Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sweet: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Chile, savory, porky, sour/fermented
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Crispy chiles with both soft fatty and crispy pork bits
Ingredients: Dried chili (45%), pork crackling (31.67%), fried garlic (6.2%), fried shallots (6.1%), vegetable oil (3.3%), crispy flour (2.67%), white sesame (1.77%), cayenne pepper (1.5%), other spices (1%), ground garlic, non-iodized salt (0.16%)
Mae E Pim is a snack and food brand of Thailand. From what I’ve been able to find they seem to make mostly these fried chile snacks but also make fish sauce. They don’t seem to have a huge online presence though these are available on Amazon, which is where I obtained this back. Strangely they seem to have much greater distribution in the UK and have much lower prices there. I’m not sure why they decided to make the UK a focus region as opposed to the USA but I am hoping we see more stores carrying them here as they are a bit pricy. Still, I’ve enjoyed the versions of this snack I’ve tried before and with the unique spin of this flavor having pork cracklings I was excited to try.
Their graphic design is on point and the label featuring an animated woman carrying a cute pig is eye catching. The back label is entirely in Thai however machine translation seems to do a good job with it. As with other Thai snacks I’ve tried I do appreciate that they include the percentage of each ingredient on the label. By weight the prominent ingredient is dried chiles at 45% followed by the pork crackling at 31.7%. From there the percentages drop with fried aromatics including garlic (both fried garlic and garlic powder), white sesame seeds, flour, and cayenne pepper for extra heat. There is an undisclosed portion of “other spices” as well plus salt. I can’t quite identify the other spices used in these but they do have a more Thai flavor profile than the Sichuan Kong Chili crispy chiles I’ve tried before, and there’s a bit of a bright herbal note that could be fennel as there’s a bit of an anise tinge to it as well, and I believe also perhaps white pepper which has a particularly pungent and funky aroma and flavor compared to black pepper. There also seems to be a slight fishy flavor so perhaps there is some fish sauce involved. The texture on these is a mix between the crunchy fried chiles which are pleasantly crisp, especially with the sesame seeds coating them, and the soft fatty pieces of pork crackling. The aroma is also a bit exotic with the smell of the chiles mixing with the aroma of the sesame and other spices.
Compared to Chili Boys Crispy Chili Crisps, a US brand that’s made in Thailand, Mae E Pim fried chiles are a step spicier and have a brighter flavor. The Chili Boys crisps reminded me a lot of a chili oil such as Lao Gan Ma just made into a solid snackable form. While Mae E Pim does have an element of that deep rich savory umami background the chiles used seem to lean more towards a the brighter fruitier end of the spectrum. There’s also a bit of a fermented sour flavor, one that I can sometimes get from Thai chiles, but it’s not unwelcome here. The real gem with these is, as it says on the front of the bag, the pork cracklings mixed it. You get soft fatty bits as well as crispy crunchy skin bits both of which add to the experience not just in texture but in flavor. That pork flavor adds depth and richness to the Mae E Pim Crispy Chili Snack and makes it more filling than the pure chili based ones. The shallots and garlic also fill out the flavor profile and add the savory fulfilling elements that the chiles themselves don’t have. Like the other crispy chili snacks I’ve tried these do stain your fingers red and bits of chile will stick to your hands as you eat, so having napkins around is a must,
Mae E Pim Crispy Chili with Pork Crackling gets my recommendation. It’s a new spin on the traditional crispy chili snack and seems to be high quality. From what I can tell from the ingredients list on the bag these are also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners. The brand makes several other flavors incuding a Tom Yum flavor that I look forward to trying in the future.
by MagnusAlbusPater
2 Comments
Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sweet: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Chile, savory, porky, sour/fermented
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Crispy chiles with both soft fatty and crispy pork bits
Ingredients: Dried chili (45%), pork crackling (31.67%), fried garlic (6.2%), fried shallots (6.1%), vegetable oil (3.3%), crispy flour (2.67%), white sesame (1.77%), cayenne pepper (1.5%), other spices (1%), ground garlic, non-iodized salt (0.16%)
Mae E Pim is a snack and food brand of Thailand. From what I’ve been able to find they seem to make mostly these fried chile snacks but also make fish sauce. They don’t seem to have a huge online presence though these are available on Amazon, which is where I obtained this back. Strangely they seem to have much greater distribution in the UK and have much lower prices there. I’m not sure why they decided to make the UK a focus region as opposed to the USA but I am hoping we see more stores carrying them here as they are a bit pricy. Still, I’ve enjoyed the versions of this snack I’ve tried before and with the unique spin of this flavor having pork cracklings I was excited to try.
Their graphic design is on point and the label featuring an animated woman carrying a cute pig is eye catching. The back label is entirely in Thai however machine translation seems to do a good job with it. As with other Thai snacks I’ve tried I do appreciate that they include the percentage of each ingredient on the label. By weight the prominent ingredient is dried chiles at 45% followed by the pork crackling at 31.7%. From there the percentages drop with fried aromatics including garlic (both fried garlic and garlic powder), white sesame seeds, flour, and cayenne pepper for extra heat. There is an undisclosed portion of “other spices” as well plus salt. I can’t quite identify the other spices used in these but they do have a more Thai flavor profile than the Sichuan Kong Chili crispy chiles I’ve tried before, and there’s a bit of a bright herbal note that could be fennel as there’s a bit of an anise tinge to it as well, and I believe also perhaps white pepper which has a particularly pungent and funky aroma and flavor compared to black pepper. There also seems to be a slight fishy flavor so perhaps there is some fish sauce involved. The texture on these is a mix between the crunchy fried chiles which are pleasantly crisp, especially with the sesame seeds coating them, and the soft fatty pieces of pork crackling. The aroma is also a bit exotic with the smell of the chiles mixing with the aroma of the sesame and other spices.
Compared to Chili Boys Crispy Chili Crisps, a US brand that’s made in Thailand, Mae E Pim fried chiles are a step spicier and have a brighter flavor. The Chili Boys crisps reminded me a lot of a chili oil such as Lao Gan Ma just made into a solid snackable form. While Mae E Pim does have an element of that deep rich savory umami background the chiles used seem to lean more towards a the brighter fruitier end of the spectrum. There’s also a bit of a fermented sour flavor, one that I can sometimes get from Thai chiles, but it’s not unwelcome here. The real gem with these is, as it says on the front of the bag, the pork cracklings mixed it. You get soft fatty bits as well as crispy crunchy skin bits both of which add to the experience not just in texture but in flavor. That pork flavor adds depth and richness to the Mae E Pim Crispy Chili Snack and makes it more filling than the pure chili based ones. The shallots and garlic also fill out the flavor profile and add the savory fulfilling elements that the chiles themselves don’t have. Like the other crispy chili snacks I’ve tried these do stain your fingers red and bits of chile will stick to your hands as you eat, so having napkins around is a must,
Mae E Pim Crispy Chili with Pork Crackling gets my recommendation. It’s a new spin on the traditional crispy chili snack and seems to be high quality. From what I can tell from the ingredients list on the bag these are also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners. The brand makes several other flavors incuding a Tom Yum flavor that I look forward to trying in the future.
It’s my absolute favorite snack!
I’ve tried a couple of other brands and they all come up short. This one has the best texture and spice.