American chef recreates the spice bag, with impressive results

By Fiona Frawley

I should specify, it's just one American that's found them thus far.

The individual in question is YouTube sensation Sam the Cooking Guy, who's been lauded for his take on the Irish staple. Sam is known for his in-depth YouTube tutorials in which he recreates beloved fast food dishes like McNuggets and cheese dogs, as well as more homely slow cooked meats and pasta bakes. He approaches each dish with an indiscriminatory level of passion, and the spice bag is no exception.  "Our friends in Ireland have been eating something called a spice bag for quite some time, and now it's our turn", Sam announces at the top of the video as cinematic, drool-worthy clips of his homemade offering are played in slow motion. The chef then outlines the detail of the dish - salt and chilli chicken, thrice-cooked chips (not fries) and a homemade curry sauce. This is followed by a questionable Irish accent, but we'll allow it. It's an intricate tutorial in which Sam chops, boils and fries potatoes, de-bones chicken thighs and mixes marinades and dry seasoning, honouring the dish as he rightly should. He even puts it all together in a paper bag for serving, and drizzles his homemade curry sauce on top like a TikTok food blogger from Dublin 9. Spice bag enthusiasts have taken to the comments to praise Sam for his efforts - one wrote "As an Irish man, I usually cringe when I see an American try to do anything Irish, but you got everything spot on. You did your homework".  "I eat spicebags very often and this is one of the best looking ones I’ve seen, great effort - very authentic", another said. A better reception than UK Chinese takeaways got stateside, at least.

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