View topic - What do you have with your chips ?

by **Stokey Sue** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:09 am

karadekoolaid wrote:
salt, paprika, tomato powder, flavour enhancer (e621), onion powder, garlic powder,

I think you could easily play around with that combination, omitting the tomato powder (which I´ve never seen) and the MSG. Maybe use smoked paprika or use smoked salt, add some ground bay leaf and/or thyme - and even a tiny bit of sugar. Citric acid might work as well.

Just thoughts as I´ve never, ever eaten chip spice, but have made loads of spice mixes and rubs.

Why would you leave out the MSG? It’s quite a significant part of the ingredients. And harmless, which is why it has an E number. After all your body makes it (and uses it) every time you digest protein

by **KeenCook2** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:16 am

Sue, if you were to make it yourself, and were to use MSG, please check with any of your friends you give it to as there are a lot of us around who are intolerant of MSG when it is used / added as a flavour enhancer.

Why that should be I simply don't have the scientific knowledge to explain, but all I know is that I am likely to be extremely ill if I inadvertently eat it.

So KK, I agree, please leave it out!!

by **herbidacious** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:27 am

Gravy and chips... add some cheese and you get poutine. I quite like poutine.

Zosh I treat myself to Ankerkraut spices every now and again. I sometimes miss OH working in Germany. He was an Edeka man last time round

(The alternatives where he lived were Real or little Rewes...)

by **Stokey Sue** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:00 pm

KeenCook2 wrote:Sue, if you were to make it yourself, and were to use MSG, please check with any of your friends you give it to as there are a lot of us around who are intolerant of MSG when it is used / added as a flavour enhancer.

Why that should be I simply don't have the scientific knowledge to explain, but all I know is that I am likely to be extremely ill if I inadvertently eat it.

So KK, I agree, please leave it out!!

I understand that you wouldn’t want to have any
But if one is trying to reproduce a commercial product that’s widely available, leaving out a key ingredient that is considered generally safe because some people are intolerant of it doesn’t make sense

We don’t stop ourselves from using milk in cooking because some people are lactose intolerant, or wheat because some people are coeliac, so I don’t see why those of us who have no problem with it shouldn’t use MSG

My issue is that because some people have a reaction the food is demonised and becomes seen as “evil” for everyone - no wheat, no dairy, no MSG ever

As I’m unlikely to get tomato powder, I’m unlikely to try making it anyway, though I’d buy a single drum if I saw one

by **KeenCook2** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:01 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:We don’t stop ourselves from using milk in cooking because some people are lactose intolerant, or wheat because some people are coeliac, so I don’t see why those of us who have no problem with it shouldn’t use MSG

Of course, Sue. I guess my problem is that I've spent the last 40 years reading the labels on products that could potentially have MSG in. It's frequently not apparent or obvious and kind of insidiously gets into things you don't expect. It's also apparently used as a preservative in some brands of sausages - according to a butcher I spoke to at a farmers' market.

One of my cousins has a severe nut allergy and despite telling restaurants quite clearly she's still been given dishes that "only" have pecans or pistachios in ... she's been thinking about taking a list with her of things that are "nuts" wherever she goes! I suppose there's a bit of a problem with the fact that some legumes are also called nuts ....

Although I always alert friends to it when we are invited, generally home cooked food is less likely to have it (unless you are doing Chinese with various readymade sauces etc). In these days of covid I'm probably even less likely to tuck into the flavoured crisps that are main culprits and it's easy enough to avoid things like that anyway.

by **Stokey Sue** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:14 pm

I had to prevent a friend with severe nut allergy, particularly almonds from tucking in to a dessert containing apricot kernels - they are so closely related it’s not worth the risk

I can understand a server or chef not spotting that one, but the hostess/cook was in a position to know better, just hadn’t thought it through.

by **Loulou** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:55 pm

Has anyone had ‘cheesy chips’, I know they exist but haven’t had them? Is it just chips with grated cheese? I have had wedges done in a cheese, tomato and chilli sauce and they were lovely. :yum

by **Badger's Mate** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 5:12 pm

I did try poutine the last time we were in Vancouver. I probably wouldn't have heard of it if I hadn't seen 'Triple D'

I think I prefer salt & vinegar...

by **karadekoolaid** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 5:29 pm

I´ll make myself clearer, Sue: I wouldn´t want to "reproduce" chip spice; for that, it´d be easier just to buy a pot and be done with it. I´d look to prepare chip spice based on some(or most) of the typical ingredients, but without the flavour enhancers, anti-clogging agents and unnecessary colouring agents, to be able to say it was "my" recipe. Paprika has got a lovely colour, for example. In other words, chemical free. If you put garlic, salt and onion into the mix, you´ve got some pretty potent flavourings without the need for MSG/ajinomoto.

by **smitch** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:13 pm

But nothing is ‘chemical free’. Paprika is made of chemicals as are tomatoes.

by **Stokey Sue** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:32 pm

As a one time biochemist, the only thing that’s chemical free is a vacuum
There’s some form of glutamic acid in every cell of the human body, as it’s one of the constituent of protein

by **karadekoolaid** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:54 pm

But nothing is ‘chemical free’. Paprika is made of chemicals as are tomatoes.

Haha! Yes, (scientific) point taken. A paprika pepper, however, is first and foremost a pepper (ie., a fruit), as is a tomato.
I don´t buy a pepper and think " Ahhh! Capsaicin!", or a tomato and "C40H56, lycopene" :lol:

by **WWordsworth** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:58 pm

A pub near where I used to work offered a bowl of chips covered in grated cheese and crispy bacon bits.

I also like chips with salt and pickled onion vinegar.

by **KeenCook2** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:06 pm

OH loves fish and chips with Tarragon Vinegar - we used to get huge bottles of it years ago in the supermarkets when we drove to France for our holidays when the boys were small.

It's not something I've ever seen in passing in supermarkets here. Maybe the answer is to make it ourselves! I must check out how much fresh tarragon it would need as the typical 20g or 25g supermarket packs would be pretty useless!

Edited to add I just came across this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EJLRHHO? ... ADJC7V8IAD

I might think about getting OH some as a surprise pressie!

by **halfateabag** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:33 pm

Not familiar with that Herb. Any further detail ???

I made my own tarragon vinegar when the french stuff ran out. I also adore tarragon mustard... :yum

Yes, Cheesy chips Nom Nom Nom.....

by **KeenCook2** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:49 pm

halfateabag wrote:Not familiar with that Herb. Any further detail ???

I made my own tarragon vinegar when the french stuff ran out. I also adore tarragon mustard...

Yes, Cheesy chips Nom Nom Nom.....

Did you have access to tarragon from your garden?

by **scullion** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:53 pm

Loulou wrote:Has anyone had ‘cheesy chips’, I know they exist but haven’t had them? Is it just chips with grated cheese?

the ones i've had were just that.
by the time you've eaten a couple the cheese has released its fat and the solids have - solidified; which may or may not be the point but i find it rather greasy and sickly.
even worse is when it's made with blue cheese - the smell of sick is overwhelming..

by **Amyw** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:06 pm

I quite like cheesy chips . Cheese and carbs is a winner for me

by **Grasshopper** » Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:43 pm

Umm - depends how I'm having the chips and what I'm having with them.

With fish - S & V (if I can be inclined to use them). S & V also go very nice with our home-made chips.
With meat, sausages, chicken, or sometimes even on their own - gravy - yum!
I have been known to have beans with chips - or even tinned tomatos.
But NEVER sauce, or mayo

Had some fish & chips today in Whitby. I had 'em naked.
(THAT btw means no S & V - NOT eating them in the nuddy!) :lol: