The Great Frozen Chip-off by Steve Collins
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The Great Frozen Chip-off
This awesome review was put together for us by member @TheGrumpster for the frozen chip fanatics (like us) out there.
The products reviewed were:
(a) Coles Australian Potato Straight Cut Chips ($2.20)
(b) Woolworths Australian Steakhouse Chips ($2.50)
(c) Seasons Pride Straight Cut Chips from Aldi ($2.09)
According to the directions on the packets, all chips were to be cooked at 230 degrees (or 210 degrees for fan-forced ovens) for roughly the same amount of time (there was a discrepancy of two minutes from shortest to longest cook). To make it fair, I added up all the recommended times and divided them by three.
They were all cooked in the same oven simultaneously so that a variation in oven temperatures or conditions couldn’t affect the chips.
The judges were presented with several criteria upon which to base their scoring. They were asked to score between 1 to 10 for each category, with one being poor and 10 being excellent.
Those criteria were:
- Colour
- Crispness
- Softness (for the inside)
- Flavour
- Length (based on volume - a good chip shouldn’t be too short so it was the overall look)
-Dipability (being tomato sauce, plum sauce, and softened ice cream [don’t knock it until you’ve tried it])
They were all cooked in the same oven simultaneously so that a variation in oven temperatures or conditions couldn’t affect the chips.
The judges were presented with several criteria upon which to base their scoring. They were asked to score between 1 to 10 for each category, with one being poor and 10 being excellent.
Those criteria were:
- Colour
- Crispness
- Softness (for the inside)
- Flavour
- Length (based on volume - a good chip shouldn’t be too short so it was the overall look)
-Dipability (being tomato sauce, plum sauce, and softened ice cream [don’t knock it until you’ve tried it])
The Coles Australian Potato Straight Cut Chips were priced middle of the pack, at $2.20
The tasting panel consisted of She Who Rules the Roost (my wife), our next-door neighbours, Doug and Kate, and their son-in-law, Michael.
No salt was added to the chips but was available to use individually.
It’s always important to have a palate cleanser at any official tasting, so party pies and sausage rolls were provided for that purpose.
Drinks were consumed during the tasting process but over-indulging was not encouraged.
Each taster was presented with a score sheet. Colour and length were determined by the panel prior to the first bite being taken.
Each tester tasted chips from each plate several times before commencing writing their scores.
Discussion about the chips was not encouraged during the testing process so as not to sway another tester’s opinion.
She Who Rules the Roost doesn’t like dipping her chips into anything, so she didn’t score anything for dipability. Kate tried the tomato sauce and plum sauce but couldn’t bring herself to try the ice cream.
Both Doug and Michael tried each of the dips and the ice cream became their favourite.
The Woolies Australian Steakhouse Chips were the most expensive, at $2.50 per kilo
To look at the chips as they were placed on the table, the Woolworths brand did look rather anaemic compared to the other two, which were similar to each other.
The length was fairly similar for each group of chips, but Aldi did have a narrow win in this category.
The marks for flavour were similar also. Although I wasn’t scoring, I did taste each variety and, perhaps not surprisingly, they did taste pretty much the same.
Softness describes what the inside of the chip should be like. A perfectly cooked chip should be crunchy on the outside, yet nice and soft inside. Two of the testers gave equal marks to all in this category, one gave Woolworths the highest mark whilst another gave Coles the highest. I didn’t ask the testers to put their names on the score sheets.
After about 15 minutes of testing, each participant completed their score sheet and I took them to another room in order to compile the score.
No one chose the Woolworths Australian Steakhouse Chips as their favourite chip, so those chips came in third, well below the other two.
The winner and also the cheapest on the list, Seasons Pride Straight Cut Chips for $2.09
There was only one point difference between the other two. Coles Australian Potato Straight Cut Chips was second, leaving the Seasons Pride Straight Cut Chips from Aldi as our overall leader, but with just one point more than Coles, it seems that in the battle of the frozen home brand chips, if you can’t get to Aldi, the Coles product is almost as good. Interestingly, both the Aldi and Coles chips were cheaper than the Woolworths home brand.
Each of the tasting panel took their task seriously and was genuinely interested in participating.
What did you guys think of this review? Score one for the Aldi fans, but it seems Coles wasn't too far behind. Let us know what products you'd like us to review next.
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