On my recent venture up to the Black River Forest I stopped in at a gas station and lo and behold I happened upon a new brand of my beloved salt & vinegar potato chips - Uncle Ray's.
Although I'd seen Uncle Ray's chips before, I never ran into their salt & vinegar flavor. I think my brain conflates Uncle Ray's with Sweet Baby Ray's because, whenever I see a bag of the former's chips, I envision some guy studiously tending to a smoker full of ribs. While the Uncle Ray's website talks up their namesake as a fine man of moral rectitude, it doesn't go into his story very much or, at least, not into much detail, unlike the websites of many other potato chip makers. Wikipedia, however, notes that Uncle Ray is one Ray Jenkins, a denizen of Detroit, who got into the snack business in the mid-1960s. Today the brand is owned by a privately held grocery wholesaler called H. T. Hackney Company.
Right. Let's get to the chips.
If there were potato chips in The Conformist, that's how they'd look.
I found that the chips were of a nice yellow hue with a fair number of tan spots as well as lots of well-done ones. The edges were brown and presumably skinned. Taking a whiff, I caught potato and a strong smell of salt, oddly enough. Then came oil and just a hint of vinegar.
These chips were a bit thicker than your regular ones and had a good, solid crunch. No wonder there was that salty aroma - my blood pressure shot up on the first bite. Do not, I repeat, do not drop these on your lawn because grass will not grow where it has been touched by these chips. The vinegar tang was just as potent. Not only did my tongue get numb but I felt something at the back of my throat too. We are talking near or at Vintner's levels of salt & vinegar.
Before my tongue lost all feeling I managed to taste the potato and it was a fine earthy flavor. I have no idea how sweet it may have been because of the Wieliczka-like salt levels.
These are some mighty fine chips. I think they are just below Vintner's on the S&V scale as in a couple salt crystals and a few micrograms of malic acid. I like the cut of your job, Uncle Ray.
No comments:
Post a Comment