I was traipsing down the organic junk food aisle at my local supermarket last weekend not really expecting to find a new salt & vinegar snack as it had been months since one was seen. Indeed, it was just the usual suspects until I near the end of aisle when I spied bags of Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Vinegar chips. The brand looked familiar and I, at first, assumed that I had already reviewed it. Well, René Descartes would have been proud because I began to doubt.
I didn't mess around and just logged into Blogger and did a search of this very blog only to find no reviews of Miss Vickie's salt & vinegar chips nor indeed anything Miss Vickie related whatsoever. I did, however, discover that she is Canadian.
Cue the David Attenborough voice in my head.
"And then a rare Canadian salt & vinegar chip comes into sight. With its brilliant blue bag it signals to potential eaters, 'Here! Come hither and take me home!'"
Yet the brand remained so familiar. Perhaps the store had carried the brand for ages but only recently started stocking the salt & vinegar variety.
Now that's how Vittorio Storaro would have photographed a bag of potato chips if one had been featured in The Conformist. Just look at that fine chiaroscuro!
According to her website, Miss Vickie began making potato chips from spuds that sprouted from the terra firma of her family's farm back in 1987. Wikipedia expands on this and reveals that her real name is Vickie Kerr and that she had some help with the whole potato chip manufacturing thing from her husband Bill. It also notes that the potato farm that launched a thousand chips was in New Lowell, Ontario.
Furthermore, Wikipedia informs us that Miss Vickie's was bought by Frito-Lay in 1993 and, since I read nothing to the contrary, I assume that it remains part of the Evil Snack Empire.
One last thing I discovered: these salt & vinegar chips are apparently available at my local Dollar Tree's. Perhaps they also carry other salt & vinegar snacks...
As you can see, I hope, the chips were of a lovely yellow hue with some spots there were more tan along with bits of brown. I think the skin remained on these puppies as the edges of some chips looked like the fibrous, vitamin-laden outer layer was still there. Sticking my nose, well, my face, really, into the bag and taking a whiff, I was surprised to find that a rich potato aroma dominated followed by oil and a touch of tang. Usually it is the oil that dominates things on the nose.
As you can from the bag, these are kettle cooked chips - I think all Miss Vickie chips are, actually - and they had the requisite kettle crunch. Biting into some, I found them to not be salty above & beyond your average chip and that the vinegar tang was rather moderate. However, they did have a really tasty potato flavor. They tasted like roasted potatoes. As in when you take some baby reds, quarter them, toss them in oil and seasoning, and then bake them for a spell. I don't think I've ever had a chip that tasted quite like these. That wonderful earthy potato flavor overlaid with a healthy dose of Maillard goodness. Quite sapid, mind you, just something novel for me.
A bit more salt & vinegar and I think Miss Vickie is onto something here.
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