Friday, March 04, 2011

Dip Your Chip in my Dip...Dip.

Minus a couple of things, I have just about every kitchen appliance and utensil imaginable.  So when my grandma called me a couple of months ago asking if I would like her to buy me a mandolin, I was stoked (Thanks Grandma)!   Not this kind of mandolin...(although, by all means Grandma...if you want to buy me one of these, I'd be more than happy to have it!)  This type: 
The kind that comes with warnings about cutting off your fingers.  The kind that bites.  The kind that makes the most amazing homemade potato chips ever eaten by man or bitch.

There seems to be a big debate on whether or not to soak the potato slices after thinly slicing them.  Some say removing the starch makes for a crispier chip.  So I made them both ways.  Did someone say experiment?  I used a pot and filled it with 1/2 vegetable oil and 1/2 canola oil (but only because I ran out of vegetable oil and bought canola to replace it...it's better for you too).  I wanted to use peanut oil, but at $20 a pop, I decided against it for my first experiment.

I cut my first Idaho (no, you da ho) potato and soaked the slices in cold water for half an hour.  Then I cut my second Idaho and added them, about 10 at a time, to the oil which was a piping 350 degrees.


Once they browned up a bit, I drained them on a paper bag and salted them with kosher salt.  Then made the other batches of unsoaked potatoes.  This is the end result of the unsoaked chips: 


Next, I took the chips that were soaking in cold water and dried them off completely.  You DO NOT want to put wet chips in hot oil.  You will set your kitchen on fire.  Trust me, I've set many a kitchen on fire (and backyards and houses and myself and...well, I'm kind of a pyro).  If you don't believe me, ask my mom!  Once your chips are totally dry...do the same as above.  Add them to your 350 degree oil in small batches until they're browned up, drain on a paper bag and salt with kosher salt.  Here's what they should look like:

Both types were delicious.  There was no difference in taste or crunch.  The color was the only difference.  They are so much better than any bagged chip you can buy, except they don't last nearly as long, because they are so much tastier.  And there's 3 ingredients.  Potatoes. Oil. Salt.  And if you already have oil and salt, which most of you should, you only spend about $2 on potatoes and that's less than any bag of good potato chip out there.  It's a chip off the ol' block.  (I couldn't resist the obvious cliche).

The title of this blog goes out to 2 Skinnee J's and all their hilarity!!
    


 

2 comments:

k said...

Mmmm...chips. I need a mandolin!

Jess said...

They are really great! Much better than chips in the grocery store...they actually taste like potatoes!

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