French Fry Diary 730: Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips

I've talked about Lay's Wavy Potato Chips before, and was rather impressed, and whereas I've seen chocolate, truffle, and even mango salsa versions of the Wavy chips, I have never seen my favorite flavor, BBQ, until now.

I found a bag of Lay's Wavy Hickory BBQ Potato Chips and I was pretty happy. Hickory BBQ flavor is a bit tricky, it's smoky, one would suppose from hickory wood, but mostly it has a molasses and maybe honey taste. Sounds good. Before opening the bag, I checked out the ingredients, and that was no help - "Hickory BBQ Seasoning" - just like the mystery ingredients of the Do Us A Flavor chips.

When I opened the bag the aroma was rich and sweet, I couldn't wait to dig in. Like the other Wavy Lay's, they are thick cut and excellent for dipping, especially cold stuff because of the heat of the flavor. It's a sweetness with a bit of a kick, and addictive, like all good potato chips. Thumbs up.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #266

This one comes from dear friend Robin Renee, who had these fries and broccoli rabe at Gallery Pizza in Atco, NJ. And if you're so inclined, please check out her fantastic Blog March, the schedule is here.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #265

McDonald's French fries from France, more of potato wedges, aren't they? 

French Fry Diary 729: Tater Tot Grilled Cheese

So, inspired by the ThreadBanger YouTube video seen here sent to me by good friend Amy I set off to the kitchen to try this immediately. I had tater tots, I had cheese, and I had an awesome Cuisinart waffle maker, so why not?

Here's the first layer of tater tots. Rather than cooking them, I microwaved them for a couple minutes, or you could just let them thaw for a bit.

 Here's the next layer, great individual slices of Kraft American cheese, the orange stuff is always best. If this works out the first time, I'll add bacon the next time and see what happens.

And another layer of tater tots. There's a learning curve here as they are hard to stack. If the first layer of tots are hot, they will melt the cheese which will act as a glue to hold the second layer of tots together.

Mmmm… look at that awesome cheesy potatoey overflow!

I learned a few more things. Lesson one: don't overfill on the tots. Lesson two: more cheese (always a good rule no matter what). Lesson three: spray waffle maker with oil so you can remove the monstrosity easier when it's done. I used a butter knife and it was still stubborn.

The brown spots are the cheese leaking through to the bottom, so again, more cheese. It cooks up in the cooking so you need lots more. And on this first try, I definitely cooked them too long. On the plus side, you can always put more cheese on them afterward.

Thanks, Amy, you rock, and thanks to ThreadBanger who is insane but oh so cool. Incidentally, ThreadBanger was inspired by the folks at Tip Hero and their take can be found here.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #264

From friends Brian and Taryn's recent visit to Florida, this is the Full English Breakfast from Raglan Road, featuring Roasties, their crunchy and thick breakfast potatoes.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #263

My friend and podcast partner Ray sent this pic of his Easter dinner at Charlie Brown's.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #262

From a recent Red Robin TV commercial, a bridge of fries... mmmm... fries... I wonder how they got them to stick together like that?

Happy Valentine's Day from New York Fries

Happy Friday!

My new favorite Bitmoji, for obvious reasons...

Happy National Tater Tots Day

I know, I missed National Tater Tots Day yesterday, but really is there ever a time not for tater tots?  Everyday is tater tots day...