most favourite walkers (and so favourite crisp) in the world. So how can it ever been bettered? The word that hit me from the packet was 'Manchego' - one of the best cheeses you could ever come across. I don't think I can include these in the cheese & onion category. They are simply much much more than that. The cheddar and onion is still there and good on its own, but the manchego shines through here and blows this flavour into one of my personal favourites. A lot of crisp companies like to put their names to farms (e.g Piper's Lye Cross Cheddar & Onion). Which Phil tells me, is something he will never do. He says that just like the potatoes, the cheese quality varies throughout the year. So he is constantly tasting the cheeses to make sure he is still getting the best flavour out of it. This is a great method that I implore. 9/10 for Mature Cheddar, Manchego & Onion So now to the finale, the very last crisp from brown bag. Oak Smoked Chilli. And it's another success. What's been oak smoked here is actually the sugar. Most crisps have sugar in them to even out the flavour, but none of them have played with it in such a way as this. The sweetness to these crisps are addictive, the chilli kick is powerful and full (which hits you after 5 seconds) but it's nicely set off by the sweetness that really makes these crisps work. 9/10 So brown bag give a massive big sign off from me, they tell me they have a smoked bacon flavour on its way using real bacon (Phil wouldn't have it any other way) which I look forward to. Let's hope they get a lot more stockists in the future. I will be spreading the brown bag crisps word for sure. Very impressive cheese & onion. Yes we've seen this flavour a thousand times, but I really appreciate when someone has done it well. These taste very VERY similar to squares cheese & onion, which is obviously a really good thing. Jones have a great crunch and do the classics well, i'd be interested to see what happens when they try something more exotic! (remember this is high for a classic) 7/10 |
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AuthorStevo W, Crisp Lover Archives
October 2023
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