Lay’s Potato Chips came out with four Global Flavors of Potato Chips to snack on while your watching the Olympics. By now the olympics are over and these chips have been hard to find by me but I finally got my hands on a bag of these chips. Here is the Chinese Szechuan Chicken. These Chips are NOT vegetarian. They have chicken broth, chicken powder, and chicken fat in the ingredients.No artificial flavors or preservatives. One of the ingredients is listed as Natural Szechuan Wok TYPE Flavor
(WTFORK! is Natural Szechuan Wok “TYPE” Flavor?) These chips also actually contain Roasted Szechuan Pepper.
I am very excited to try the Lay’s Chinese Szechuan Chicken Potato Chips because I enjoy ordering it’s namesake dish out at Chinese Restaurants.
When you order Szechuan Chicken you should be prepared to taste lots of garlic and lots of fiery hot.
When you order Szechuan Chicken it usually will look something like this.
From New Asian Kitchen of Phoenix AZ
But if you go to a Chinese Restaurant that Specializes in Szechuan Cuisine the dish will look more like this.
Miu’s Cuisine of Masa AZ (Now Closed for Business)
You can tell by looking at the second photo that Szechuan Cuisine can be very fiery. This authentic style Szechuan doesn’t have a thick or sweet sauce and is fiery hot. The authentic style dish is made with mouth numbing Szechuan Peppercorns. The Szechuan Peppercorn isn’t actually hot and is actually citrus like in flavor but it numbs your mouth so you can enjoy the spicy hot peppers more.
Back to the chips…..
When I opened the bag and took a whiff….I thought it kind of smelled a little odd and sort of like a frozen Asian inspired TV dinner. Compared to other Lay’s flavored Chips I tried these are larger, very thin and most are folded. The chips are light in color but darker than plain chips. They don’t have as many green specs as in the illustration on the bag. Some chips are without specs and look plain.
I thought they’d be greasy because of the chicken fat in them but they are not. My first taste of them I get sweet, salt and spicy tingly heat and a peppery kind of taste…but not too much heat. My second chip, I didn’t just eat and sort of let it stay in my mouth and sort of sucked the flavor out……I can taste it better that way. I get Chicken flavor followed by garlic- onion – a sweetened soy sauce taste with lingering tingly heat.
As I eat a few chips I notice that some chips have stronger flavor than others. Most of the chips are mildly seasoned and the potato chip is thin and light but still taste of potato and breaks nice in the mouth.
Some of the chips do taste different… some hit me more with sweetness than others….
I conclude that they are interesting because I want to taste what the next one will taste like and I like the tingly heat.
No …these chips are not a substitute for Szechuan Chicken but the chips are interesting and sort of tasty.
These chips aren’t bad….. I’m pleased that they are not bad.
The Forking Truth
