Saratoga Chips are homemade potato chips sure to impress, plus enjoy a roundup of over twenty other recipes for the big game.
Saratoga Chips
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Saratoga Chips are the original name for potato chips, having come out of Saratoga New York by George Crum in 1850. They are quite simple to make. The trick is getting them uber thin, so I use a mandolin set pretty much closed. They deep fry in the Dutch oven, so get a gallon of peanut oil. but don’t fill your pan over half full. You may need to add a little more as the potatoes absorb some of it. If you cook a ton, be aware that it does take some time- only a few minutes per batch, but you can’t overload the pan and expect good results.
The potatoes do cackle like the gulls in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” when the people are trying their best to get out of town when you first drop the potato slices in the hot oil. They do tend to quiet down as they get done, unlike the birds finally going nuts at the end of the movie. But once you hear the potatoes doing this, you won’t be able to get Hitchcock out of your brain.
Keep a DVD on hand for while you munch!
I use my BBQ spice on these that I also use to spice up Fritos. But you can use plain salt or anything you can imagine. Adding a little cayenne with garlic and a few other things is also one of my favorites. I do like really spicy chips. But there are so many ways, just experiment and enjoy yourself.
Be sure to check out the roundup under the recipe- we’ve got over twenty recipes in there from a group of food blogging friends and our favorite game day recipes.
Check back with me tomorrow when I post my recipe for Scotch Eggs in honor of Scottish Burns Night using quail eggs. No, not Dan Quayle. He’s much too large. Quail eggs are very small but pretty much taste like chicken eggs. There is nothing remotely Frankenstein about them. They are also good on Salad Lyonnaise. (I have a recipe for that somewhere, not yet posted, don’t ask me where….LOL!) And hey! I found my recipe for Khoreshe Bademjan, so look for that to post on Thursday. I’ll probably try to post some Asian foods Friday and Saturday but we’ll see how that goes. I’m looking forward to seeing you here!
~Sue
Saratoga Chips
Figure one large russet potato per serving
Ingredients:
- russet potatoes, peeled
- salt water
- peanut oil
- salt or other seasonings (such as BBQ spice shown in photo)
Method:
- Peel potatoes and slice potatoes on a mandolin using the narrowest setting.
- Place sliced potatoes into plenty of cold salted water and swish them around to separate the potato pieces and rinse off the excess starch. Allow to soak for 30 minutes.
- Use a salad spinner to remove moisture from potatoes, also patting them dry with clean toweling. It is very important that they be dry. Wet slices will cause the oil to pop and possibly burn you.
- Heat peanut oil in a Dutch oven to 375°F. no more than half way full. I use a candy thermometer with a clip.
- Add potatoes in small batches, dropping them one at a time into the oil so they do not clump and swish around using a spider until they lightly brown, pressing them with the spider to get them to curve, removing ones that brown early before the others (I think residual starch causes this). The oil should cackle like birds when you put the potatoes in, if they spit oil they are too wet; they will quieten slightly when they are about done. Keep a splatter guard nearby to protect yourself in case the oil pops.
- Drain cooked chips on paper toweling and season with salt or other spices.
- Repeat with more potatoes until you have them all done, depending how many you do. Always make sure the oil heated back up to 375 before adding more or they will be greasy.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
My blogging friends and I have teamed up to share some of our favorite appie recipes for you to have on game day. The numbers in the photos correspond to the recipes below. Enjoy!
