Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips (lip-smacking)
Show of hands please. How many of you out there have Montreal Steak Spice in your spice cabinet right now? If you are like us, then your hand is raised to the ceiling. Okay, so that was an easy one. Now, a more difficult question. How many of you out there know what constitutes, or makes up, a Montreal Steak Spice? Crickets……
Yeah, we thought so. Well, according to the world wide web-a-sphere: Montreal steak spice is a spice mix used to flavour steak and grilled meats that was based on the pickling dry-rub mix used in preparing Montreal smoked meat. The smoked meat seasoning is derived from pickling mixes used in Eastern Europe or Romanian Jewish cuisine. The primary constituents of Montreal steak seasoning include garlic, coriander, black pepper, Cayenne pepper flakes, dill seed, and salt. The spice mix recipe varies slightly among restaurants and manufacturers. (wikipedia.com)
Now that we have that out of the way, who better to deliver us some Montreal Steak Spice flavored Kettle Chips than two brothers from Canada (because Montreal is in Canada of course). Who are these Neal Brothers, you ask? According to their website, those Neal Brothers are Peter and Chris. And the two of them started their specialty food company nearly 30 years ago. Included among all of those specialty foods, are of course the most important of all foods – CHIPS!
Let’s start off by saying that these chips do not taste like steak at all. So, if you were wondering about that, or hoping for that, throw that presumption/wish right out the window (and you should probably go back and read the paragraph above that describes Montreal Steak Spice). Fortunately, we are here to say that the Extremely Tasty portion of the Neal Brothers chip flavor, does in fact hold true! These are some delicious chips!! Especially if you like dill.
These chips are not shy with their seasoning. We definitely tasted some onion and garlic, mingling with a good amount of salt and black pepper, along with a splash of sour like vinegar. On the tail end, the chips definitely deliver some chili pepper heat. But, more than anything, we tasted A LOT of DILL. Seriously, in a blind taste test we would have most certainly thought that these chips were some amp’d up version of dill pickle chips – which is never a bad thing in our books!
Neal Brothers have wisely chosen a medium-thick cut, extra crunchy, not greasy at all, kettle cooked potato chip to pair with the powerful Montreal Steak Spice seasoning. Any lesser chip would have crumbled under the barrage of strong spices.
All in all, we were very impressed with these chips. If you like dill, and prefer your potato chips loaded with flavor, then we suggest you give these a chomp!
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Chips provided to Chip Review by Neal Brothers for review
Neal Brothers Foods Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
Chip Review 
I don’t recall Montreal Steak seasoning having dill (I hate dill). Will have to go look at my container in the cupboard.
@ ibagoalie – Honestly, we weren’t aware that Montreal Steak seasoning had dill in it either, but according to the internet it often does. And if you don’t like dill, then you won’t want to try these chips.