Crisp Review

Sainsbury - Cheddar & Spring Onion

This week I, somewhat reluctantly, return to the practice of reviewing crisps I’ve paid for. They’re ‘premium’ crisps, produced by Sainsburys. They’re evidently a challenge to Kettle Crisps, Red Sky, and their ilk. And they do a pretty good job of it.

The crisps look good. They’re all a bit uneven, and have a perfectly calculated amount of potato skin left around the edge. They’re not completely brown around the edge, rather, they’re somewhat mottled. And there are speckles of green on each crisp, which will be the dried chive in the ingredients.

The texture is good, too. They’re nice and crunchy, and a little bit greasy. Not as coated with flavour as kettle Crisps are, but there’s a fair bit and some of it gets left on your finger. Which is nice, if that’s your kind of thing.

They’re pretty damned tasty, too! After 3 reviews of unknown flavours it was nice to know what to expect. They say “Farmhouse Cheddar & Spring Onion”, but they taste of regular cheese and onion, to me. I’m not sure what ‘Farmhouse’ cheese tastes like…

Maybe I’m being a little harsh, they’re certainly more sophisticated than standard cheese and onion crisps. The onion note is a little crisper than you usually get, and the cheese is a bit more complex. They don’t come across as distinct tastes, like the Tayto I reviewed, but they’re pretty nice nonetheless.

Crunch: 8/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 6/10 (Not very strong, but nice enough)
- Accuracy: 7/10 (What does Farmhouse taste of?)
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10 (Really nice!)

I’d say they’ve got all of the qualities of a premium crisps. Good taste. Good texture. Good appearance. Worth a shot…

Samuel Smith’s - Cheese and Onion

A nice bag of crisps for you this week, in Sam Smith’s Cheese and Onion. Samuel Smiths is a lovely chain of pubs, serving cheap beer and good food, with an express policy of not serving or supplying branded goods. But, as with so many crisps, they’re made by Walkers (edit; this might not be true, I remember being told it a few years ago, and Wikipedia agrees with me, but there’s no source for the information)… I really need to broaden my horizons!

(Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, I took it the other day and appear to have mislaid the pack since)

So, the ingredients are Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, and Cheese and Onion Flavouring which contains, amongst other ingredients, Black Pepper and Paprika extract. Quite unusual ingredients, don’t you think? But they definitely add a certain something.

The crisps are pretty standards walkers thickness, but the pack I had had flecks of skin around the edges, which was a nice touch.  So we’ve got a decent amount of crunch going on, coupled with that lovely amount of grease that Walkers’ Cheese and Onion crisps usually have. The flavour is pretty good enhanced, no doubt, by the Paprika and Black Pepper extracts.

We have, then, something approaching the perfect pub crisp here, good flavour, good crunch, and good texture.

And the packaging is pretty interesting. It’s in keeping with the decor of Sam Smiths pubs, plain and a little old fashioned. The pack also informs us of the variety of crisps used, which is pretty rare!

Crunch: 6/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 7/10
- Accuracy: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
Packaging: 6/10

Nice enough crisps, and as I love their beer they’ve certainly got a captive audience.

Walker’s - Cheese and Onion

After a couple of obscure numbers, I think it’s about time for another classic…

These are, probably, the quintessential cheese and onion crisp. And a bench mark which I can’t help comparing all other offerings to. Whilst they’re not as delicious as the Tayto offering I reviewed earlier, they’re an absolute classic.

The subtle creaminess of the cheese, and the tang of the onion combine to give the impression of a medium strength cheddar. There’s also a little fruitiness, which hints at onion, but isn’t distinct enough to be identified as such. And this fine flavour is carried on a slightly oily, almost greasy, crisp which compliments the taste wonderfully and doesn’t dull the crunch.

These are exactly what I had in mind when I referred to a ‘cheese and onion’ flavour in my Tayto review. There’s no clear onion, but it contributes to the over all flavour nicely.

Turning to the numbers, then…

Crunch: 6/10
Flavour
- Intensity: 6/10
- Accuracy: 8/10 (‘Cheese and Onion’ rather than ‘Cheese’ and ‘Onion’.)
Quality: 7/10
Packaging: 7/10

Stripping away the pretentious nonsense I’d say, overall, these are a bloody good packet of Cheese and Onion crisps.

Tayto - Cheese and Onion

I stumbled across a packet of these crisps during a trip to Liverpool. This time last month I would have bought them thinking they were a cheap and unknown brand of crisps, but it turns out they’ve got quite a heritage. In fact, the internet tells me they were the first company to produce flavoured crisps, so I’ve got to extend a letter of thanks to the Tayto company for making my life a brighter place.

More over, the internet reveals that these crisps have quite a following, and now I feel like I’ve been living under a culinary rock.

These come in a 35g pack, and are made with Potato, Vegetable Oil (rather than the now ubiquitous Sunflower Oil), and a Cheese and Onion flavouring.

Flavoured crisps generally contain more than you would imagine, and sometimes don’t contain the things you would. But these crisps are made with Onion powder, Cheese Powder, salt, and wheat-flour. Nothing awry their, then. I suppose I should also note that these crisps contain MSG, and whilst I’ve no complaints about that (it’s just makes things taste delicious!), some out there might.

So, where do I start with these beauties?

Well, for a start they actually taste of cheese and onion, rather than ‘cheese and onion’. If you see what I mean? And that’s quite a feat in the world of mass market, flavoured crisps. With allium cepa (that’s onions, to you and me) being one of my favourite foods, these crisps were a delight. And they weren’t too greasy. Whilst many cheese and onion crisps ride on the back of their greasy feeling, the crisp taste of onions made it’s absence welcome.

The crisps also felt slightly thicker than a Walkers - but no where near a McCoy’s - so were lovely and crisp. Equally surprising was the even shape and size of the crisps. Whilst a little variation is nice, too much can be an annoyance.

I’ve also got to say that the Tayto mascot is awesome. In fact, I think I felt the way he looks whilst I was eating these crisps.



There’s little more to say here, then, except to provide the stats in my patented Crisp Trumps format.

Crunch: 10/10 (these were spot on, crisp without being too thick)
Flavour
- Intensity: 8/10 (not face melting, but definitely there!)
- Accuracy: 10/10
Quality: 7/10
Packaging: 8/10

What a fantastic packet of crisps. Well worth buying if you can find them.

I don’t think we’re in Belfast any more, Tayto.