Brannigans Roast Beef and Mustard Crisps

Aw...how nice is that? Only on Wednesday was I publicly extolling the virtues of Brannigans crisps (in a wistful sort of way) to all that would listen in the office, this after my chance discovery (while on holiday in the West Country) that they actually did still exist (hiding in distant corners of the Earth), then yesterday, when desk chum "Gumbo" arrived at work, with a smile, he reached into his bag and produced a packet from his secret source, apologising (totally unnecessarily) that they weren't the Ham and Pickle variety! A *most*generous and welcome gift, saved savoring at elevenses today... ;)

Walkers Flavour Cup - German Bratwurst vs American Cheeseburger

How terribly disappointing - German Bratwurst = normal Beef and Onion, but with just a *hint* of creaminess...pah!

American Cheeseburger - TRY THEM, you are going to taste perfectly char grilled beef, you are going to taste American plastic cheese you even (and I may be making this up) get a hint of "special sauce" and salad, it's *extraordinary*...however, a bit like Builders Breakfast, while being *spookily* authentic, they just sort of leave you fancying a bit of the real thing... ;)

(Clear) Winner - American Cheeseburger

OMG...10 more flavours to go!

Expensive Crisps at London Bridge

OMG...couldn't believe this when I saw it...since when did a bag of crisps cost 80 pence?? I mean, I thought Canary Wharf was bad, the same bag of McCoys here setting you back 55p...I mean, I know these bags are *slightly* bigger than the multipack ones, but you get *six* bags for a pound in the supermarket, or about 18p each, in comparison this just seems like daylight robbery!

Anyway, now I've calmed down and swept up the crisps I spilled all over the carpet, in other snack news, Mr X pointed out to me (the other day, thank you Mr X) that Walkers have launched another crisp competition along the lines of do us a flavour...going to have to get me some of that Flavour World cup action! Mmmm...German Bratwurst... ;)

Walkers do us a flavour - Winner Announced!

Yeeeehaaa!!! Builders Breakfast has won! So I wasn't completely crazy (and nor was Heston)...! ;)

Walkers "Do us a flavour" - Onion Bhaji vs Cajun Squirrel

Okay, here we go again...! First off the Onion Bhaji (thanks for recommeding it, previous commentors! But - ) I'll be completely honest here, the first crisp to enter my toothy test environment just screamed out "This is Cheese and Onion!" - and after that it was rather tricky to get the thought out of my mind, so they have obviously just kept the same strong dried onion ingredient with it's tardemark sweetness...oh well...However, if you wait, the curry spices *are* there, even if they don't manifest themselves (and then only *very* gently) until a few have been consumed. I think the most surprsing bit is that the *aftertaste* is almost identical to that you would have after eating a real bhaji, right down to the slightly burnt, sweet taste where the onion has caramelised around the edges (and minus the ghee)...so, jolly nice, but rather too close to normal cheese and onion flavour to merit knocking the Builders Breakfast on the head (I would seriously doubt anyone in a blind taste test would say "Onion Bhaji" until *maybe* half way down the bag when the Fenugreek starts to trickle in)...these are, however, a crisp I know I could happily eat all day long - since my initial appraisal I have had some doubts about craving the complexity of the Breakfast crisps *very* often, as it's a challenging combination I'm not sure I'm actually going to crave all the time (but I can't take my vote back now)...oh well...

