French Fry Diary 549: Tayto Smoky Bacon Crisps

Here's one that comes not from my usual exotic chip getting source, Marni, but from her significant other, Bob. Tayto is a snack company from across the Atlantic Ocean in Northern Ireland, specifically a castle in the Ulster countryside. Check out their website, they have dozens of intriguing flavors.

The flavor I have today is Smoky Bacon. The smoky aroma jumped out as I opened the bag. The flavor of the crisps (their word for chips) was interesting. It made me immediately wonder if Irish bacon was different from American bacon.

The bacon flavor is very strong and overpowering, not that that is a bad thing. It makes you savor the flavor of each crisp, and makes you eat them slower, so as to enjoy them. These are a treasure. I would love to try some of Tayto's other varieties now. Thanks, Bob!

French Fry Diary 483: Authentic Irish Food

Friend and fellow writer Patti O'Brien recently took a trip to Ireland, as chronicled in her terrific travel blog A Broad Abroad.

Despite knowing what I write about here almost every day, she absolutely refused to take any pics of potato products, even though Ireland, as we all know, is all about potatoes and chips.

She talks about the Irish chips, but we don't see them. She does offer up some pictures of the food here, but no chips.

However, if you look very closely at the second image, up in the left hand corner, three fries.  Months in Ireland, dozens of pics of food, many many pubs, and only three fries.  Hmmm...  

All that aside, Patti is a terrific writer, and I urge you to check out her blog here. You can also follow her at Twitter here.