Tayto ChicKatees ChicKen (Republic of Ireland)

I know I have discussed this chicken flavour maize puff snack with Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester because I was so stunned to discover a maize puff that didn’t taste of cheese. I distinctly remember standing beside her desk one lunchtime at work and saying, “Chicken? Who on earth thought of that?

Well, apparently Irish crisp giants Tayto thought of chicken flavour, so here we are with a bright blue packet covered in slightly hysterical cartoon chickens. Obviously.

Feelin’ peckish? asks the packet, inside this bag are Mr Tayto’s delicious ChicKatees prime for a kickin’. What are you waiting for? Don’t just sit there reading the back of this packet, dive on in there and show those chickens who’s boss! Why a capital K in the middle of the word I don’t know.

Well, yes. Hmm. It’s a typical maize based snack. Or is it? The traditional Cheesy Wotsits style snack is cheesy. The Danish crispy snack Kims Ostepops which the reluctant taste testers learned to love after a single bite is cheesy. The ever fabulous M&S Cheese Tasters which, obviously is a cheesy snack.

Or, yes OK, the rather different Tesco Sausage Roll flavour... but that was a Christmas special so you could argue it doesn’t really count. Oh, er, and Cheetos Spirals Cheese & Tomato Ketchup from Poland. Oh alright then. I have argued myself out of my own argument. But do admit that chicken flavour is a little out of the ordinary for a maize puff snack.

Slightly unfortunate: it’s not a very chickeny taste. After a bit of practice you can convince yourself it’s a chicken flavour, but it isn’t very strong. I thought the most chickeny bit was the left over flavour dust at the bottom of the packet. Do not neglect the flavour dust.

It’s quite tasty as snacks go though, and the Chef and I had no trouble snacking down this little packet in double quick time.

Tayto Wheelies Bacon (Republic of Ireland)

 

Wheelies says the packaging, that crispy bacon flavour that makes you want to do a few heel clickers before free styling down the hill, hoping that your brakes still work. Or crazier still, attempt your new superman seat grab. Man that’s extreme snacking!

Well, that all sounds very exciting but, being the world’s most unlikely motorcyclist (reluctant taste testers are you surprised?) I have no idea what it’s about. Of course this is a dirt bike or trail bike or something, designed for bouncing around hillsides in mud. Which doesn’t make it any more attractive to me. A failed ex-boyfriend thought it a good plan to make me ride a motor scooter down a Spanish cliff with no edges. Guess what? Not a good idea. It was absolutely terrifying. He said I was cowardly, I said I was being sensible. I would far rather walk than plunge to my doom because I had never ridden a scooter on the flat let alone down a cliff.

Anyway, I am quite a fan of crispy bacon, and very partial to a maize based snack. So when an exciting parcel of crispy snacks arrived from Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester and her mum in Ireland (Hello!) I picked this to try first.

Right, step one: don’t sniff the packet. This snack smells disgusting! But I poured them all, not very many because it’s only a 20g bag, into a bowl and put them on the window cill to rest. And? Actually they taste pretty good. There’s that strange granular texture you get with maize based shapes, and obviously they stick to your teeth as though they’ll be there forever and get the better of your dental hygienist, but the taste is savoury and quite a bit bacony (albeit suitable for vegetarians) and the Chef and I had no difficulty in snacking down these wheel-shaped snacks.

Plus! There’s a little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly. We haven’t had one of them for a while have we?

5 Midwest-Made Potato Chip Brands

You can imagine that with half the world in lockdown it’s been a bit of a struggle to discover new crispy snacks to share with the Chef, and write about for you lot. So I thought I would have a look and see if I could find any suitable reading for crispy snack fans who can’t get out and about.

This was a lucky find: an article from Feast Magazine (click here for the original article) about the 5 best potato chips from the Midwest (of the United States - just in case you weren’t sure) that you really ought to know about. NB I posted this article on 20th April and now, 31st July, I find it’s no longer available to read in some parts of the world for “legal reasons”. 

So here’s a link or two... Old Vienna of St Louis  If you scroll down the page they even sell shower curtains!

The Billy Goat Chip Company

Guy’s Legendary Potato Chips

I have never been to the Midwest, and quite likely won’t ever get there (there are far too many fabulous places in Europe that I have yet to visit) but it’s always interesting to read about crispy snacks, and Americans really know how to make a great snack. If only I could send off for a care package.

But thank you Feast Magazine for drawing these tasty sounding snacks to our attention.

Don’t forget to check my earlier posts where I write about crispy snacks I have actually tried.

Gran Pavesi le Sfoglie Classiche

Here’s another crispy snack from our little local Co-op in Switzerland. It’s a crispy Italian cracker for serving a fancy apéro snack... or for dipping in my handy homemade sour cream and chive lockdown dip (see the previous post).

Not a lot of taste apart from a faint air of water biscuit: a harder bite than that and a hearty satisfying crunch. But they do taste good with the dip. I’m sure if I could be bothered to decorate one of these crackers with a slice of cucumber, some salmon mousse and a caper that would work pretty well too. Although I don’t fancy salmon mousse, and the Chef won’t eat capers (he’s so picky!) so we might swap out (as they say these days), or perhaps change up, our own choice of ingredients.

I wonder how they make the not quite square shapes come out apparently random? Probably squirted out of an extruder.

2024 Update: More recent packaging features cream cheese with fig and basil leaves, and hummus with avocado and a scattering of sesame seeds. I find these little crispy snacks work extremely well with unsalted butter and a little honey sriracha drizzle. Very nice.