International Incident Party: Salt

I admit this month’s International Incident Party stumped me a little. Salt. Huh. When you Google “Salt recipes”, you get about 23,100,000 results. Ok, then.  I put my thinking cap on…

I really wanted a recipe that made salt the star.  I had a few ideas, mainly something with salted caramel. I toyed with macarons with a salted caramel ganache filling but ended up making some different macs for this month’s Mactweets but since I had one batch of a different flavour turn out (post coming next week), it might have been pushing my luck to expect two successful batches in one month LOL! 😉

I was quite taken with the idea of combining sweet and salty. My favourite snack discovery from our California road trip this past summer was pretzel M&Ms – I love that sweet and salty combination. That got me thinking to my Stratford trip in the spring where we visited Chocolate Barr’s who make not only a wicked version of chocolate pretzels but also some fabulous chocolate coated potato chips. I know, I know, sounds a bit odd but they are really good.  Then I remembered that Neil had made salted bacon chocolate (and it was really tasty) so figured I could do homemade potato chips dipped in salted chocolate.

Since I don’t own a mandoline, it took me a couple of potatoes to get really thin slices which I fried until crispy.

I did not salt the chips since I thought that might be too much with salt sprinkled on the chocolate too.

When Neil made the bacon chocolate, the only thing he admitted could have been improved on was the texture of the finished product.  He did not temper the chocolate so it wasn’t shiny and glossy (but it tasted great!).  So I read up on tempering and followed the instructions in The Joy of Cooking and was somewhat successful, though it wasn’t as shiny as I would have liked.  I half-dipped the chips in and sprinkled with a little sea salt we picked up in Brittany last Christmas.

I really liked the taste of these – the sweet and salty was in perfect balance and the crisp potato chip gave it a nice texture.  Granted, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I was pleased with how they came out. The salt was definitely the star.

I had some leftover chocolate so I added a sprinkle of the salt and poured it into the coolest molds ever, courtesy of my friend Martha.

Could it be….?

Yup, it’s salted chocolate Lego!  Again, not as shiny as I would have liked but still delicious.  The sea salt was “sel de mer fin” so it didn’t have the crunch that Lindt Fleur de Sel (possibly my favourite chocolate ever) does so it was melt-in-your-mouth and the salt taste surprising and unexpected.  I used Brix Dark Chocolate which was lovely and smooth with no bitterness.  Next time? Work on my tempering. But the taste was spot on.

Check out what everyone else brought to the Salt Party below:

If you’re from Ontario, did you check out my Taste the Season giveaway yet?  Closes November 21st.

I am thrilled to announce I have made it to Round 8 of Project Food Blog. I am one of 24 people left from an original 600 contestants.  Thank you all for reading and voting (and watching my video!) – my next post (getting creative with baked goods featuring pumpkin) will be up next Sunday.

83 thoughts on “International Incident Party: Salt”

  1. Who doesn’t love the combination of sweet, chocolate and salty? Even as a kid it’s what we got with popcorn and M&M’s, right.

    These look great; and am now craving the potato chip cookie that I make occasionally. Yes…you heard that right.

    It has crushed potato chips in it and so has a subtle salt and sweet flavor; now thinking next time it needs to be taken to another level with a chocolate drizzle. All your fault.

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  3. I could totally go for some of your chips right now. I love that combination of sweet and salty. The photos turned out beautifully, too, with the individual grains of salt showing through so clearly.

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  4. Such cute treats these are! Love the idea of both the salted chocolate dipped potato chips and the legos! And congratulations on pfb! I am routing for you to go all the way!

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  5. Chocolate Lego! OMG, my son and I would love to have those blocks. I better get those molds.

    I have a savory tooth and with that said, SALT is the star in my kitchen.

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  6. my goodness Mardi, what a post! sweet+salty is my fave addiction. love the pretzel m&m’s (I can bring you a bag along with the coconut one’s if you’d like) and those chocolate potato chips would be devoured! And love those awesome Lego molds! Where can I get one? =)

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  7. I feel like building something substantial with those chocolate Legos… maybe my hips? 😉 Those choc covered potato crisps look positively decadent and delicious!

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  8. OMG!! A LEGO MOLD!!! Oh… and this reminds me of just me… dunking McDonald’s French Fries into a Chocolate Sundae… MMMmm… sooo goood.. but… LEGO!

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  9. I am just AMAZED at your creativity. Chocolate and potato chips?! YUM!!! And the chocolate salted legos are just pure genius and not to mention, so fun! Great job! 🙂

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  10. i love the sweet, salty combo too – best of both worlds – and your chips look delicious! when my grandmother was still living, i used to drive up to northern michigan fairly often to spend time with her, and along the way, i’d pass this little family-run chocolate shop that was sort of in the middle of nowhere. i’d seen it for years and had never stopped, figuring i wasn’t going to find anything special out in the middle of nowhere in east-central michigan. i finally stopped one day and found out just how wrong i was. and my favorite handmade treat – and huge surprise? chocolate dipped potato chips! i haven’t thought of those in years – thanks for bringing back that sweet memory. 🙂

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  11. A few years back I went to a Vosge chocolate event in NYC and they had served chocolate on potato chips. The was an amazing taste, I’m sure yours are better because their chocolate wasn’t melted on!!! Great job!

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  12. I think you did a wonderful job on tempering Mardi, there definitely is a sheen there and look at the salt sparkle! I totally agree, what an awesome chocolate mold. Very cool.

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  13. These are lovely! Has me thinking about sweet potatoes too. Your chips are particularly tasty looking. Tempering is tricky but I think your chocolate looks great! I would buy these!

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  14. These are awesome Marla, what a great idea and I’m dying to taste one, the chocolatey sweet, the sour of the salt…. Mmmm, delish 🙂

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  16. The lego blocks are so cute! And I must say the idea of the salty chips and dark chocolate sounds incredible. Think it’d be one of those scenarios of “once you pop, you can’t stop”. 😉

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  17. Absolutely gorgeous! You can almost taste everything from your description and photos. The legos are beyond cute. Congrats on the contest too!

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  18. I am the sweet lover in the house, my husband the salt lover. These chips would be the perfect snack for both of us and the grand-kids would certainly get a kick out of the chocolate lego block. They would make a great stocking stuffer idea for Christmas!

    p.s. I just found M&M Pretzels for sale in our local grocery story 🙂

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  20. I don’t know how I missed this post. The chips and Legos look spectacular and I know I’d have loved them both. (I was sorry I didn’t get to taste the bacon chocolates, after all). I love dark chocolate pretzels, sea salt is my secret weapon when I make choc. chip cookies, and I’ve even sprinkled flakes of salt on my chocolate ice cream on occasion, so I know homemade potato chips like these would be sublime.

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