Getting Lay'd: A Twofer from Lay's

Joe "Spud" Murphy and his conspirators at Tayto may have invented the seasoned potato chip but it seems that Lay's now dominates the potato chip world. It is a very large corporation that is a subsidiary of an even larger and multinational conglomerate, PepsiCo. They have a vast array of flavors that span many cuisines of the world meant to appeal to local tastes around the globe.

The food alchemists there are kept busy updating their grimoire of potato chip seasonings as they endeavor to bring flavors suggested by consumers to the humble potato chip as part of a contest. Thusly in years past you saw flavors like Southern biscuits and gravy, cappuccino, and gyro on your store shelves. Last year they produced chips modeled after dishes from iconic restaurants, though I admit I'd never heard of any of those establishments. I've gotta get out more, I guess. The tongue can be tempted according to nature or against nature and these were certainly of the latter disposition. The carnitas street tacos and Philly cheesesteaks at El Torito and Geno's Steaks, respectively, are no doubt delightful but their analogs in the potato chip world were just gross.

If you're in the Madison area and want a tuberous taste out of the ordinary, Woodman's on the west side carries a smattering of English crisps (or did the last time I was there) while various ethnic grocery stores carry some unique flavors. An Indian grocery store I was at had Lay's India's Magic Masala flavored chips, for example.

But I am here to write about a flavor more familiar to most of us in Madison, the humble salt & vinegar chip. I wouldn't doubt for a second that Lay's has many iterations of this flavor for sale worldwide but, from my vantage point in here Madison, I've only seen their Salt & Vinegar and Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Vinegar chips.

Going in I figured that A) these chips would be basically the same with the big, if not only, difference being that the kettle cooked variety would be crunchier. And B) they'd both have a mellow vinegar tang because the unwashed masses wouldn't be keen on a prominent sour flavor.

The regular Lay's smelled like roasted potatoes to me while their kettle kin smelled like French fries with a hint of vinegar. As expected, the common chip was thinly sliced and had a wonderful delicate crispness. The kettle ones were similarly sliced and had a bit of that crunchiness but not a lot. They were still rather light. Each had had salt applied modestly.

The regular chips had a fair amount of vinegar on them as they tasted rather tangy, coming up just short of what might reasonably be described as "assertive". I was genuinely surprised at how much vinegar flavor there was. For their part, the kettle chips had just a tiny bit less. Regular Lay's had a mellow, earthy potato taste with just a little sweetness while the kettled tasted like French fries. That is, a similar taste but with a more intense potato flavor to it.

Both varieties were very tasty and could have used a bit more vinegar. The regular ones had the perfect crispness that keeps you coming back for more while the French fry-like taste of the kettle chips was rather novel and I enjoyed their hearty spud taste.