Playing with Potato Chips
Chips are one of my very favorite snacks. Though to be honest, chips could be my breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. You get the idea. I peeled potates the other day for a stew I was making. For some reason I peeled too many and because the pearly spuds were from my garden I was not going to waste one bit. I sliced them paper thin and played with steps to come up with a crispy potato chip. They were delicious and did not last long. The nice thing about this method is you can make as many, or as few (would anyone ever make just a few?) as you like. True they are a bit of work and it is much easier to just go buy potato chips, but then they would not taste as good as these.
Peel potatoes. You will get lots of chips from 3 medium-sized potatoes.
Slice them paper thin. A mandolin works great for thin, uniform slices.
Soak the slices in ice water for 1 hour, changing the water once.
Spread the slices out on paper towel and pat dry.
In a pan, heat 1 1/2 inches of vegetable oil on medium-high heat. I like to use a narrow but tall, 3 qt kettle for chips.
Add enough chips to cover the pan surface area. Gently move them in the pan as they cook. Test the oil first by adding a drop of water. It should bubble and crackle.Your oil is just right.
Cook the chips in the oil 3 minutes. They will not brown. Remove the chips and spread out on a baking rack. Cooling racks work great.
Preheta your oven to 400*
You may have to turn the heat down on your pan as you cook the chips so it does not get to a smoking/burning point.
When all your chips have been cooked in the oil and spread on baking racks set over a jelly roll pan, bake for 3 – 4 minutes.
Keep a close eye on the chips as once they begin to brown they brown quite fast.
Remove the racks with the chips and allow to cool.
Season to taste and get ready to see them disappear quickly. You may find yourself wondering why you did not make more.
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