14 DAY TRIAL // Traditionally, the United Kingdom loves its chips, as evidenced by the fact that people eat them everywhere, from dinner parties to evening dinners, during hikes or walks on the beach, on the street or in fancy restaurants. Trying to understand what exactly makes this dish so popular, researchers at the Leeds University have conducted a study on many brands, types, shapes, and sizes of fries, gathered from all around the country. They have found that the vast majority of these products have various types of aromas sprinkled on them, which makes them taste and smell heavenly.
“Whether oven-cooked or fried, the humble chip doesn't smell of just chips – the aroma is much more complex and probably explains why chips are everyone's favorite,” Dr. Graham Clayton, the expert in charge of leading the investigation for the National Chip Week, which started on Monday, explains. He and his team have conducted a number of scientific tests on the food they collected, and have separated a vast number of ingredients from the fries, in order to asses exactly what combinations change the final aroma for the best.
According to the team, some types of fries have an “incendiary cocktail” of flavors, including scents of butterscotch, cocoa, cheese and even flowers. “Aromas including butterscotch, cocoa, onion, cheese and would you believe... ironing boards, all combine to help make chips one of Britain's iconic dishes,” the expert says. During the research, an “aroma-meter” machine has been used to asses the ingredients that could not be sniffed by the scientists, as well as their intensities.
All the figures have been written down in the end. The conclusion the group has come to is that double-baked potatoes have the most rich and colorful aroma, and they are also the ones that taste better. It doesn't matter if they are fried or oven-baked, what makes a difference is that the double-treatment they get, as far as spices and aromas go, make for an incredibly appealing meal.
“Perhaps these findings will see chips treated like wine in the future – with chip fans turning into buffs as they impress their friends with eloquent descriptions of their favorite fries,” Clayton adds. In the UK, dishes such as fish and chips, consisting of fries and deep-fried cod or haddock, are extremely popular, but almost everyone has his or her favorite shop from where they buy their fast-food, and only rarely move to other places to look for their purchase.
The researchers maintain that this happens as they become accustomed to a specific mix of flavorings and aromas that the diners they visit use all the time. Any other taste will not be mentally perceived as the correct one.