Slashfood

Three Yogurt or Sour Cream-Based Dips - Tip of the Day

Adeena Sussman — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

Summer's a great time to pull out the chips and dips when entertaining. Here are three easy ideas that wil work with either Greek-style yogurt or sour cream

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Eat Your Greens - Kale Chips

Nicki Gostin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business, Features

Photo: New York Naturals

Every day we're bombarded with encouragement from nutritionists and health food experts to eat more leafy greens, especially the dark green varieties. Low in calories, high in fiber, packed with vitamin A, blah, blah, blah -- not exactly the kind of stuff you get excited about.

But Amy Hamberry may have found a way to change your mind: The Brooklyn, N.Y., mom is selling her own kale chips.

The former commercial illustrator and one-time kindergarten teacher stumbled into this new, unexpected profession when she married the owner of a neighborhood health-food store, New York Naturals.

The store's California kale chip supplier was always running out of stock (um, who would have guessed there was such high demand?), so Amy decided to start making them herself. It took three months of daily experiments before she was satisfied with the results.

"We had to figure out a consistency," Hamberry explained to Slashfood. "It was hard because the kale is different each time we get it. There are a lot of variables involved."

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What Do Vending Machines Say About Corporate Culture?

Mike Pomranz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business, Trends

Peek inside a vending machine. Photo: salimfadhley, Flickr.

What do AOL's vending machines look like? "White Castle burgers, five different varieties of Hot Pockets, Klondike bars and Oreo ice cream bars next to a sign offering a discount for Weight Watchers. I think it's safe to say that our vending machine area is being used as a Skinner box," reports Kristyn, a fellow AOL employee.

One employee's behavioral experiment is another's paradise. "I'm really, really jealous," says Jon over at MTV Networks, after being informed of AOL's snack excesses. Featuring far more pedestrian fare like Rice Krispies Treats, Nacho Cheese Doritos and Reese's Pieces, MTV's vending options won't turn any heads. Jon laments that the only real stand-out is the 25-cent can of Coke. "I guess that proves that international conglomerates are in cahoots!" he says. Or it's just a ploy to keep people awake and alert for optimum productivity.

Other big companies aren't faring much better. Jen gave us the scoop on IBM's snack selection, which was similarly standard, with plenty of chips, candy bars and the like. Still, they do try to push some healthier options. "There's a green leaf next to anything that is considered a 'balanced choice,' " says Jen. "It shows IBM's effort in trying to bring about some healthy options to a typically unhealthy way to get food." Don't expect to see any quarter Cokes, though. "The prices are really high, almost $2 for a small bag of chips," she notes. "Price alone would be the reason I wouldn't purchase from the vending machines." Maybe this is IBM's way of discouraging vending machine snacks in favor of fresh fruit or brown-bagged options?

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10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets

Ben Widdicombe — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants

Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

There's a reason most restaurants keep the kitchen doors closed -- and it's not just because it's so hot back there.

It can be tough for restaurateurs to turn a profit and Slashfood has uncovered some of the ultra-dirty deeds even the best restaurants commit in order to pinch pennies.

Read on for 10 true stories about the subtle, sneaky and sometimes downright disgusting ways restaurants cheat to save a buck -- and how you might be paying the price.

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Homemade Chips - Tip of the Day

Monika Bartyzel — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Tip of the Day

Leftover pitas, tortillas and other thin, bready products can make a superb, simple and salubrious baked snack.

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Beets, Blondies and Betsy Ross - The Minneapolis Star Tribune in 60 Seconds

Monika Bartyzel — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: In Sixty Seconds

Pile of beets. Photo: kthread, Flickr

Beets aren't solely for borscht. Care for a little sweet beet ice cream?
No-fuss, buttery blondies are ideal for cabin cooking.
Chips can be healthy? If you select the right ones, they can offer some health benefits in moderation.
Twitter recipes might not offer details, but they're a decent quick fix.
Minnesota residents are benefiting from an "abundance of wine wholesalers" with fantastic selections.
A paean to homemade ice cream and the ease of ice cream making machines.
Perfect for Betsy Ross wannabes: American Flag Potato Salad.
The Taste 50 -- 50 reasons why Minnesota is a great place for foodies.

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Switch up Your Standard Chip

Lissa Townsend Rodgers — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:55:00 EST

Filed under: Raves & Reviews

When snacking, the tendency is to automatically reach for whatever tortilla or potato chip is within reach. Pity, since there is a whole scrumptious world of other options. So, just in time to have everyone over to watch the big game, here are a few ideas to put something else in the basket on the coffee table and also a few suggestions about dips they might pair with.

Lime Tortilla Chips - Light-years ahead of the plain kind. Tostitos makes the tastiest ones. There go very well with fruit salsa, usually mango or peach.
Sweet Potato Chips - Everyone from Pringles to Terra manufactures these, though I would swing toward the latter, since the Pringles also have cinnamon. They match nicely with corn salsa or bean dip.
Banana or Plantain Chips - Yes, I know they're not the same thing, but close enough for my purposes. Another standout with fruit salsa, though I also like them with guacamole.
Pretzel Chips - A nice combo of two great salty snacks, the chips and the pretzel. Try with spinach or onion dip.
Tabasco Cheez-Its - Don't put anything on these. You'll wind up devouring much of the box and you don't want anything to get in your way.

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Forget potato chips: Try beet chips!

Monika Bartyzel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:34:00 EST

Filed under: Ingredients

The minute I tasted Terra chips, I wondered why we've been saddled under a plethora of potato and corn chips. Yes, both are good, but they aren't the only vegetables that taste utterly sinful when fried. In fact, other veggies can offer a lot more flavor without the aid of ten gallons of salt and faux seasonings.

With that in mind, I set out to make beet chips. I took some gold beets, peeled them, thinly sliced them, and then pat them dry with a paper towel while a small layer of oil was heated in a frying pan. Once the oil was nice and hot, I put a layer in at a time, flipped them, and let them fry until darker and slightly curled. When done, they were transferred to a paper towel, spray with a little salt, and then devoured.

These chips are super easy, super tasty, and only one of the many chip alternatives -- sweet potatoes, parsnips, taro...

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Pringles are not chips in England

Shayna Glick — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:02:00 EST

Filed under: Business, Food News

This is kind of like when the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were not fruit.

The High Court in London decided that Pringles do not count as "crisps" (that's chips to us in the USA) for tax purposes. The VAT (value added tax) in England isn't applied to most foodstuffs, but potato crisps are subject to the tax. Lawyers for Prinlges, however, argued that since they are made from only 42% potato flour and their shape isn't based on anything natural, they are not really crisps and should therefore be exempt from the VAT.

According to Times Online, the High Court in London agreed, but don't count on that being the last word on the matter. England's Department of Revenue and Customs isn't happy about missing out on that tax money and is considering an appeal.

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Engobi snacks for your caffeine fix

Shayna Glick — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:01:00 EST

Filed under: On the Blogs

All I can say is, "wow". I came across these Engobi snacks on Cakehead, and I couldn't get over it. I mean, caffeinated snack chips? It doesn't sound very good to me, and Cakehead didn't give the snacks a great review. Surely you can't be so hard up for a caffeine fix that you can't grab a cup of coffee, or even bring some chocolate covered beans with you.

One commenter in Cakehead mentioned some caffeinated Japanese candies. What do you think? Is this a good product? What are some of your favorite caffeine products?

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Potato Chip Taste Test - Plain

Kat Kinsman — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures

When we set out to find the best of the bunch, we don't go spuddin' around. With the help of Anchor's Chip of the Month, AOL Food's panel munched, crunched, nibbled and gobbled our way through nearly 5 dozen kinds of plain potato chips in search of the tip top chip in all the land. See if you agree with our findings, or if we totally skipped over your favorite tater.

(Note to folks who are writing in saying they can't find the winner -- just use the arrows to navigate through the gallery. The results are ranked down from 15-1. And we hear ya! Cape Cod will definitely be in the next batch of reviews.)

The flavored chip tasting will follow in a few weeks, after our sodium levels normalize.

Read the Plain Potato Chip Taste Test

Buy 'Em at Anchor's Chip of the Month

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Munchos -- That '70s chip

Julie Tilsner — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:04:00 EST

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Ingredients

I don't have much of a relationship with potato chips these days. I consider them a guilty treat, to be eaten at parties but never at home. It's like having soda in the house -- if I buy it, they will eat it. And if they eat it, chips, I mean, they'll be hooked, and I'll never hear the end of it. The best I can offer my kids is the occasional package of tortilla chips, something to dredge up the salsa with.

Ah, but I have a past. And my past is filled with processed foods of the sort that I'd never let my kids near, lest they come to understand the dark pleasures of Hostess products.

