Junk Food Nation, I know on Sundays I usually do hypotheticals, but I have a little rant to give.  Today, my beloved Buffalo Bills play the New England Patriots in Buffalo. And I’ve seen two different commentators state the Bills are going to lose, because “Well, they’ve lost 15 times in a row to the Pats, and its not going to end here.” Um, what? That’s. Complete. BS.

The loss streak has zippy, zero, nothing to do with how the Bills or Pats will perform today. Am I saying the Bills with avoid loss 16?  No, I’m not guaranteeing anything one way or the other. The Pats are favored because they are a GOOD TEAM. To suggest the streak has ANYTHING to do with predictive performance is absurd.

I’m not going to get into any statistical mumbo jumbo, but the point is this: every season is different, and every game is different and a statistical individuality.  Maybe if this was week 16, a prior meeting between Pats-Bills might have some weight. But games that happened in 2009?? Those teams and these teams are totally different.

When the Lakers and Celtics faced each other in the 2010 NBA Finals, idiotic sports commentators kept comparing the Celtics nine postseason head to head victories in the Finals versus the Lakers three postseason victories, concluding that the Lakers had a tough battle ahead.  Really? Those Finals victories in the 50s and 60s really have so much influence on today’s game, huh?

Any team, especially in football, can win any day of the year. The Pats are favored over the Bills, as they should be. But I can guarantee that nothing that happened a year, two years or three years ago will have any impact on this game.

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Pringles Chipotle Hot Sauce Potato Crisps!

The Money Shot

You know me: display the words “LIMITED” and I’m grabbing it off the shelf as quickly as possible.  These Pringles I found in a dark corner at Walmart, and I was excited to try them. Any chip that has a big ol bottle of hot sauce on the label makes me interested.

The trouble is I’ve had such bad luck with any Chipotle snack I’ve had in the past. Not spicy enough. Not peppery enough. Would these be any different?

Limited Time!

Aesthetically, I like the way the design team put this can label together. There’s something pleasing to my eye seeing the upside down bottle of hot sauce on the cylindrical can – it all lines up so perfectly. The placement of the logo, the way the words “Limited Time Only” are wrapped around the neck of the bottle.. it’s all so perfect. *glow*

Ok, moving on.

Big ol Drop

Love the imagery here – hot sauce right out of the bottle directly onto the chip itself.  Although, why the HELL is there a sombrero in the background??? I’m sure there’s something offensive going on here.

Jumping peppers!

A chipotle pepper is a smoke-dried jalapeno, and it usually looks brown and shriveled… I guess highlighting fresher undried red and green peppers is more visually appealing for consumers.

Why is "hot sauce" so low on the ingredient list?

The ingredient list bothered me, because the first ingredient that is spicy is paprika and then “hot sauce” a number of ingredients later… and these all are listed in the 2% or less area!  Not good. Notice nowhere on the list is chipotle peppers.  Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Oh, snap

<nerdy laughing> Heh heh heh….there’s a clock on the O.

Oooo, looks peppery

These Pringles Chipotle Hot Sauce Potato Crisps looked good – pulling the chips out of the can, the peppery covering was clearly evident.  There was a nice sprinkling of dark red/brown powder over the edges of the chip, as if they were ground up dried chipotle peppers. (Of course, we know from the ingredient list its not.) But still, a decent presentation.  Would’ve liked to see more powder all over ALL of the chips but I’ll take what I can get.

Pepper-licious

The taste…interesting.  Like so many snacky predecessors, this wasn’t spicy at all.  After eating ten chips in a row, a SLIGHT tingle…very slight. But the taste that struck me immediately was vinegar, which I like, but wasn’t expecting.  I know this is a hot sauce flavored chip, but I wanted more spice, less vinegar.  Still, with the garlic powder and MSG, it was a tasy chip – just not the chipotle I expected.  No smokiness, no pepperiness, not spicy… Sigh.  I may need to stop trying “chipotle flavored” chips.

Happy Football Sunday, folks.  LET’S GO BUFFALO!

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy