Lay's Patatje Joppie

This excitingly gigantic 225g bag of crisps was specially imported for me and the reluctant taste testers at work by our Dutch colleague. Direct from the Netherlands. On foot - well, public transport.

And what an amazing crisp flavour this is.

I gather from our Dutch colleague that in the Netherlands it is common practice to slather a piquant curry-style yellow sauce on your chips. That's chips as in french fries as opposed to chips as in potato crisps.

And the sauce is Joppie Saus® which has a facebook page and a twitter account. Obviously the recipe is a closely guarded secret (aren't they all?) but is alleged to include curry powder and onions. I am sure there are recipes available online to help you make your own if you fancy it. I did have a quick look but everything I found was in Dutch, or you had to sign in so I'm afraid I gave up looking at that point.

Joppie Saus® (which I have only tasted as a crisp flavour) seems to be quite, er, tasty. To be honest, and speaking from a purely British point of view, it really doesn't taste of curry. But I have tried French and German notions of curry flavour and they are quite different from UK curry, so I'm guessing (only a guess mind you) that the Dutch version of curry is also not what we would expect in this country. And you know, the UK idea of curry is not, I am pretty sure, what you would get in India where this much travelled dish originated.

The list of ingredients includes onion, paprika, garlic, spices and herbs and cinnamon. And the joppie sauce flavour includes butter, mustard and celery. So where's the curry powder? And how come the vinegary pickle taste? Well, never mind. I think we can all admit that these crisps have a stonking great taste.

Anyhow, I read that this flavour was created as the result of a Lay's competition called Maak je Smaak (create your own flavour). That was back in 2011 so I think it has been something of a success. Obviously Lay's (and Walkers) have somewhat of a thing for competitions.

Most of the taste testers seemed to like this flavour better than I did - which is great for them. And the Volunteer taste tester was thrilled with it and ate lots - and I'm delighted for him. But I think for me this flavour is a bit too complicated. I find (after much practice and more thought) that I often prefer the simpler flavours. Although I still enjoy trying the ones I don't care for so much.

However, I have to admit complete failure on the pronunciation front here. I cannot say this flavour out loud! That's quite sad. I must try harder in future.