Saturday, August 1, 2015

A Taste Test and a Cautionary Tale

It is a rare thing that I find a potato chip I don't like.  I love love love salt.  Now I try not to purchase chips very often, or if I do have them at home, find a kind that I'm only half way interested in.

This summer Lay's has four new flavors of potato chips to test:

1.  Greektown Gyro
2. New York Reuben
3. Southern Biscuits and Gravy
4. West Coast Truffle Fries

And we couldn't pass any of them up.  Last weekend when we grilled one night we decided to give these chips a taste test.







With the five of us trying them (and my mom, her friend Julie, and our dog Sam), we still didn't have any clear-cut winner.  My husband and I liked The New York Reuben the best.  And they did taste like reubens.  The girls liked biscuits and gravy, and west coast truffle fries were enjoyed, too.  The dog, who eats everything, didn't eat biscuits and gravy.  But even though I'm not mentioning Greektown gyros, they were good as well.

So....which ones should you buy and try?  Honestly, if you like a chip, none were too bad.  And we had a fun time trying them all.  Now my girls are thinking up flavors of their own to recommend to Lay's for next year's four new flavors.

The next part of my post is a cautionary tale.  It is something for you to remember the next time your child (or you) want to do a little baking and you don't read the directions in their entirety on the box. 


Middle Sister and her friend decided to bake an angel food cake yesterday for breakfast (yes, I said they could.  It's summer.  Why worry about nutrition?).  Things were going along just fine and I helped them by putting the cake in the oven.  

Only no one told me the part about needing the bottom rack.  And I didn't know that the cake would rise so much.  

Or spill out of the pan onto the oven bottom.

Or bake itself onto the heating coils at the top of the oven.




Or that our house would smell like burnt marshmallow all day.

Or that I would get to attempt to pick it off the heating coils with my fingers.

I did use the self cleaning option on the oven which worked well, but it still isn't quite back to normal.

And we didn't even get an angel food cake to eat out of the whole deal since we had to abort the whole baking project.

So think about this the next time you decide to make an angel food cake.  Apparently it's a lot trickier than I ever thought.

In the future, I hope to share some baking successes.  I do have some of those, too, but this was not one of them.



While you're waiting for one of those posts, head on over to Beth Fish Reads, where she hosts her weekly weekend cooking meme.

10 comments:

Tina said...

I like all baking or cooking stories and the ones that include a mishap are very helpful. Kind of like, keeping it real! I am a potato chip fiend and this means we can't have the. In the house. My husband will eat a few with lunch and the ....he doesn't want any more. So I eat the bag. No chips in our house,

Vicki said...

Oh my, what a mess! I've made a few in my time too!

Sorry you didn't get to eat the cake. Sorry it made a mess in your oven. Hope you get it back to normal soon. And re-try the cake with a pan underneath :)

Vicki said...

Got so wrapped up in the cake part of your post I forgot to mention anything about the chips. I love me some chips too, and love trying out the new Lays each year. I haven't seen any of these yet so I'm hoping they'll be here soon.

Beth F said...

Arghhh -- what a mess. Glad you have a self-cleaning oven; even if not 100%, at least it's a help. How fun to try out all those chips. I'll have to see if we can get them in my small town.

Claudia said...

I'm a real chips addict, though not potato chips especially. As far as your cake, at least the smell of burnt marshmallow isn't so bad.

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

Oh dear. What a mess. I can't imagine how much work it will be to get that oven clean. Ugh. I made a recipe yesterday and didn't follow directions either but my boo-boo just affected taste. Lucky for me.

Carole said...

I've never succeeded with cakes. Cheers from Carole's Chatter!

(Diane) bookchickdi said...

I tried the Southern Biscuits and Gravy and didn't like them but my son and I both liked the Truffle Fries.

Sue Jackson said...

Mmmm...the chips sound good! I'm not supposed to eat too many potatoes, but I've found I really love Veggie Chips!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend -

Sue

2015 Big Book Summer Challenge

Ti said...

Both my kids tried to get me to buy these chips just yesterday! I am glad you did the taste test so we don't have to. I have a problem with the cost of said chips. Out here, they are 4.99 a bag and my son can eat an entire bag in one sitting so I find them too costly to buy.

Of the ones listed, the one that makes the most sense is the Truffle fry flavor. The bag for the Biscuit one is so appealing though.

I have no idea what chips are out there now but I like sweet hot combos so Asian Chili chips or Wasabi would be a winner in my eyes. Less obvious, maybe pesto something.