Lay's USA Brazilian Picanha

Another day, another bag of Lay's Passport to Flavors Chips. Today we make a stop in Brazil for "Picanha", a traditional skewered meat roasted over charcoal. The Picanha in particular comes from the Rump of the cow. The barbecued beef is served with Chimichurri sauce.

This bag, this one right here. It tastes like basic carne asada, ok?

What is going on Lay's? When you open the bag, the smell is pure molasses-sugary-sweetness. Idk why!!! If there is any sweetness in the flavor, it is barely noticeable and only on the first few chips, so why the sweet smell is so overwhelming, I haven't a clue. The flavor is beef definitely, and what I refer to as "generic meat seasonings"... there is not a single hint of Chimichurri to be tasted (which is unfortunate). As you eat further down the bag, the seasoning builds and you get a really hearty seasoned meat flavor. There is NOTHING wrong with it. But it ISN'T Brazilian BBQ. The potato, btw, is solid, nothing to talk about really. So, the stand out was that generic seasoning, and then my friend described it as carne asada, and the whole world suddenly made sense. IDK WHY LAYS, but you made Carne Asada chips, and you tried to hustle them to American who may not know the difference between Latin meat seasonings. SHAME!

But, in all honesty, these are tasty, so don't listen to my complaints and grab a bag now before they are gone for good.

Gotta Get At This: Lay's USA Passport to Flavor promotion

Lay's USA just announced 4 new flavors that will be released this month of a limited time. "Brazilian Picanha", "Chinese Szechuan Chicken", "Wavy Greek Tzatziki" and "Kettle Cooked Indian Tikka Masala".
Are you a Lay's nerd noticing something fishy here? Me too. "Wavy Greek Tzatziki" and "Kettle Cooked Indian Tikka Masala" already exist Lay's!! Don't try to trick me!! These are both previously released Costco exclusive flavors. Read my review of  Tzatziki here.
THAT BEING SAID, the flavors will still be new to the general public. And won't come in ridiculous giant sized bags. The promotion is a fun tie in with the Summer Olympics in Brazil. These types of flavors haven't really been explored in the US... so it will be nice change on shelves.

Flavors: For those out of the know; "Brazilian Picanha" is a favored cut of beef at Brazilian Churrascarias, "Chinese Szechuan Chicken" is a deep fried or stir fried Chicken dish that uses the spicy Szechuan peppers for the Szechuan province in China along with Garlic, "Greek Tzatziki" is a Yogurt dip popular in Mediterranean cuisine that is seasoned with Mint, Cucumber, and Garlic, and "Indian Tikka Masala" is a Chicken dish popular in India and the UK composed of Yogurt Marinated Chicken that is then added to a Tomato based sauce with spice mix.
All of these flavors sound bold and exciting.
They will be available in the USA July 25th. Will you be searching for any of these?

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Hungary Barbecue Csirkeszárny, Sült Kolbász, Velencei Pepperoni, & Brazil Salsa

"Barbeque Chicken Wings" & "Fried Sausage"

I'm guessing these are limited edition for the UEFA Champions League tournament. As the tournament is over they might be disappearing soon.

"Venetian Pepperoni" & "Brazil Salsa"

These new flavors are part of a promotion for a concert in Budapest called "Music Killers". The concert/ concert series began on Jan 29th. The flavors look to be permanent, but Hungary has sooo many flavors it's hard to tell what will stay and what will go. 

Gotta Get At This: Lay's Romania Ginga Puyñio and Ginga Cabraçao

Lay's Romania is getting into the Rio spirit with two Brazilian/Celebrity inspired flavors. "Ginga Puyñio" is a flavor inspired by Romanian rapper Puya and "Ginga Cabraçao" is inspired by Romanian TV personality/athlete Cabral. "Ginga" is slang for soul in Portugese... so the names are a play on The soul of Puya and the soul of Cabral with a Portugese twist. I haven't been able to find what the flavors exactly are, but the Cabral bag is the spicier of the two.
Puya and Cabral have been the spokesmen for Lay's Romania for a while now and it seems the unlikely duo have resonated with Romanians, so it's no surprise they are getting their own Summer flavors. I'd love to try these and see what they're all about, but Romanian Lay's are hard to come by here in California.

