By: Bethany Cates
I know what you're thinking: how could you possibly rank sandwich chips, Bethany, when the presence of any sandwich chip provides such a monumental upgrade to any sandwich?
Actually, you're probably thinking: what the heck is a sandwich chip? Or maybe: isn't this supposed to be a daily updates blog?
In response to the second question: that's what you thought! And you'd probably be right, except that I'm writing this post about a million days late and have forgotten too many of the details to write a proper post with substantive updates. In case you are interested in those updates, I asked Kate (who keeps a remarkably detailed daily journal) to jog my memory from the day, and here are the notes I jotted down as she was talking:
- breakfast: bagels + fruit provided by Brad and Amy (omg the jalapeno cheddar bagel was amazing)
- crossed into illinois
- 70 miles
- ice cream sandwiches on arrival
- bethany and alex discover the power of adrenaline in chase by big floofy dog 1 mile from host's house
- amazing chicken tacos
- some team members watched atlanta
Cool, now that that's out of the way, we can get onto the real content! So, imagined blog reader, back to your first question: what is a sandwich chip?
Well, a sandwich chip is a (potato-, corn-, sun-, potentially-other-type-of-) chip that is placed inside of a traditional sandwich, providing extra flavor - and more importantly, crunch - to the culinary experience. I did not discover the magic of the sandwich trip until this cross-country journey, and if it's the only thing I take away from the summer, it will have been enough. (I am taking away many actually important things from the summer, fear not.)
This list is, of course, not exhaustive, as I have not been able to sample every chip offering known to man. The ranking is done on a holistic basis, with texture, flavor, and overall satisfaction playing into my judgments. And with that...
#7 - Original Pringles (Overall Rating: 3/10)
Listen, I know I'm gonna get some hate for this, but I don't really get the Pringles hype. They're kind of a weird texture, and really thin, and also not salty enough to stand up to the best potato chips. They're...fine, as a snack when you're pretty hungry after 50 miles of riding and there's no better chip options around. But they don't belong on my sandwich.
#6 - Barbecue Pringles (Overall Rating: 3.5/10)
These are marginally better than their unflavored counterpart, but really suffer from the aforementioned texture issues. They're just too thin and absorb spreads (also essential components of any quality sandwich) too readily, thereby getting soggy and defeating the whole crunch-obtaining purpose of a sandwich chip in the first place. #sorrynotsorry, Pringles.
#5 - Original Sunchips (Overall Rating: 7/10)
Things get dramatically better once we cast the Pringles aside. All in all, these are a solid chip, though they don't particularly wow me in any way. Good crunch, marginal flavor added. Will eat without complaints or regrets.
#4 - Lay's Wavy Potato Chips (Overall Rating: 7.5/10)
These beat out plain sunchips just slightly due to the added flavor profile from the (under non-sanwich-purposes excessive amount of) salt. The ridges are essential for texture definition - I haven't tried them yet, but I imagine normal Lays chips wouldn't do quite as well as the wavy kind for these purposes. (Or any purposes, really.)
#2 (Tie) - Sour Cream and Onion Popchips (Overall Rating: 9/10)
Ugh, the texture. So nice. So airy and crunchy at the same time. And the flavor. The only issue is that these aren't super versatile - I'm not about to put some sour cream and onion chips on a nutella sandwich. I mean, well, I have, and I can't say it was the best decision I've made on this trip (though probably not the worst, either - we won't get into that).
#2 (Tie) - Garden Salsa Sunchips (Overall Rating: 9/10)
All of the qualities of the plain sunchip with the added kick of the salsa...ness. These are great, and usually my backup if my top choice is out of stock, which brings us to....
#1 - Plain Fritos (Overall Rating: 9.5/10)
Crunchy. Salty. Corn-y. Everything you want in a sandwich chip. I have stopped adding any other kind of chip to my sandwiches, as this one is the pinnacle of sandwich-chip-dom. And because their only notable flavor characteristic is salt, they're incredibly versatile. My 0.5 point knock is that the flavor could be a little stronger; I haven't tried chili-cheese fritos in a sandwich and think they might reach a perfect score, but they're usually in a twisty shape so I'm not sure they would be very practical. The modest flavor insufficiencies are easily remedied with a nice dollop of hot bean dip, so there's really not much to complain about with this one.
And there you have it! I hope you found this post enlightening, and as always, thanks for continuing to follow our journey even though some of us (me) are really bad at providing updates. Until next time!
--Bethany
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