My parents had no such compunction with me. I grew up on Wonder Bread and TV dinners and Uncle Ben's Converted Rice. I ate a Hostess Fruit Pie almost every day. But among my most treasured taste memories: Munchos brand potato chips.

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RRRuffles Have Ridges, but I can't say it

Stefani Pollack — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EST

When Ruffles came out with its famous "RRRuffles Have Ridges" commercial, the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) were not nearly as important as the Rs of Ruffles. Rolling your tongue was suddenly the cool kid thing to do.

I tried, but no matter how many tips people gave me, I couldn't roll. I still can't!

I can't blame Ruffles for the lack of popularity I suffered back then (I wasn't popular to begin with), but I can thank them for salting the wound.

Ruffles' ridges are tasty, but can we maybe call them hills instead?

Did Ruffles inspire you to practice learning how to roll your Rs? Could you figure it out?

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Road trips and Kettle Chips

Marisa McClellan — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:31:00 EST

I grew up in a household that was nearly devoid of junk food. My sister and I each got a single box of sugar cereal each year (on our birthdays), Halloween candy was strictly rationed and bread was dark and made from whole wheat. Potato chips were very definitely a special, once-in-a-very-great-while kind of treat.

Because of the chip control that went on during my childhood, the moments when they did appear on the scene remain present in my memory, even 20+ years later. They became especially associated with roadtrips for me, as my dad would insist that we have some "car snacks" and my mom, who actually loves potato chips, would cave to the special occasion energy.

We'd make a stop at Trader Joe's or some other local natural foods store for thick-cut, kettle cooked potato chips (Kettle Chips play a prominent role in my memories, but the TJ's Hawaiian-style chips also showed up fairly regularly). Handfuls would be carefully doled out to my sister and me in the back seat of the station wagon and we'd slowly crunch our way through our portions. Raina would suck all the salt off the chips before eating, where I'd nibble along the edges, trying to make the treat last as long as possible. We'd ask for seconds and would get them, until my mom determined that we'd all had enough (typically determined by her own salt/grease satiation level), and folded up the bag, tucking it down by her feet for safekeeping.

These days, I occasionally buy a bag of Kettle Chips (I had a salt and vinegar phase during college) but I am untrustworthy around open bags of potato chips. They call to me until I surrender and crunch my way through the entire bag. However, while I do enjoy them, potato chips now are never quite as delightful as those measured handfuls of chips that we'd eat while criss-crossing the highways of the west coast.

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The girl who only eats french fries

Ellen Slattery — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Newspapers, Health & Medical, Fast Food

Believe it or not, 15-year old Faye Campbell of Great Britain has eaten nothing but french fries ("chips" to the Brits) for the past ten years.

According to an article in the Daily Mail, Campbell suffers from a "bizarre physical condition which made her ill every time she tried anything other than chips."

This "bizarre" condition? Gastrooesophageal reflux...commonly known as heartburn.

For whatever reason, it took the girl's doctors way too long to realize the cause, and in the meantime, pardon me for being slightly insensitive, but she's been milking it for all it's worth.

I don't doubt that salty potatoes are easier to digest than, say, acidic fruits or juices. But how I'm impressed with how long this girl has convinced her parents to let her eat fries at every meal - every kid should be so lucky! And conveniently, french fries go down easier than say, Brussels sprouts or bananas...

The good news? To her parents' delight, Campbell has now moved onto foods other than french fries. Her diet now also consists of burgers, noodles, Chinese takeout, and waffles. (Don't you wish you had this girl's parents when you were 15?)

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Super Bowl Week: Peanut Chili Dip and Pita Crisps

Ellen Slattery — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Slashfood Bowl 2008

If you're tired of the typical dips (and we don't mean that weirdo who chatted you up at the bar last night), check out a lighter, spicier alternative: peanut chili dip from The 15-Minute Gourmet: Vegetarian, by Paulette Mitchell.

Peanut Chili Dip
Makes: 2/3 cup

You will need: 1/3 cup organic or natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
3 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. chili powder
Optional dash of cayenne

Combine pb and water in a bowl, stir to make a paste. Stir in remaining ingredients and serve. You can keep this baby in the fridge until you're ready to eat - it's great hot or cold.

And don't forget dippers - forgo boring tortilla chips for homemade pita crisps.

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Vote for the new Kettle Chips flavor

Marisa McClellan — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:22:00 EST

Filed under: Business, Trends

When I was growing up, we didn't get much in the way of junk food. My mother didn't believe in keeping chips, cookies or baked goods around the house. The only time we got the crap we craved was when there was a picnic or party. On those occasions, my parents would buy Kettle Chips, thinking that they were in some way healthier than all the others available.