Margarita Colombia Copa De Los Sabores Brasil Asado Brasilero

I had the good fortune of being in Miami last week and my awesome Aunt Gladys (shout out, lol!) was sweet enough to bring me some chips from Colombia. Today, we are checking out the Brazilian flavored "Asado Brasilero" aka "Brazilian Barbecue" aka "Churrasco" (depending on what you call it where you are from). This flavor came packed in a multipack with it's Round 2 competitor "Jamon Serrano". A supermarket multipack contained 6 bags of the Brazilian flavor and 6 bags of the Spanish flavor, and encouraged buyers to taste both flavors and vote for their favorite. As we are already on Round 3, It has already been announced that this flavor won Round 2. 

So, let's get to the review. I tasted this bag with my cousin Janette and her boyfriend, both of whom had never tried Colombian chips before. The 3 of us basically had the same feelings about this bag. That overall feeling being that it is pretty dull.
When you open the bag you get the weak smell of beef. You pull a chip out of the bag and, as with all Margarita chips, you see a beautiful lightly golden perfect chip. There are no burnt bits, no huge air bubbles, you aren't picking at small flakes of chip at the bottom of the bag. It is the Typical Margarita high quality chip. At first bite, I tasted almost nothing, the flavor was incredibly subtle. But about 20 to 30 seconds after the first chip, my mouth tasted like I had just eaten a steak. It was weird. Then the more chips I ate, the more the flavor built. And this accumulation of flavor was building at the back of my mouth after the chip had been eaten. But, even after finishing the bag, I never felt satisfied. I never felt like I got to taste anything special. The meat flavor that does come across is different from any other bag of BBQ flavor I have ever tried. These chips had little to no salt, so the chip had almost the taste of unseasoned meat. There was no garlic, no onion, no herbs, no barbecue sauce, no flame grilled, and probably no salt; none of the additions that take a flavor from one-note to being more complex and interesting. In all honestly, it tasted like someone boiled a steak and soaked the chips in beef water before frying them. The flavor was just so DULL and boring. Now, I do have to mention that because Margarita uses such high quality potatoes, the potato flavor comes through strongly. You get rich potato flavor across your entire palate, but unfortunately, the seasoning on them does not do them justice.
"Asado Brasilero" is meant to be skewered, slow-roasted, seasoned, beef that is elegantly brought to your table and sliced thinly and served. This bag does little to represent that wonderfully unique preparation. I wasn't a fan, and although the people I tried it with enjoyed the novelty, they did not think the flavor was anything special either. I wouldn't recommend this bag to anyone, but if you want a beef flavor and are not a fan of Barbecue bags, this may be for you.

Contest: Lay's Perú Copa De Los Sabores Round 2

Who is ready for Round 2?? With Italy's "Pizza" winning Round 1, Peru has released the flavors for the next stage. France's "Queso Gratinado", which is basically baked Cheese, and Brazil's "Al Estilo Rodizio" which I guess is Peru's way of saying "Rotisserie Barbecue" which is basically the same flavor every country has for Brazil; "Brazilian Barbecue" or "Churrasco". The flavor has proved popular, so it could take the round. But, I get more excited about the new stuff. So France's weird Cheese Gratin thing sounds pretty awesome lol.

Sound off below and let us know what you think...

Contest: Lay's Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, & Honduras Copa De Sabores Round 2

Round 2 has begun for the South American nations participating in "Copa De Sabores".
As with Round 1, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, & Honduras all have the same flavors for Round 2...

 

 Brazil is represented by "Churrasco" or "Brazilian Barbecue" if you should like to call it that, and Sweden is represented by "Queso con Especias" or "Cheese with Spices/Herbs". We've seen this flavor represent Brazil in a lot of countries, and it won Round 1 in Colombia. But, the Swedish flavor is new and could be fun!

As for the Dominican Republic, it is also offering up a new and a not so new flavor...

 

Dominican Republic has chosen flavor to represent itself in the game; "Pollo al Limon" or "Lime Chicken". Sounds DELISH!! While they've chosen a popular flavor to represent Spain; "Jamon Iberico" aka "Iberico Ham". mmm. Looks like it will be a tough round in the D.R.

So, what are your thoughts this round? Who will emerge victorious? Have you been able to snag any of these World Cup tie-ins? Let us know down below!

Contest: Margarita Colombia Copa De Los Sabores Round 2

Round 2 has begun in Colombia. Round 1 saw Argentina's "Churrasco" win. Round 2 introduces us to 2 more new flavors; Spain's "Jamon Serrano" aka "Serrano Ham" and Brazil's "Asado Brasilero" aka "Brazilian Steak/Barbecue". The bag of "Serrano Ham" also comes as "Onduladas" or "Ruffles"-style chips. My favorite bag of all time is a bag of Ruffles from Spain that are Ham flavored.... so these are probably the most epic thing of all time ever!!! And "Brazilian BBQ" doesn't sound too bad either. I guess I've got some calls to make ;p

Who are you rooting for??

