Homemade potato chips

Saturday we decided we didn't want to pay $3 for a bag of chips and decided to try my hand at making my own just for the heck of it.

Started washing off the potatoes and then slicing them:

Homemade potato chips


There is a reason they recommend using the guard on these things:

cut


I barely tapped the blade with my finger and 48 hours later it still hurts. Have to get my one of those mesh gloves I've seen used on various cooking shows.

So once I had the potatoes sliced, I popped them into some water to soak and get some of the excess starch off:

Homemade potato chips


I then rinsed them a couple of times and into a colander to drain and dry:

Homemade potato chips


In the meantime I pulled out the Fry Daddy and loaded it up with shortening:

Homemade potato chips


These by the way aren't veggie friendly chips. I didn't notice until after I got out of the store the shortening I got was a blend of meat and vegetable fats. I will have to say tho, the foods I cook with it have a really good mouth feel and flavor.

So once the shortening was melted and up to temp, I dropped in the potato slices, a few at a time:

Homemade potato chips


I opted to do a double fry on them, first fry and let them drain and then a 2nd fry to finish:

Homemade potato chips


Homemade potato chips


When they were all done, I put them in a big bowl and tossed them with some ranch seasoning. Came out very tasty, if not very crispy:

Homemade potato chips


The hubby loved them, tho I would have preferred a more crispy product. I was limited to slicing them with the regular slicer or using one that sliced thinner. I've used the thinner slicer, wasn't happy with the chips as they were too thin, paper thin to be exact. I will look at using the rotary slicer next time around to see if I can split the difference. I would like to get a good mandolin slicer with an adjustable blade.

I love my Fry Daddy. I've tried using my dutch oven for deep frying a la Alton Brown, but I can't get good temperature control, most likely because Alton Brown has a gas stove and I have an electric that is a pain (while I love my stove) to get that fine control needed for dealing with a half gallon of hot oil.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The lack of crispness is related to the time in the oil, temperature of the oil, and thickness of the slice. Trial and error you will find the right cooking "time". I eyeball it. When they stop steaming I turn them over then start pulling them out. I found an oil temp of 325 works well but if you have a small kettle of oil the temp will drop off quickly when you add the potatos. I use a turkey frier over propane to keep the heat at the right level. And finally it looks like your slicer is preset to certain thicknesses. Matfer makes some with variable thickness ability. Varying these three items will help your chips. Oh btw I prefer peanut oil however you can try different oils to see what you like.

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