Conference turris::cooks

    Homemade potato chips are easy to make, just a little time-consuming. 
    
    You need exactly three ingredients:
    
    hot oil for deep frying
    potatoes (I like russets the best, though most people prefer white)
    salt (flavored salt makes for variety)
    
    And some equipment:
    
    a vegetable peeler
    a paring knife
    lots of paper towels
    a deep kettle or deep fryer to heat the oil
    a slotted spoon to take the chips out of the oil
    
    one of those deep-fry baskets to make it easier to get the chips
    in and out of the oil is nice but not necessary.
    
    Heat the oil very hot. 
    
    Peel the potatoes if you'd like. Scrub them if you'd rather leave
    the skin on. 
    
    Cut off the tip of one potato to get yourself a flat surface to
    start with. Then use the vegetable peeler to peel off thin slices
    of potato. 
    
    Dry the slices on the paper towels. 
    
    Fry them in the hot deep fat until they turn brown and crispy. 
    
    Take them out, drain them on paper towels, and salt them.

    You can make chips of any vegetable this way. Some of the best are
    pumpkin (great with pork roasts), parsnip (sweetish and nutty),
    and carrot (very sweet). 

    If you're daring, you can make potato chips.  Here's a recipe I
    used many years ago which worked fairly well.
    
    1)  Wash potatoes.  Peel if desired.
    2)  Slice *real* thin.  I used an electric slicer to do this and didn't
        get them thin enough.
    3)  Soak potato slices in ice water for a couple of hours.  I think
        that you should put some salt in the water as well.
    4)  Blot potato slices dry using dish towels or something similar.
    5)  Fry in peanut oil that is heated to around 375 degrees F.
             
    Hmmm.  Now that I look at this, something looks wrong.  Ah well,
    if you try it let us know if they came out reasonably good (don't
    expect those cardboard store-bought potatoe chips).

   To mods - thanks for making change to this string - that was quick!
   
   To everybody:    

   Does anybody have a workable recipe for potato chips that does not
   include deep frying?  I am trying to work out something for baking
   potato chips, and they are still coming out limp.  So far here's what
   I've tried:
   
   Regular oven, 400 degrees, approx 10-12 minutes - more than that
   starts to burn some of the chips, but mostly they are not crunchy when
   cooled off.
   
   Microwave - I don't remember the time, but it was about the same
   results anyway.
   
   fwiw - I'm using one of those "chipshot" gadgets that came out last
   year to cut them - I found a really good deal on a clearance rack
   somewhere and wanted to try it out.
   
   Thanks,
   
   - Tom

    Do you try spraying them lightly with PAM or some such spray oil?  A
    very light coating might help.  --Susan

PAM, of course, is just a spray form of vegetable oil.  If the object 
of baking the chips is to avoid the use of oil, that won't do it.  
Granted, it may end up being less oil in the chips than if you fried 
them in the usual way.

--PSW

If you want CRISPY potato chips, you have to eliminate all the moisture.  This
leaves you with 2 alternatives:  frying, or drying.

For frying, you can deep fry or minimize the oil by wiping a tray with an oiled
napkin, then baking.  Or you can use spray oil.  Don't go for high heat, as you
will have burned spots and soggy spots.  Use a 325-350 oven and cook until
golden.

However, if you want to use no oil at all, then you need to bake them so that
they cook, then lower the temp until they dry completely.  If you want them
salted, do it while they are raw, otherwise the salt won't stick.  Soaking them
in salty water before baking would work, too.

    I have a baking stone.  I wonder if that would help any?  I am thinking
    that the stone, being more pourous than a metal pan, would help
    eliminate the moisture.  Also, once seasoned, it claims to produce
    crispier food.  I haven't had a chance to break it in yet, so I don't
    know if that's true or not.

   re: last few...
   
