Salty Snacks - A Serious Topic for a Serious Era

[Abagadro]

My latest salty-ish snacks since Trader Joe's finally invaded the hinterlands of Utar:

1) Longboard Organic Tortilla Chips and Cowboy Caviar salsa.

2) Boneless, skinless sardine filets in a can.

3) Joe's brand Belgian dark chocolate (ya, ya it's not salty, but it is bitter and oh so lovely).

[Trippy]

In other news:

1. Which Wasabi Peas are the best here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wasabi%20peas&sprefix=wasabi+%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Awasabi%20peas

The Hapis taste like your prototypical Wasabi Peas. The ones I usually buy when I'm at my local Japanese supermarket are the Kasugai ones (click on Kasugai on the brand list on the left to see them) -- not as day-glo green as the Hapis. I would, however, try to find some of the ones at Trader Joes without the perservatives and food colorings (also listed on that page) and taste if those are any good.

2. Which Chickpeas are the best here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=roasted%20chickpeas&sprefix=roasted+chi%2Caps%2C219&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aroasted%20chickpeas

The Good Beans tasted really salty to me (Sea Salt flavor). Whole Foods also sells those so you can compare them to the Saffron Roads before buying in bulk. I didn't like the Cruncha ma-me (also at WF) for reasons I don't remember. Maybe there were really expensive?  (Yes I love salty crunchy snacks too.)

3. Which Seasoned Seaweed is the best here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=seasoned+seaweed&sprefix=seasoned+se%2Caps%2C184&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aseasoned+seaweed

Only had the Sea's Gifts -- they taste fine to me. They don't fill you up, though.

[schild]

Saw a list of 3 things. Got excited, then realized you are apparently an 87 year old ranchhand.

Edit: obviously responding to abagadro. Thanks trippy.

[Trippy]

2) Boneless, skinless sardine filets in a can.

Quality sardines with a bit of lemon juice on crostini are yummy.

Edit:

3) Joe's brand Belgian dark chocolate (ya, ya it's not salty, but it is bitter and oh so lovely).

Their 2 lb bars are remarkably good tasting chocolate.

[Abagadro]

You can get little 3 packs of the same stuff in normal sized bars. I've become addicted to that shit.

[Brennik]

Echoing Trippy here on the wasabi peas: Kasugai is good. Wish they'd come in cans. Out of that list I've tried Koh-kae and Hapi but they're somehow bland, Koh-kae is a different variety of peas I think since it's from Thailand so you may want to try them anyway.

[rk47]

Not sure how you guys can stand wasabi.
They're not salty to me, irritates my nose and generally gives me runny nose instead of that 'crunchy salty' goodness from standard crinkle cut potato chips.
You americans are spoiled tho, such cheap prices on snacks, down here in Singapore - most imported crap like Doritos and stuff can buy me a standard meal in the food court.

[Merusk]

Our oligarch lords know the best ways of keeping us fat and lazy.  We also pay less than a dollar for up to 44oz of sugary beverage treat in the summer months.

[Bunk]

I'm intrigued by the idea of salty chick peas. How crunchy are they? I don't have the heartiest molars.

[lamaros]

I'm intrigued by the idea of salty chick peas. How crunchy are they? I don't have the heartiest molars.

If you make them yourself you can make them as you like.

[CmdrSlack]

I have found that broasted chicken is a nice swap-out for fried. It is roughly the health equivalent of eating rotisserie chicken, so there's that as well.

[Lantyssa]

Not sure how you guys can stand wasabi.

I don't know about there, but here wasabi is mostly horseradish with a tiny amount of real wasabi.  Some people just aren't phased by the strength of horseradish like others.  My dad could slather the stuff on without a problem and I got his tastes.  Mom has a pinprick and is on fire.

Real wasabi though I find much more potent.

[Signe]

Bombay mix.  My fav was the KCB Bombay Mix and Cofresh London Mix.  You would LOVE them.  You should go down to the Asda and get some! 

You could probably get them from one of those online places online, too, though.  I used to buy Twiglets and Ritter Marzipan bars from one of them (not for me).

[apocrypha]

Anyone mentioned pickled gherkins? Vinegary, crunchy, salty. Good ones pack a punch. Not really finger food though, unless you like dripping vinegar everywhere.

Also, pickled eggs can deliver a hefty dose of umami.

[schild]

Not sure how you guys can stand wasabi.

I don't know about there, but here wasabi is mostly horseradish with a tiny amount of real wasabi.  Some people just aren't phased by the strength of horseradish like others.  My dad could slather the stuff on without a problem and I got his tastes.  Mom has a pinprick and is on fire.

Real wasabi though I find much more potent.

I'm a chili-head. The worst thing real or fake wasabi is gonna do to me is make me take a sharp inhale and then continue to eat more. If I had my way, I'd buy habanero potato chips instead of jalepeno potato chips but the wife would murder me. There's a local burger joint who had a ghost chili pepper on the menu as a special once and it didn't even faze me, but I'm pretty sure they lied and it was just habanero as the only other time I've had ghost chili I thought a fire titan had just clipped his toenails into my mouth.

[Sky]

Seriously, for a serious topic.

Make your own jerky.

