Fancy up Potato Chips With Black Pepper
There are no bad chips, but some chips are definitely better than others. At the bottom of the range, you have thin, flimsy, fatty, super salty regular potato chips: pretty good together or in a sandwich, but I don’t like being in a bowl by themselves. On the other hand, you’ll find stronger kettle-cooked chips that tend to have a more potato flavor and a structural ability to scoop up onion sauce without breaking. But no matter which part of the crisp spectrum your chip belongs to, you can always improve it by adding a few hammers of fresh peppers.
This may seem a bit too obvious at first – too small a gimmick, too boring for me to mention in blog form. Salt and pepper are a common seasoning combination, but with the exception of Kettle’s Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper Krinkle Cut (exemplary chip), it is rarely found in potato chips. It’s been a few years since I had a spicy Kettle Krinkle (because I’m a fool), but recently I remembered how good peppers and chips can be when I sprinkled them with Lay’s for this photo .
It is difficult to explain how and why this combination is so good. Something about the fruity, pungent oils of freshly ground pepper – which should be fresh – enhances the potato flavor of the chips and makes you really appreciate the salt. What was once lackluster becomes addictive. What was flat becomes multidimensional. What was an afterthought – a must-have in a sandwich – becomes deliberate and thoughtful. It makes even the cheapest and fattest potato chips taste a little more delicious, but above all, it’s a really easy way to make your potato chips taste darn good.