Tallow, tallow, give it to me, give it to me: Teddy's Vinegar Vibe Tallow Chips

When I first saw these chips, I immediately began singing Porcupine Tree's "Shallow" in my head with the song's title replaced by "tallow". Personally, I think Steven Wilson would be proud to have his radio-friendly riff rocker in a mashup with rendered beef fat. 

I found these Teddy's Tallow Chips in the organic/artisanal junk food aisle at Woodman's. Since buying this bag I have discovered a second brand of tallow fried chips laden with salt and vinegar there which makes me wonder if tallow chips are having their micro-moment of trendiness.

The brand has a story not unlike that of Jackson's: Katherine Horvath found that her son Teddy had severe food allergies so he couldn't eat most snack foods. Mom then tested various options and found that her son could eat potato chips friend in tallow without a reaction.

Oddly enough, Teddy's, like Jackson's, hails from suburban Milwaukee - Cedarburg, in this case.

Tallow, in case you were wondering, is rendered beef fat. That is, beef fat cooked slowly so that, upon melting, the fat can be separated from any non-fat bits. 

The bag had "Subtle Tang" on the front so I wasn't expecting a vinegar overload. Still, I looked forward to trying these as I had never had tallow fried chips.

I found them to be of a darker hue of yellow and brown spots were not uncommon. They had been very thinly sliced and looked fragile. I didn't spy many bubbles on the surface of the chips. I read that tallow has a high smoke point and wonder if one fries chips at the same temp in tallow as seed oils. Being thin means less cooking time so perhaps this accounts for the lack of bubbling.

The aroma was beefy with an earthy spud scent beneath.

Crisp and tallowy is how my notes say they tasted. I think they went easy on the salt but the salinity increases the further down the bag you go. The bag did not lie as I found them to have a subtle tang as advertised. The potato flavor was sweeter than the aroma.

It would have been interesting to have tasted Teddy's chips not knowing they were friend in tallow. Would I have picked up on the animal fat? These really do have an earthy, beefy flavor to my tongue. Seed oils give a "cleaner" flavor, one that is sharper, maybe? Less earthy.

These were very tasty chips though I would have preferred more tanginess.

A proggy March

A couple prog heavy weights have announced that they'll be releasing new albums come March.

First came news that Steve Wilson will release The Overview on the 14th.

I’m thrilled to be able to officially share with you that my new album, The Overview will be released on 14th March. The album is based on the recognised phenomenon of the “overview effect’’, whereby astronauts seeing the Earth from space undergo a transformative cognitive shift; some experience an overwhelming appreciation and perception of the planet’s beauty, but others see the Earth truly for what it is – insignificant and lost in the vastness of space.

Next came news that Jethro Tull's latest album, Curious Ruminant, would be released on the 7th. Andy Giddings returns on some tracks as new guitarist Jack Clark makes his debut.

After two consecutive new Jethro Tull album releases in 2022 and 2023, a new studio record – ‘Curious Ruminant’ – is unleashed on the 7th March 2025. Consisting of nine new tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost seventeen minutes, this is an album of mostly full band music. Amongst the musicians featured are former keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current band members David Goodier, John O’Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with the band, guitarist Jack Clark. 

A Proggy Christmas 2023

Some new holiday prog.

First is Marillion's cover of "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake. I wonder if this song is more well-known these days than "Lucky Man". It has transcended the "classic rock" tag, I think.

Lovely version here by the Marillos.

Also, we have Steve Wilson's first Christmas song that features lyrics written by AI:

Challenged by a friend last week on why I’d never done a Christmas song, I protested it wasn't really me, and besides I didn’t think I had it in me to write suitably Christmassy lyrics. "No problem”, he said, "we’ll get ChatGPT to do it for you!", upon which he instructed the AI to generate Christmas lyrics in the style of Steven Wilson. Which it proceeded to do so. By the yard, in fact, I was shocked at how instantaneous and easy it was to guide it ("don’t actually mention Christmas" we said to it, "make it feel more lonely”…etc) 

I think it did a good SW impression. "Make it feel cold and lonely" - ha!