Because of those once-in-awhile indulgences, I always think fondly of Kettle Chips (especially the Yogurt and Green Onion flavor). They've currently got five new flavors on the market and are asking consumers to taste and vote for their favorites. You can choose between Mango Chili, Orange Ginger Wasabi, Death Valley Chipotle, Wicked Hot Sauce and Jalepeno Salsa Fresca. What's your new favorite?

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Win a year's supply of Doritos for naming X-13D

Joe DiStefano — Tue, 22 May 2007 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Food Oddities, Ingredients

I'm an absolute sucker for novel junk-food packaging. Doritos X-13D stopped me dead in my tracks when I was at 7-Eleven the other night. The white panel read "This is the X-13D Flavor Experiment. Objective: Taste and name Doritos flavor X-13D." I felt as if it were my civic duty to name this flavor, so I purchased two bags. I also wanted to win a years supply of the orange-colored treats. Mmm...powdered cheese.

I munched on a few on the walk home. They tasted vaguely of something familiar. The front of the package has a line that reads, "All American Classic." After I thought about it for a while I figured out what X-13D tastes like, and it is indeed a classic. It also helps explain why beef tallow and pickle juice are among the ingredients.

I went to X-13D with the intention of entering my name for this experimental snack. The jet-black pages, creepy futuristic music and Flash animations including a 3-D rotating animation of the package that displays the name you've chosen led me to believe that is a Web site created by stoners for stoners. I imagine eight-year-olds kids typing "Monkey Poo" and such, laughing their heads off. Don't worry, that's not the name I chose for X-13D. Actually I never officially entered since I couldn't get the dang site to cooperate with my dinosaur of a PC. The contest ends July 14. Can't get X-13D where you live? Worry not, some genius is selling them on eBay for $9.99 a bag. I'm not sure if it's the large size or not. Either way, that's a ridiculous markup.

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Pop Food: The Battle of the New Doritos

Bob Sassone — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:14:00 EST

Filed under: Pop Food, Stores & Shopping, New Products

Every once in a while, a much-loved product introduces a couple of new flavors and asks the public to vote on which one they like better. Now it's Doritos' turn, with their "Fight For The Flavor."

Of course, Doritos has introduced new flavors before. They came out with ranch, and then they started making their chips "cheesier" and "nachoier" (is that a word?), and even redesigned their bags. Now they've come out with Smokin' Cheddar BBQ flavor and Wild White Nacho flavor. One is OK, but the other one...ahem.

I'm not sure what the difference Wild White Nacho is from other Doritos flavors that already exist. It's a pretty unexciting chip. It falls somewhere between a regular corn chip and something along the lines of ranch flavor. It's not bad, it's just that there's nothing "wild" about it.

On the other hand, we have the Smokin' Cheddar BBQ chips. Wow, I couldn't eat more than two. They are so barbecue-y (I'm inventing words today) that they're almost inedible. The cheddar flavor? It's lost in the BBQ taste, but still remains somehow and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

You can vote at doritos.com for your favorite. Cool web site.

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Fat free, microwave potato chips

Nicole Weston — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 09:04:00 EST

Filed under: Food Gadgets, Did you know?, Light Food, Ingredients, How To, Methods

Potato chips are, as a general rule, fried, greasy and unfortunately addictive, as illustrated by the longtime Lay's slogan "bet you can't eat just one. All these traits make them the bane of many health food activists' existences, but those same activists might go a little easier on the popular snack food if they knew you can easily make a non-fried, fat free version that is just as crispy as the "real" thing at home All you need is a microwave.

This Japanese potato chip maker allows you to make chips in the microwave. All you need to do is slice up a potato into fine rounds and place in the stand, then microwave until crisp.

It sounds implausible, but microwaving chips really does work. I've done it myself with great success thanks to the recipe for Uncle Bill's Microwave Potato Chips, which doesn't require a potato chip stand to work. The chips actually do crisp up well, especially if you take care to slice them thinly and evenly. In the photo above, the chips that I made are on the left, while the chips made with the chip-maker (not made by me) are on the right. I cut my potatoes freehand with a sharp knife, but using a mandoline will produce results even faster and guarantee consistency. Make sure to season your chips with salt and pepper or seasoning salt before microwaving them, as it is difficult to get the salt to adhere to already crisp chips.

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