Buy lean cuts on sale, my butcher knows when I'll be showing up. Top round works pretty well and goes on sale for really cheap. My biggest problem with making homemade jerky is that I'll then eat a couple pounds of beef in a day or two because I cannot stop eating the stuff. I would take my homemade jerky over bacon, maple syrup and buffalo wings. I'm completely ruined for commercial jerky.

I used to have one of those dehydrator doohickies and they're decent, but now I just use the oven. It's not going to last long enough to worry about being picky.

Also, don't dry it until it's hard. The cure takes care of that stuff.

Now I want some jerky.

[schild]

Son of a bitch, I just read how to make jerky in a regular oven. Too easy. Ugh, buying 10 lbs of beef.

Sky, what's your personal process and what marinades do you make?

[Furiously]

Squirrel girl taught me that peanuts are actually a legume. So that gets around your hatred of nuts.

[Sky]

I'm lazy. I buy the mix that is sold for hunters in the redneck store with guns. Not walmart, the real huntin' store. It's got packets of cure and spice. I always use the cure for the weight, but I sometimes use my own spice (though theirs isn't bad). So a dry spice method, I guess.

I slice it into about 1/4" strips and lay them out on the counter, blot it dry on both sides with paper towels (both sides, takes a while).
Then mix the cure and spices into a shaker and distribute half, flip strips and distribute the other half.
Strips go into a large zip top bag, squeeze the air out and into the fridge for whatever it says in the instruction (like a day or two).
Put the oven on low. Strips go onto a wire rack set into a sheet pan. I have a convection oven, so I set the rack just below the fan so it blows over the meat.
Flip occasionally. When it starts looking dry, start testing the thinner strips.
Test often.
Remove when they don't seem raw anymore, this is kind of a 'you know it when it's right' thing, I've been making jerky for over 30 years hah.
Don't dry it until it's tough!

I let it cool on the counter and then bag and put in the fridge just in case. Between testing, cooling and general snacking a 2lb round usually disappears in two days. But it's so good I can't stop. When I first did it in the oven, I used to crack the door, but I find I get decent results with the door closed on the new oven and save a lot more on the energy bill.

[Sky]

Looked at the bag I have in the cupboard. I just use the kit stuff, I'd probably buy the cure alone if it weren't limited to 7lb bags.

http://www.himtnjerky.com/

[Draegan]

I hate nuts.

Here, I'll quote that preempatively so you can just copy and paste and make a balls joke.

Code:

[quote="schild"]I hate nuts.[/quote]

Anyway, I hate nuts and love Beef Jerky. Beef Jerky costs like $25-$35 a lb for good quality shit.

What other salty snacks exist that won't kill you. Potato Chips (along with Fried Chicken) are basically my favorite foods ever, so I'd really love an alternative that won't stop my heart and make me bleed rectally if consumed in bulk.

[Samwise]

 

[Sky]

Aaand there's an email coupon for top round at $3/lb.

[MisterNoisy]

Alton Brown's beef jerky recipe is pretty fantastic, though the method is a bit...  unusual - a box fan and air-conditioner filters are involved.  I've done it that way and in the oven - the fan-dried stuff tastes better to me, but the oven is a million times quicker. 

As for that recipe, it's pretty good, though I add a bunch of black pepper, a little brown sugar and triple the red pepper content, though.

[Salamok]

Yea, Frito Lay Nacho Cheese was not something I had before I met my wife. She bought it once for a thing, it's like eating love in a glass jar with an unnatural color.

Do you close the doors and draw the blinds as you eat that stuff in shame?  Austin has gotta be some sort of queso capital, I can think of at least 5 places that have amazing queso and there is at least 1 place I can think of that has at least 5 amazing queso's.

While we are on the subject of salty awesomeness, the Ghirardelli Sea Salt Caramel and Dark Chocolate squares are amazing.

[schild]

Frito Lay Nacho Cheese is not queso.

It's a new element.

[Sky]

Just over 4lbs of top round processed and curing for the next 24 hours...thanks for the reminder, schild!

[Abagadro]

I used to make jerky in my dehydrator all the time but started to get weirded out by the warnings about nitrates I was reading.  I guess I could go back to Alton's recipe (which I liked the flavor of) rather than the dry cure I was using that had all the nitrates in it. Or I could say "fuck it" and make it with the nitrates. I had the same issue as Sky in that if I made the shit I would eat most of it in two days.

[Evildrider]

Since we are talking about foods that are bad for you... I love me some Ritz Crackers with Sharp Cheddar Easy Cheese.  Yes, the stuff in the can.

[Abagadro]

The high sodium content was also a factor in me abandoning jerky a bit.  I need one of the scienticians around here to weigh in.

[Lantyssa]

It's jerky.  Die happy and well-preserved.

I've had to pass by Buckee's three times in the past two days on long road trips.  Jerky was acquired in each instance.  You may not want to listen to an addict.

[Signe]

Garlic Parmesan Thin Triscuits... God, I love them... and some of that sharp Cheddar spread but not in a can.   

[Chimpy]

Garlic Parmesan Thin Triscuits... God, I love them... and some of that sharp Cheddar spread but not in a can.   

Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil ones are awesome too.

[Sky]

I just had some foil pack olives with lemon oregano seasoning that were really tasty but hella salty. Jalapeno stuffed olives are good if you're a pepper person.

[schild]

I despise olives. Not sure why either, they should be up my alley. They just disagree with my mouth and mouthparts in every conceivable way.