Contest: Lay's Arabia & Chipsy Egypt Flavors Cup Part 2

3 more flavors have been highlighted online recently. To read the first part of this article click here!
Unlike the Flavor Cup happening in South America, the Middle East has chosen to have all 5 flavors compete at once with the bag getting the most votes becoming the unchallenged winner.
I already told you guys about Mexican "Chilli con Carne" as well as South African "Cheese"... but here are the final 3 competitors.

 Spain is getting their "Black Olives" shown off with this bag. I don't know what a bag of "Black Olive" flavored Chips will taste like... hopefully similar to "Pickle" flavored. By that I mean, sour and pleasant with Salt.

 Japan's flavor is "Sweet & Sour Sauce". Sounds kind of gross. But whatever. Also, isn't "Sweet & Sour sauce" Chinese???

Brazil gets the same if not similar flavor everyone has in this contest; "Brazilian BBQ". But hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.














So, is there anything here you've just got to try? Let us know below!

Contest: Lay's Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, & Honduras Copa De Sabores

The Copa is SPREADING!! "Copa De Sabores" aka the "Flavor Cup" has spread like wildfire throughout South America. The contest is now being held in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Panama, El Salvador, and Honduras. Not to mention the South American nations we already know about; Chile, Colombia, and Peru. ANNNND the Middle Eastern nations all doing their version. Looks like it is going to be a BUSY season for us Chip Hunters!

So, first, lets talk about Guatemala...

EXACTLY like Colombia and Peru, we are seeing ITALY vs ARGENTINA as the 2 flavors to be voted upon. But here we have some sauces up for debate. Italy's offering being a "Pomodoro Sauce" and Argentina's being a "Chimichurri" sauce.

More importantly, the Guatemalan website FINALLY explains the rules of the Flavor cup, which has been driving me mad. Basically, you vote for your flavor in each round starting with the first round (Italy vs. Argentina), you have to register for this vote. If you can pick the winner every round you have the opportunity to win prizes. So this is just round 1 of  3 (3 being the final round). If you pick the winner all the way to the end, you can win the Grand Prize.

Check it out, so the winner of Phase 1 will go against the winner of Phase 2 in Phase 3, and that is the winner of the Flavor Cup.

(you guys have no idea how excited I was that they had this chart to explain this damn confusing ass contest to me... seriously)



In the Dominican Republic, we finally get a fresh face from Brazil...

Italy's flavor is represented by "Italian Dressing", which sounds AMAZING on chips! And Brasil is showing off "Salsa Brasileña", this has me a bit confused... the picture is obviously stewed beef with maybe some Garlic... but "Salsa Brasileña" is defined online as a salad dressing. The literal translation is "Brazilian Sauce" which doesn't help me figure out what it is whatsoever. So, I guess, if you try it, let us know what it is lol.

Panama, El Salvador, and Honduras all have the SAME EXACT flavors as Guatemala, (Italian Salsa Pomodoro & Argentinean Chimichurri) so I'm not gonna talk about them again for this round.

Let the HUNT begin!!

Contest: Lay's Chile Copa De Los Sabores

MORE! More glorious contest flavors are popping up! Pepsi Chile announced some flavors that will be available now for their own "Copa De Los Sabores"... and wonderfully, they are different from the other South American contest flavors. Check em out below...

 From Brasil, "Feijoada", a stew dish of Beans, Beef, and Pork.

 From the home nation of Chile, "Ensalada Chilena" or "Chilean Salad", a Tomato-based salad dressed up with onion, coriander, olive oil, and chili peppers (similar to Italian Caprese but no cheese).

 Spain's "Chorizo Iberico" or "Iberico Chorizo" is pretty straight forward. A spicy, dried sausage.

and Finally, from Peru, "Pollo a la Brasa" aka "Rotisserie Chicken". Again, straight forward and delicious sounding.

These rich and exciting flavors should do well in Chile, especially on the wavy style chips that are standard there... as the ridges will hold more seasoning and add more robust potato flavor. The other thing I am LOVING is the packaging. How fantastic do these bags look with the big Country name and the delicious food photos? Not to mention, the use of the Nation's colors. Looks much more modern and hip when compared to the bags from the other South American nations who are having their own Flavor Cup Contests.

What are your thoughts? Sound off below!