Potato Chips

The potato chip was "invented" in 1853 by a Native American chef in a resort in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A guest did not like the resort's french fries, and the chef, George Crum, decided to get back at the complainer by making really bad fries that were too crisp to eat with a fork. The guest liked the brown, paper-thin potatoes, and soon potato chips were a specialty at the hotel.

Potato chips were first sold in a grocery store in 1895, and during the early years of the 20th century, dozens of potato-chip factories were opened. But it was not until the 1950s that chips became more than a side dish. In the 1950s, entertaining changed to informal buffet or coffee-table service. Chips were served with cheese or other dips and alcoholic drinks. Two-bowl chip-and-dip sets, marketed by glass and china manufacturers, were wildly popular.

Homemade Potato Chips
Recipe courtesy of Jeff Mauro

FMM: This recipe was written for Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips. I divided the frying of the potato chips from the Sour Cream and Onion spice mixture recipe in case plain potato chips are wanted instead.

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed, washed and thinly cut on a mandoline (about 1/10th of an inch)
8 cups peanut oil
for Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips, see recipe below

Whisk together 8 cups water with 1/4 cup of the salt. Place the sliced potatoes into the water-and-salt solution and let soak for at least 20 minutes. After they have soaked, dry thoroughly on a paper towels or dish towels.

Heat the oil a large Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In handful-size batches, fry the potatoes until they just turn golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Toss immediately in a large bowl with some of the spice mixture, if using, or sprinkle with salt. Then place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle them again with some of the spice mixture, if using.

Hold them in semi-airtight container for a few days, if you can stand it that long.

Sour Cream and Onion Spice Mixture

3 tablespoons buttermilk powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons minced fresh dill

In a spice grinder, combine the buttermilk powder, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, dill and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Grind into a homogeneous powder.

Extra-Crunchy Potato Chips
By J. Kenji López-Alt, https://www.seriouseats.com/

Having been raised on thin, crisp, pale yellow, super-salty Wise brand chips), that's my image of how a chip should look and taste. On the other hand, kettle chips do have one great thing to offer: crunch. The industrial chips of my youth were tasty, but really, they were more crisp than crunchy. In my mind, the ideal chip would combine both of these elements: the blond color and straightforward salty potato flavor of a thin, old-school chip, and the hefty crunch of a kettle chip.

He found:

  • The potatoes should not be sliced really thin, which give you potato chips that are crisp (not crunchy). To get the crunch, potatoes need to be sliced 1/8 of a inch. These were thick enough to produce a potato chip with crunch, but by the time it had dehydrated and crisped (due to the thickness), the sugars had caramelized far too deeply, acquiring the brown (and sometimes burnt) flavors.
  • Soaking the potato slices in cold water washes away a lot of the starch and simple sugars, both of which undergo the process of caramelization and turn the chip brown. While this helped, they were not as blond as he would like them.
  • He learned when he was experimenting with french fries that a quick par-cook in boiling water before frying helps expel the starch into the water. Heating up starch granules in the presence of water causes them to absorb water and expand. Eventually, like little water balloons, they burst, expelling the starch into the water.
  • They were still too dark around the edges. He needed a way to be able to boil the potato chips a little longer in order to expel even more starch, without allowing them to disintegrate. Parboiling them in a pot of vinegar-spiked water, allowed him to increase their boiling time from two minutes up to a full three before draining and frying them.

1 pound russet potatoes (about 2 large), sliced 1/8 of an inch thick on a mandoline slicer, rinsed under cold running water and stored in water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 quarts canola or peanut oil
Kosher salt

Drain potatoes. In a large saucepan, combine vinegar and 2 quarts water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and spread on paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet. Allow to dry for 5 minutes, moving potatoes around to get even drying.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large wok or Dutch oven to 325°F (163°C). Add 1/3 of potato slices and cook, stirring and flipping constantly with a wire mesh spider or slotted spoon until potatoes release no more bubbles, 10-20 minutes. Transfer chips to a large bowl lined with paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and toss to coat (smaller chips may cook faster than large ones and should be removed from the oil as they finish).

Transfer seasoned chips to a serving bowl and repeat step 2 with remaining 2 batches of chips. Serve immediately or allow to cool completely before transferring to zipper-lock bag.

Serves 4, makes 1 bowl potato chips