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Walker's Crisps

ChipVA

By ChipVA,
in Cunard Line

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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

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Interesting to see all this about Walkers Crisps --- SERIOUSLY? :Supposedly fairly sophisticated travelers concerned about a decent, but not really special brand. I've had them - better than US supermarket house brands, but nowhere near the standard of Utz, Cape Cod, or the truly distinctive Deep River.

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maggiemou

maggiemou

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We were on QE world cruise 118 days and my husband likes to go the pub at lunchtime. He always nibbled away on the crisps. He was friendly with the bartenders and they always topped up the dish of crisps from a packet.

I thought they were Kettle crisps, but could have been Terrill's. Which ever they were not Walkers, as they were the hand cut type and not in a red packet.

The head bartender ( who I can not name here) is in touch with my husband on FB. My husband has asked him ( right now as I am typing this ) what they were.

He has replied saying they only made the crisps for the café Carinthia at lunch time and they have cheese sprinkled on them. The rest were from a packets, bought in and this applies to all Cunard ships.

 

I actually took a flight a few years ago in USA on Jet Blue airline and they served blue coloured crisps from blue potatoes. They were delicious and very different. Maybe Cunard could serve those.:)

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Underwatr

Underwatr

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I'm intrigued, how did you know they were kettle crisps ? another poster claims they used Lays ( on the Q.Vic)

The same multinational conglomerate owns both Walker's and Lays. I live in hope that they'll export some of Walkers' flavours to the colonies.
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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

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There is one thing about this fun thread ..Thank goodness our American Cousins are now referring to them as 'Crisps' and not CHIPS ! ;)

 

Walkers, of course, are "crisps"; however, the superior items of the same nature: UTZ, Cape Cod, and Deep River are properly referred to as "chips".

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Chunky2219

Chunky2219

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Walkers, of course, are "crisps"; however, the superior items of the same nature: UTZ, Cape Cod, and Deep River are properly referred to as "chips".

I used to like chips with gravy on. But now I'm sophisticated I prefer them with Henderson's sauce. If I'm in a really swanky place I ask for them as Belgian fries.

 

 

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Chunky2219

Chunky2219

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As long as you are broadening your culinary experience, you might consider the French version.

Originated in Belgium. Chips with full-fat mayonnaise is pretty much the national dish. French fries, freedom fries .... a rose by any other name.

 

 

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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

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Originated in Belgium. Chips with full-fat mayonnaise is pretty much the national dish. French fries, freedom fries .... a rose by any other name.

 

 

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Back to the chips vs. crisps nomenclature question: reliable tradition has it that back when what is now called French fries were referred to as chips pretty much anywhere, a wealthy patron at a Saratoga (New York) hotel during race meet kept sending her "chips" back - complaining that they were too thick. The exasperated chef then sliced preboiled potatoes paper thin and then deep fried them to silence her protests. The resultant very crisp treats were immediately named "Saratoga chips" to differentiate them from regular "chips" (today's "French fries"). The treat rocketed to mass popularity because they could be stored and eaten cold - and the name evolved to "potato chips".

 

Since the things originated in the US, it is hard to justify protesting identifying them as "chips" - as so termed in their native land.

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Chunky2219

Chunky2219

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Well, I had no intention of protesting the origin of crisps, but since you insist...........

 

A little research suggests that the first reference to thinly sliced, par dried and fried potatoes in England was in 1822, predating the Saratoga event by 30+ years.

 

It's not the first time things have been re-invented and then claimed across the pond. The digital computer is a prime example.

 

Proper "chips", to which I was actually referring, indeed originated in Belgium where they are known as "frites". In fact, moules frites is about as fine a dish as one could hope to feast upon, preferably eaten as soon as you get off the ferry and washed down with some of that wonderful Belgian beer. I'm sure there are a dozen apocryphal stories of how someone came to mis-name them as French Fries but as with so many other reworkings of the English language, it's based on a falsehood.

 

 

 

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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

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Well, I had no intention of protesting the origin of crisps, but since you insist...........

 

A little research suggests that the first reference to thinly sliced, par dried and fried potatoes in England was in 1822, predating the Saratoga event by 30+ years.

 

It's not the first time things have been re-invented and then claimed across the pond. The digital computer is a prime example.

 

Proper "chips", to which I was actually referring, indeed originated in Belgium where they are known as "frites". In fact, moules frites is about as fine a dish as one could hope to feast upon, preferably eaten as soon as you get off the ferry and washed down with some of that wonderful Belgian beer. I'm sure there are a dozen apocryphal stories of how someone came to mis-name them as French Fries but as with so many other reworkings of the English language, it's based on a falsehood.

 

 

 

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If you refer to the 1822 cookbook "The Cook's Oracle", you might note that the recipe called for cutting the potatoes into quarter inch slices. While that recipe indeed predates the Saratoga chip by several decades, what it was talking about should properly be referred to as a potato SLAB, and hardly either chip or crisp.

 

Mr. Crum's Saratoga creation involved the razor thin version many of us enjoy, regardless of what we call it.

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Chunky2219

Chunky2219

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It's no good Toad, we're talking to people who are hearing something completely different. Par-dried becomes par-boiled and chips become conflated with crisps. The pictures didn't help and I've been typing really slowly to get the message across but it's wasted effort.

 

I would suggest a visit to a Southampton fish and chip shop to ask for a portion of scraps, but no doubt we'd learn they are really called Ukrainian batter fries. :rolleyes:

 

Before you know it, Heston will be doing gluten-free Ukranian batter nodules at £20 a plate.

 

 

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