Posh Crisps: A Guide
Adding your own spin to Ireland's rich potato crisp culture.
When it comes to crisps, certain countries are world beaters and – believe it or not! – the Irish are amongst them. Not only are we amongst them, we gave the flavoured potato crisp to the world. Yeah. We did that.
At one time, potato crisps were sold in a greaseproof paper bag, with a twist of salt, until the inventor and founder of Tayto, Joseph “Spud” Murphy, developed a technique which allowed seasoning to be added during the manufacturing process. Murphy, and his colleague Seamus Burke, produced the world’s first cheese & onion and the world’s first salt & vinegar, and then sold the rights. The rest, as they say, is history. What would Spud and Seamus think of truffle, jalapeño, wasabi, Iberian ham, paprika, we wonder.
But, we’re not actually here to talk about Ireland’s contribution to the world, and its amazing crisp culture. We get that, and we’re proud of it. But, heading into the festive season, we wanted to explore the world of crisps as culinary side kicks, and to look at their place in snacks and party food, other than the joy of a bag and a pint at the pub.
As we enter full-on festive, we thought it might be a good idea to look at some of the posh crisps you can buy here, and how they might be served.
So, here are our Take Six: Posh Party Crisps
Koikeya
The eye popping snack culture in Japan extends to crisps, and the Koikeya brand has made its way here. We tasted the Teriyaki flavour, which really tasted of soy, with a smattering of sesame, garlic, ginger and salt, the classic ingredients of teriyaki. Other flavours from this company are Wasabi & Nori, or Pickled Plum. Bring it on!
The crisps themselves were – somewhat impossibly – all exactly the same size. They’re great for this dip from the first issue of Lucky Peach where David Chang gives a recipe for Ramen Dip.
- Take the seasoning sachet from your favourite brand of instant noodles and mix with a carton of sour cream. Let the mixture meld for 20 minutes and then serve with these chips to scoop.
Don’t feel guilty. You’re grand.
Bonilla a la vista
It’s no surprise that three of our six posh crisps originate in Spain. Spain is the capital of the poshest posh crisps. The country is home to a multitude of micro artisan brands, and even those that are made en masse are still the best. If it’s Spanish, it’s good, when it comes to crisps.
The Spanish use crisps as much more than simply a snack or a dipper. Crisps in Spain are topped, dunked in broth, buttered with pates, or eaten alongside tinned fish or as a key part to a main meal. An essential element of the Tapas Culture, crisps are celebrated as the cornerstone of aperitivo: ‘Crisp, mussel, crisp, cockle, crisp, mussel, anchovy-stuffed olive, crisp, etc etc” is how Anna Cabrera and Vanessa Murphy describe the tradition of Vermút in their book Tapas.
These crisps from the family-owned Bonilla a la Vista list their ingredients on the packet in no less than eight languages. and why wouldn’t they. Ingredients (in order of quantity) are potatoes, olive oil and sea salt.
We’ve spotted these in Sheridans and Avoca.
Torres Patatas Fritas
In her read-worthy Substack, The Gazpacho Chronicles Blanca Valencia wrote recently about 10 Iconic Tortilla Moments and, at number 3, she details Ferran Adria’s Potato Crisps Tortilla from 2003, where the celebrated chef substitutes a bag of plain crisps instead of the fresh potatoes. Brilliant! If you’re going to try it, and there are lots of recipes on the web, then we humbly suggest these crisps from Torres are the crisps to use.
Torres is still a family company from Catalonia, first started in 1969, and their crisps bring with them the true taste of not only the potato but also olive oil. Once you’ve tried them to make a tortilla, you might want to try the TikTok-inspired Potato Chip Lasagne (or maybe not).
Made in east County Cork, with the potatoes grown on the family farm, and then annointed with just a dusting of Achill Island Sea Salt, gathered by the Molloy family. A family affair, then, and one of the best bags of crisps you can find, a truly harmonious medley of earthy, tuberous tastes as you crunch through each type of potato. Joe’s also produce beetroot crisps, and carrot, parsnip and beetroot crisps, but the Potato Medley is hard to beat.
Chips de Madrid by Superbon
Made in Spain and exported globally, which makes us question the label’s claim: “made in the old-school way by a family in Madrid”
But hold on! All that cynicism gets put aside when you taste them. Crunchy but with a true taste of potato. Beautifully shaped, these taste hand-made. Flavours include herby, peppery, truffle and the simple poivre & sel. We bought the Japalpeño which was expertly flavoured, with just the right amount of heat alongside a delicate fruity chili flavour.
We found them in GIY in Waterford, and Capparelli at the Mill, alongside a wonderful selection of Ottolenghi products. If you see their funky bags with cartoon-like covers, do yourself a favour and buy them all.
Dunnes Simply Better
In the era of cheffy cooking collabs, here’s an artisan collab from Dunnes Stores that delivers. Glens of Antrim Potatoes have been growing the tubers for more than 50 years, and here their crisp making expertise forms a collaboration with County Louth’s Oriel Sea Salt from Clogherhead, a non-oxidised salt. A soupçon of white wine vinegar brings the trinity of ingredients together in a Holy Moly halo of happiness. Bangin’ crisps, and that clean flavour is just right for that crisp sarnie. We prefer the straight-ahead crisps to the crinkle cut version.
some good ways to serve crisps:
With fried eggs and Christmas ham
Crisp Nachos
Crisp Crumble topping over left-over turkey gratin
Make a ploughman’s from your Christmas cheeseboard
A crisp chaat
Crisp tortilla
A Crisp batter for fish or chicken
Important Public Service Announcement
Do not listen to any cook or writer who insists that turkey cooks after 15 mins per pound weight, plus 15 mins. This is outdated info that hangs around at Christmas like a zombie, refusing to die. It’s not about time, it’s about temperature. More details here.
It's Tayto or Hunky Dory for me in Ireland. And Lays when in Europe 😋😋
I so enjoyed this deep dive on crisps! Now I crave a bag of posh crisps!