Taste Test: Hot Dog with Mustard Flavored Potato Chips

There comes a time in everyone's life when you are faced with the a bizarre food item. This can be something homemade (Coffee Jello), mass-produced (Pizza Flavored goldfish crackers), even a beverage (beer and tomato juice) There is the lure of a food that you like combined with something iffy. Not something horrible - if it was horrible, you wouldn't even consider tasting it but by combining it with something not entirely objectionable, it just leaves on unsure as to what to do about it all.

And that's where the Soup Lady comes in. As a public service, I have undertaken to put these unusual foods to a taste test. We begin with this: Snyder's Of Hanover Coney Island Hot Dog with Mustard Flavored Potato chips.

Now I've tried Salt & Vinegar flavored, Sour Cream & chive flavored - heck, I've even had the ketchup flavored ones (that one was a definate miss), but this is something hard to imagine. Take a minute to think about it: potato chips that taste like a hot dog with mustard. That's what they want you to believe anyway. From the back of the chip package:"Welcome to Coney Island. Take a stroll and enjoy the most mouth watering taste of hot dogs with mustard flavor in this premium potato chip. It's a taste so authentic , you'll almost be able to feel the ocean breeze and hear the sounds of the boardwalk. " Let's just see.

The newest member of the Panel of Judges in our test kitchen's Pennsylvania annex was first to try these. She is something of a fussy eater in that anything with dairy or raspberries is an automatic out, but other than that, she's a go. In fact, she's fond of junk food and is always on the lookout for a good mid-afternoon pick-me-up. She prudently started with a gentle sniffing of the open package and pronounced the aroma to be "strange". In appearance, it looks like the standard ruffled chip - veru unremarkable. One cautious bite and the judge went running for water. She pronounced them to be a very strong mustard flavor but overall "bad" and declared she would not put another in her mouth.

Well, what kind of taste test is just one bite? So the Soup Lady herself stepped up to the plate. I found the first chip to be a very good imitation of a hot dog but couldn't taste the mustard at all. The second chip had visible yellow patches on it and was indeed quite mustardy. Apparently, the chips themselves are hot dog flavored and mustard flavored powder is sprayed onto them. The flavor combination varied widely from one chip to the next.

Just as the taste test was concluding, an impartial passerby strolled near the Test Kitchen Annex and was quickly cast in the role of a tie-breaker. He tasted, mulled it over, tasted again and said: "They're good. I feel like I'm at a cook-out." Very much in the same vein as the blurb on the package back."

The reviews -
The Fussy Taste-Tester: "I would never eat another one. They were disgusting."
The Soup Lady: "This tastes like a hot dog, but not a very good hot dog."
A Passerby: "I feel like I'm at a cookout."

So - a split decision. You'll just have to try them for yourself.

Comments

[Sal Val child]

was the guest there to measure things???

[Bill]

This unsaid competition over flavorings by potato chip makers has reached the level of ridiculous. It used to be that you had regular and *horrors* barbecue. Now, we have 87 different kinds of BBQ and all kinds of other tuff they put in, on, and through the P.C. If I want a hot dog, I'll have a hot dog.

Are there people out there who crumble up potato chips and put them on hot dogs and then pour on the mustard? Yellow or brown mustard?

[Debbie]

Can you still buy the coney island hot dog chips????

[Loretta Johnson]

I liked the Coney Island hot dog with mustard chips, But they discontinued them. Any ideas where I might get some?

[Randy]

I remember the Coney Island chips fondly. I was working in a grocery store and a vender from Snyder's gave us a bag to try out. Everyone went bonkers for it. Snyder's then came up with other flavors that were equally as good - Steak & Onion and Sausage Pizza being my favorites. Now I can't find any of them and I'm very disappointed. They should try to market them through gourmet shops and the internet. Too bad such unique products are gone.

[ruby rouleau]

where can hot dog and mustard chips be purchased>

[ruby rouleau]

where can hot dog and mustard chips be purchased>

[Rhonda Fagan]

My husband loves the hot dog chips where can I get them?