   Spray Oil:  Part of the reason to bake is to cut down on the fat, but
   partly its because I really don't want to start playing around with a
   fryer just yet (small kids and limited space for yet another
   countertop gadget..).  I had not thought about spraying the chips, I
   will try it out - I think it will probably be less than frying, yes.

   Baking:  I tried leaving them in the oven at a lower temp, but
   probably I got interrupted or impatient.  I'll have to try it out and
   see how that works out too.

   Baking Stone:  We have a pizza stone that I can try... I had not
   thought to try that either.  Though I'd have to get more than 1 if I
   wanted to make a steady project of baking chips - its slow enough with
   multiple cookie trays!
   
   Thanks... and if you have any other ideas or experiences, feel free to
   keep adding them in...
   
   - Tom

    	Would a dehydrator work ? It's relatively safe around kids (low
    heat) and has multiple trays. Just not sure how they'd come out. I've
    done dehydrated apples that I can get crispy.
    
    	Ray

>    	Would a dehydrator work ? It's relatively safe around kids (low
>    heat) and has multiple trays. Just not sure how they'd come out. I've
>    done dehydrated apples that I can get crispy.
 

Ray,

Could you post your method for this in note 1614?  I'd love to try it!

Thanks,
Laura

    	My reply was as much a question as anything else. As I mentioned,
    I've done apples and they come out crispy and retain a very surprising
    amount of the natural flavor when they rehydrate in your mouth. I
    sprinkle them with cinnamin and sugar, and the kids *really* like 
    them.
    
    	I'm going to do another batch of apples tonight, so I'll thin slice
    a potato, dip it in salt water, and stick it in the dehydrator. It
    takes approx. 2 days to do the apples and the potato will likely take
    as long. I'll try to remember to post a note as to how it comes out.
    
    	I suspect it will taste "different" as the dehydrator really
    doesn't cook foods. It just removes the moisture. They will be crispy,
    and they will contain virtually no oil/fat. I say "virtually" because I
    do spray the dehydrator racks with Pam so that the food doesn't stick.
    
    	Ray

    	Well, since I sliced the potatoes so thin, the ones closest to the
    middle were nearly done this morning. I picked one and broke it in half
    and it seemed fairly crispy. Now the bad news.
    
    	The color of the chips is more a dull grayish rather than a golden
    brown, like fried or even baked chips. The taste was as I had suspected.
    A dehydrator doesn't cook, it dries. So when you put one in your mouth,
    it rehydrates and tastes amazingly close to what you started with. In
    this case, it was raw potato, so that's sort of what the end result
    is closest to.
    
    	I'm going to give them another day anyway just for ha-ha's. If they
    taste any different tomorrow I'll make another reply, but I'm not too
    hopefull.
    
    	Ray
    
    	

How about a "half-and-half" method? Dehydrate them about half way (half of the
time) and then bake them to brown and complete the drying.

    re:14
    
    	That may work, but it's going to take a while. I have a standard 
    sized rack in my dehydrator and found that one small potato easily 
    filled a rack. I sliced the potato with one of those new style peelers,
    but a food processer would probably do this quicker/safer.
    
    	Ray
    

        Seen on TV over the weekend "I do not have one (yet ;*))".....

    	From K-TEL:

    MicroChips and slicer - this is a Microwave plate that holds potato
    slices (includes "2" slicer devices) that you can make without oil, etc...

    They say they are crisp, because they cook the potato slices standing
    up:
    		
    		| | | | | | | |
    		---------------

    Includes a recipe book for making chips and flavored chips....

    $19.95 

    1-800-562-7788		

    	After happening back across this note I realized I hadn't done much
    of a followup. The potato slices, when left long enough, actually come
    out OK in the dehydrator.
    
    	The problem is that it's a lot of work and time for what amounts to
    a small sandwich bag full of chips. Just didn't seem worth the effort.
    
    	I recently heard of potato chips made with that new synthetic fat 
    (can't remember the name). If the stuff's not long-term toxic, should
    be a boon to those dieting chip lovers.
    
    	Ray