Anyway, from the pedestrian on to the "interesting" (yes, that sort of interesting)...With Cajun Squirrel flavour I felt that we were immediately off to a bad start, as it's frankly (I hope) materialised from the realms of fantasy (rather than inbred family BBQs in the smelly swamps of Hicksville, USA)...I know what Cajun spices taste like (and they are fine), but why not add in an element that people might actually hear and think "Ooo, that sounds tempting!" (like perhaps -Chicken- for example) rather than frowning and echoing "Squirrel?" in a slightly confused voice...but anyway...I once saw Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall bother to pick the tiny flecks of meat from a dead squirrel (I think he found it by the side of the road), which means *some* people *somewhere* do actually take the time, so with a bit of a funny expression on my face I bit my tongue and opened the bag...no real overwhelming aroma, first taste had a lot of thyme and oregano and quite a lot of sugar (a bit too much for a bag of crisps actually), you then get just a hint of lemon (which reminded me of lamb tikka for a second) a little BBQ taste and then a very healty dose of chilli arrives on the sides of your tongue...unfortunately it mingles with a little stale garlic...which isn't a good way to leave the palate...I did a blind taste test on this one with a few people in the office, and *no-one* could guess what it was supposed to be, just a lot of flavours (some of them slightly unpleasant) not heading in any one particlular direction...

So, in the second fight of the evening, the referee stopped the match in the 6th round thanks to an untreatable cut above the right eye...the winner - Onion Bhajiiiiiiiiiiii - but it was a close one...

The last two I don't hold out much hope on (Fish and Chips and Chilli and Chocolate), but I suppose I should try them just to complete the set (now I have started)...

Walkers "Do us a flavour" taste test

"Builders Breakfast" vs "Crispy Duck and Hoisin"

I spotted these the other day (they didn't seem to have any of the other flavours in the shop) but actually these were probably the two I was most excited about anyway...the first one I tried was the "Builders Breakfast", I was expecting a taste a bit like the old "Sausage and Tomato" Golden Wonder, but - oh boy - have things moved on! The first thing that hits you as you pop one of these babies in your mouth is the salt which (within a second or two) gently rounds out into a flavour reminiscent of very crispy bacon, this lingers pleasantly, then suddenly transforms into a very full smooth egg yolk taste, this overpowers the bacon (which is almost lost) and finally, just a very tiny hint of tomato tickles the middle of the tongue...it is *extraordinary* to experience the layers of flavour present...so, so clever! The only downside (and I have no idea how they achieved the egg taste) but two hours after finishing the bag I was still experiencing (gradually decreasing) wafts of egg yolk taste on the sides of my tongue (even though I had drunk about half a litre of water in the intervening period)...regardless, if this flavour doesn't make it, it will be a crime against snack food...!

The second flavour I tried was "Crispy Duck & Hoisin" (which, if it tasted anything like the real thing, would be my automatic winner), however, it was a disappointment (compared to the previous one), first off, the smell when you open the bag is unpleasant and overpowering (not ideal) and I got a great big wiff...the crisps themselves actually taste predominantly of spring onion and cucumber seeds (which lingers all the way until the swallow), the unmistakable taste of Hoisin sort of wanders in and out a bit during the chewing process (never really asserting itself), but it is definitely present, and (I'm sorry to report) the duck is conspicuous for it's complete absence...the crispy skin doubly so...

So, out of these two (at least) - there emerges one clear victor - It's "Builders Breakfast" by a knockout in the first round...

Walkers Brit Trips promotion

Well, this is pretty cool, probably wouldn't have even read the blurb on the packet if not for spotting a rather good ad for the promotion running on the internet, but looking at it, as we *do* eat a few bags of crisps each week, it's quite possible to save rather a lot of money! Basically, on the inside of each multipack bag they have printed a unique ten digit code, all you do is go to http://www.walkersbrittrips.co.uk, register and then type in this value, thus crediting your account with a certain number of "points", little multipacks give you 6 points, large ones give you 21 points...and considering that 20 points means half-price entry to Chessington, 15 points gets you a free "Day pass" to any National Trust site, or as little as 10 points will get you into a Sea-Life centre for half-price that's actually an extremely good deal (considering I'm eating them anyway)...now combine that with Tesco doing a "loss leader" on Walkers crisps at the moment (buy one get one free) and we've actually got quite a lot of points already without even realising it until last night!

Anyway, check it out, would be a shame to miss the opportunity! ;)