Seriouseats.com recently taste tested Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.

The Winner: Madhouse Munchies!

(Proudly distributed by Native Maine!)

Even at their worst, kettle chips are a near-perfect snack. It's hard to go wrong with thin slices of potato fried to a crisp and doused in salt, and kettle chips, which are fried in small batches to facilitate greater control of oil temperature to optimize texture and flavor. The kettle cooking approach takes these perfect guilty treats to a new level of, um, perfection and guilt.

A panel of nine Serious Eaters participated in a double-blind taste test, ranking each chip on a scale of one to five in three categories:

• Saltiness
• Potatoeyness
• Texture

After the tasting, the brands were revealed and the panel debated their relative strengths and merits. Scores were tallied in a spreadsheet, and comments were analyzed in a totally expert and scientific manner.

Most Classic Kettle Chip: Madhouse Munchies!

The Brands They Tried:

Utz Natural
Herr's
Gibble's*
Dirty
Wise
Grandma Utz's
Shop Rite
Boulder Canyon
Whole Foods 365
Madhouse Munchies
Deep River Snacks
Lay's
Good Health
North Fork
Cape Cod
Terra Yukon Gold

Due to the high degree of variance in scoring among the tasting panel and the polarizing nature of some brands, it was impossible to pick an overall favorite. One chip, however, stood out as a crowd-pleaser, with few detractors and many comments that noted its classic, pleasing taste and texture. This brand of chip, which wins the coveted title of "Most Classic Kettle Chip", is Madhouse Munchies, a small, Vermont-based company founded in 1996.

Tasters praised this chip's "good balance" and "clean potato finish." One taster called it "the conventional pick." While this was our most popular chip, It didn't win as many raves as some more unusual options. For complete details, check out seriouseats.com. To start serving the best kettle chips in the world, call Native Maine today!