San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Fishy to spicy: How they rank
International chips in enticing flavors like Spicy Crayfish have a cult-like following in the Bay Area, with thousands of snack fiends constantly hunting down the newest options. But are these snacks worth the hype? Do Scallop Butter Garlic chips actually taste like seared mollusks? And given they can cost 10-plus times more than domestic offerings, are they more delicious?
Seven tasters recently gathered at The Chronicle newsroom to investigate. The tasters, myself along with Chronicle staffers Soleil Ho, Cesar Hernandez, Janelle Bitker, Elena Kadvany, Tara Duggan and Emily Jan, sampled 20 flavors from other countries and found the results can be a huge hit or a spectacular miss.
Most overseas FritoLay samples were acquired from the Bay Area grocery app Weee! Tasters rated up to 10 points in each of three categories: flavor, texture and accuracy.
This criteria resulted in unpredictable overall results, as when universally disliked flavors such as Beer from China were nonetheless ranked high for accuracy — it tasted uncannily of beer, down to the carbonation — so it’s worth focusing on flavor. Seeing the highlights from the tasting notes might be just as useful as the raw, empirical data, so we’ve selected some nuggets to share.
The flavor category produced a number of ties, starting with two winners for first place, both from China: Numb and Spicy Hot Pot and Pan Fried Matsutake.
“Flavor builds long after you eat — truly mala numbing action,” wrote one taster of the Numb and Spicy Hot Pot. “I can’t feel my face!” scribbled another.
The Pan Fried Matsutake yielded the happiest vocal exclamations of all for its mix of butter and mushroom-driven umami. It prompted one participant to make exclamations in their notes as well: “Ooh! Forest floor flavor!”
Second place went to China’s Cumin Lamb Skewer (“Wow! Gamey. A delightful surprise”) and Thailand’s 2in1 Seafood Sauce, which cleverly combines “two truly distinct flavors in one bag” through two different colored chips. Following in third and fourth place, respectively: Pickled Fish from China, which one judge deemed to be “pickly, but not really fishy”; and India’s Magic Masala, a flavor recently highlighted by Bon Appetit that the panel found to be “pleasantly spicy, tingly and crunchy.”
Thailand’s Scallop Butter Garlic and China’s Fried Crab tied for flavor in fifth place, the former described as “oceanic Ruffles” and the latter as “no Dungeness!” Salted Egg from Thailand (“nice and sulfur-y”) and Roasted Fish from China (“not a ton of sea flavor”) tied for sixth place.
Further down the list, a Grilled Pork offering from China landed in the lucky 13th spot — the lone wavy chip in a sea of smooth and ruffled options. Everyone seemed to like the chip structure and thickness, but the taste and smell of the “pork” was off-putting. “Well-textured cat food,” dismissed one person, reflecting the mood of the group.
Similarly, there were high hopes for Thailand’s Spicy Lobster, but it was soundly panned (“just tastes like MSG”) and ended up in second to last place. And pulling up the rear is the aforementioned Beer from China, which one taster said “smells like Barney Gumble,” the resident drunk from “The Simpsons.” Even if you’re a beer enthusiast, this may not be the one to hunt down.