This Simple Combination of Chips and Sauces Is a Real Explosion of Taste.
“Where do you get your ideas from?” is a question that I get quite often, and to which I don’t have a definitive answer. Some of them, like magic duck fat shells , come from my weird little brain; some, such as cucumber spaghetti , are inspired by the work of others ; and some of them are straight forward suggestions that I try and try and then share for the benefit of everyone. This combination of chips and sauces is the last one.
This offer came to us from former Lifehacker Managing Editor Virginia Smith via Twitter:
Someone on TikTok recommended mixing Worcestershire sauce with sour cream as the perfect pairing for salt and vinegar chips, tried it last night and my life will never be the same… nice stir fry with vinegar and maybe tartar sauce).
Our current associate editor, Joel Cunningham, tagged me under Virginia’s tweet, warning me of a potential hack.
About an hour after seeing the tweet, I left my friend’s apartment for Whole Foods and grabbed sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and a bag of Kettle Chips with salt and vinegar. I then looked at the original contents and mixed the sauce and curdled milk until it turned “light brown” as shown in the video. I dipped the chips and put it in my mouth.
It was an intense experience.
A simple-looking, modest-sounding combination has enough power. It’s very spicy and incredibly salty, almost too rich to be called “delicious” and yet I couldn’t stop stuffing it into my mouth.
It was like a savory Warhead candy – so full of flavor it’s almost overpowering, but it backs off at the very last second like a truck playing chicken in oncoming traffic.
The chips are clearly sour and salty, and the sauce is sour, salty, a little sweet and a little cloying. It should be too much, but everything works. However, I recommend using Lea Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. The Whole Foods I went to didn’t have it, just their dumb store brand that doesn’t have tamarind or anchovies, the two ingredients that make Worcestershire sauce so special. (Especially anchovies, which would yield more umami.)
You can of course eat this sauce with regular potato chips for a more reasonable experience. Virginia told me that the sauce also works well on a raw food dish. But there’s something exhilarating about putting your palate through this extreme challenge over and over again until your palate tingles with pressure from acid, salt, and crunchy chips.