Saturday, March 28, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Irish Potato Crisps (aka Chips)

     Once again I got a rare food at one of my local liquor stores, Canal's--the same place I got the edible shot glass that I talked about on my recent February 22, 2020 post.  It was another impulse buy, as the bags were sitting on a shelf right next to the line (or queue, to some of you) for the cash register.  Once I saw that they were from Ireland, and new to me, I added them to my booze order.  The bags I got were both from the Keogh's company--their shamrock & sour cream flavor and their mature Irish cheese & onion kind.
     Keogh's is a very recent company, having been selling prepared snacks only since 2011.  However, the family has been farming in the North County of Dublin area for over 200 years.  Their website boasts that the are the only company in the world to sell both potatoes and crisps under one brand.  They're also big on environmental concerns, such as having a low as possible carbon footprint.  And they assisted in introducing potato farming to parts of Southern Ethiopia as well.  The information included on both the website and the product bags is rather quirky.  We learn that the three kettles in which the crisps are cooked are named Patty, Lyndsey, and Eimear.  And not only are the Keogh family members' photos posted on the website, they are joined by the ones of the employees who do the cooking.  Moving on, each of the crisp bags note which field the potatoes used were grown in, as well as the exact variety of potato, the production date, and a "best by" date.  If one is so inclined (and I was), a customer can view an aerial view of each potato field, even.  Finally, in addition of several other crisp flavors, Keogh's also markets crinkle cut crisps, popcorn, and, as mentioned previously, potatoes themselves.
     I also learned today that the standard story of this food type's creation is probably apocryphal, like the "Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson of Salem, NJ proved tomatoes were safe to eat in 1820" story I discussed in my post on November 21, 2012.  In the usual potato crisp/chip invention story, a customer, sometimes credited as being railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, was complaining about the French fries ("chips" to our U.K. friends) being served to him at the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, NY, U.S.A. sometime in 1853.  He thought they were too thick.  Chef George Crum grew frustrated, as several more thinner cut fries attempts were also sent back.  Finally, as petty revenge, Crum deliberately cut the potatoes super thin, fried them to a crisp, and then over-salted them.  However, to his shock the customer liked these creations, and so Crum started making them intentionally, and the "Saratoga Chip" spread around the country, and then the world.  Another version of the origin story claims Crum's sister (or sister in law), Catherine "Aunt Kate" Weeks accidentally dropped a potato shaving into a fryer, and when George pulled it out and tried it, he liked it.  And then they started making them for profit.  Alas, both of these stories are almost certainly made up, especially the first version.  No contemporary documents supporting the George Crum inventor story exist--in fact it's the opposite.  In newspaper articles, and even in his own commissioned biography, there's no mention of his supposed invention.  And the only document supporting the Aunt Kate tale is her obituary, decades after the alleged event.  Finally, there's the fact that several European cookbooks have been found with potato chip/crisp-like recipes that were published well before 1853.  The oldest being William Kitchiners's "The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual," which came out in 1822.  (If you're curious, Kitchiner's book was reprinted, and is currently available on Amazon.)  Which, when you think about it, makes sense.  Cutting potatoes into thin slices and then frying them isn't that big an innovation, and was probably developed by several chefs independent of each other.  One invention that has passed the historic test is that of Laura Scudder, of California, in 1926.  She didn't invent the crisp, but she did invent a sealed wax paper bag packaging for them, which enabled them to be preserved significantly longer.  Therefore, it seems that many people invented some version of crisps by the early 1800's at least.  Maybe Aunt Kate's take on them was influential in the U.S. in the mid to late 1800's.  But whoever was first, I think most of us can agree that crisps/chips are a great snack.

1) Keogh's Irish Crisps, shamrock & sour cream flavor:  Came in a 125 gram/4.4 ounce bag.  These were the typical crisp size and shape.  Yellow in color, with a visible black powder speckling.  They were okay.  Salty.  I didn't taste a particularly strong sour cream flavor.  Also, I was hoping that the shamrock flavor would be distinctive, but it wasn't.  (Shamrock extract is one of the ingredients, which I guess means clover?)  Anyway, these crisps were solid, but nothing more.

2) Keogh's Irish Crisps, mature Irish cheese and onion flavor:  Same size bag, size and shape of crisps, and color as the previous.  Stronger flavor.  Good, and nicely crunchy.  Bolder taste, and I love cheese and onions, so that worked.  So these were better than the shamrock & sour cream kind, and I would buy these again.

     Obviously these crisps were a bit pricier than regular, domestic kinds, given that they are artisanal and imported.  But even the weaker one was still alright.  So folks looking to try something different in a potato chip/crisp will probably be satisfied.
























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