Queen of the taties: Poppy O’Toole
(Picture: Handout)The art of crafting the perfect crisp sandwich is a delicate one: a sarnie with too few crisps means the crucial crunch is curtailed, but too many crisps can lead to a textural catastrophe. Trying to match different flavours together can turn into a taste-bud trainwreck.
It is something sandwich titan Subway evidently recognises, as the chain has come up with a list of what it claims are the 10 tastiest crisp sandwich pairings. To do so, the fast food behemoth has sought the help of a university food scientist — and enlisted a Michelin-trained chef turned TikTok star to advise customers on how to perfect the combo.
Poppy O’Toole, who honed her craft at the acclaimed Birmingham restaurant Purnell’s and women’s members’ club AllBright before turning to social media when the pandemic left her jobless, has come on board as a “crisp sandwich sommelier”. Dubbed the “Potato Queen” for her spud-cooking expertise, which has attracted some 2.1m followers on TikTok, O’Toole will be visiting Subway branches to impart her wisdom.
Meanwhile, Dr Stuart Farrimond, a leading food scientist, analysed “key flavour compounds found in a list of iconic sandwich fillings and crisps” and used “flavour science and consumer testing by the British public to reveal the tastiest crisps sandwich combinations”.
So, which sarnies made the cut? Top of the pile is chicken tikka with ready salted — “the salty seasoning in the crisps enhances an already diverse bouquet of flavours in the chicken,” according to Dr Farrimond — with chicken salad and cheese and onion, steak and prawn cocktail, and BLT and salt and vinegar also making the list. The full top 10 is below.
Speaking of her new role, O’Toole said: “I grew up eating crisp sandwiches and, back in the day, these consisted of crisps pressed between two boring pieces of white bread. But the crisp sandwich has evolved and is now a delicacy in its own right, so I’m both honoured and excited to be accepting the job of Subway’s first Crisp Sandwich Sommelier in partnership with Walkers — imparting some of the flavour expertise and techniques from my Michelin training to elevate this humble dish and take it to a new level.”
We’re taking the whole thing with a pinch of salt (and vinegar?), but if you did want to recreate these supposedly god-tier sandwich combos, here’s the top 10:
- Chicken Tikka and Ready Salted Crisps
- Tuna Mayonnaise and Prawn Cocktail Crisps
- Meatball and Ready Salted Crisps
- Chicken Salad and Cheese & Onion Crisps
- Cheese and Salt & Vinegar Crisps
- Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato and Salt & Vinegar Crisps
- Ham and Cheese & Onion Crisps
- Turkey and Cheese & Onion Crisps
- Salami and Ready Salted Crisps
- Steak and Prawn Cocktail Crisps
