Photo: Claire Lower
“Where do you get your ideas?” is a question I get fairly often, and one I do not have one answer for. Some of them, like duck fat magic shell, come from my weird little brain; some of them, like cucumber spaghetti, are inspired by the work of others; and some of them are straight up suggestions that I try and taste, then share for the benefit of all. This chip and dip combination is that last one.
This suggestion comes to us from former Lifehacker managing editor Virginia Smith via Twitter:
Someone on TikTok recommended mixing Worcestershire sauce into sour cream as the perfect pairing for salt & vinegar chips, tried it last night and my life will never be the same...it creates basically a fish n chips flavor experience (like the full umami of a good thicc fry with vinegar and maybe a lil tartar sauce).
Our current deputy editor, Joel Cunningham, tagged me under Virginia’s tweet, alerting me to the potential hack.
About an hour after seeing the tweet, I walked from my friend’s apartment to Whole Foods, and grabbed sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and a bag of salt and vinegar Kettle Chips. I then peeped the original content, and mixed the sauce and soured dairy until it was “light brown” as suggested in the video. I dipped a chip, and put it in my mouth.
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It was an intense experience.
The simple-looking, humble-sounding combination packs quite the punch. It is intensely tangy and incredibly salty, almost too intense to be described as “delicious,” and yet, I could not stop shoveling it into my mouth.
It was like a savory Warhead candy—so full of flavor it’s almost overwhelming, but it backs off at the very last second, like a truck playing chicken in oncoming traffic.
The chips are obviously sour and salty, and the dip is sour, salty, a little sweet, and a little funky. It should be too much, but it all works. I do, however, recommend using the Lea Perrins brand Worcestershire sauce. The Whole Foods I went to did not carry it, only their dumb store brand, which does not have tamarind or anchovies, two ingredients that make Worcestershire sauce so special. (Particularly the anchovies, which would have brought a touch more umami.)
You can, obviously, eat this dip with plain potato chips for a more reasonable experience. Virginia told me the dip also works well on a crudités platter. But there is something exhilarating about subjecting one’s palate to such an extreme experience, over and over again, until your palate stings from the duress inflicted by acid, salt, and crunchy chips.
