Serves: n/a
Approx cost: €0.50
Approx calories (per 25g serving): ~160
Approx preparation time: 50 minutes
I’ve never been a huge fan of deep frying. The idea of a giant cauldron of boiling oil which would quite literally melt your flesh away if spilled brewing away on the stove terrifies me. That said, it’s an important method of food preparation and many things just couldn’t be cooked correctly without it. For one example, I’ve been seeing a lot of falafel recipes recently. I’ve tried this before… shallow-frying it of course. Let’s just say, “disaster” doesn’t really come close to describing the crumbled, mushy chick-pea balls that it yielded. I’ve been broadening my culinary horizons somewhat recently by trying a bit more deep-frying and to be frank, now, I don’t find it so bad. Take some precautions – have a fire blanket on hand should the worst happen, turn the pan handle towards the back of the stove to prevent knocking it off, and most importantly, once you’ve put the oil on the heat, treat it like an infant. Don’t leave it alone, not for a second. Give it 100% of your attention – and aside from that it’s really pretty simple, not to mention fun!
Few things require so few ingredients yet yield such impressive results. Home-made potato chips are one of them. Sure, we’ve all read these guides on how to make potato chips in a microwave, but to be honest, you can only make about 8 chips at a time, and the results are… often less than satisfactory. When I bite into a hand-cooked, golden brown, lightly salted, crispy potato chip I get an enormous amount of satisfaction. Sure it takes longer than going to the store and buying a job lot of the damn things for next to nothing, but where’s the fun in that?
I’ve extolled the virtues many times of mandolines. If you don’t have one, seriously – please get one. For certain things, it has to be just the most useful thing in the entire kitchen, and besides, without one you won’t be making potato chips in the same shape as these 😀 Have a crispy-licious day!
Ingredients
For the Potato Chips
– Potatoes (2 large potatoes is usually sufficient for 2 people)
– 1 Bottle of Frying Oil (although similar results can be achieved with regular sunflower oil)
– Salt
For the flavouring
– 0.5 tsp ground Cumin
– 0.5 tsp Cayenne Pepper
– 0.5 tsp Black Pepper
– 1 tsp ground Paprika
You’ll also need
– A Mandoline
Instructions
- Start by peeling the potatoes and then slice them very, very finely. For best results, using a mandoline and if you want to be a bit “fancy”, use the lattice attachment, pulling the potato down the blade first one way, then rotating 90 degrees and cutting again. This will result in having little “windows”, as shown below, in the potato slice. If you want to be more traditional just slice them whole as normal. If using a mandoline you’ll need to have the cut thickness set to almost minimum.
- Once all the potatoes are sliced, place all the slices into a large basin of water at room temperature. Mix with your hands and allow each slice to have good water coverage. Pour the water away and place the slices on a towel or kitchen roll to dry. Washing the potato in water will help remove excess starch and allow better cooking results.
- While the potato slices are drying prepare the flavouring (if desired). Salt is quite important for the chips, so at the very least try and add this. I’ve mixed the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin and paprika together in a bowl, though if you want to try alternative flavours then this is easily done! Mix the flavouring well and set aside.
- Now we come to the “fun” part. Empty the bottle of oil into a saucepan so that the pan is roughly half full in total. Place onto a hot stove and begin to heat the oil through. Depending on the type of stove you have it may take a while to heat up. My stove can take upwards of 5 minutes to decently heat the pan – I like to test it with one of the slices of potato. If you put it in and it starts to sizzle aggressively around the potato then it’s pretty much ready. Start frying your potato chips, a small handful at a time. Fry them until they’re starting to turn golden brown. Too little and they’ll be soggy and soft, too much and the sugars inside the potato will start to scorch and your chips will turn too brown too fast so you have to gauge this part well.
- After each batch, remove the potato chips from the oil using a slotted spoon and transfer to some kitchen roll or paper napkins, set on top of a baking tray, to allow excess oil to be soaked up. Arrange the chips evenly on the paper to allow each one to drain equally and when all the potato chips have been cooked sprinkle the flavouring over the chips. Give the tray a gentle shake to evenly distribute the flavouring spices.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and eat! Alternatively, if you have a lot of chips, you can store them in an airtight container for a couple of days for later snackiness! Enjoy!
/drool
Indeed! Now go home and make some and bring them into work tomorrow so I can eat them… er, I mean "perform a quality control" 😀
Are these really home-made potato crisps????? Well, now, after the step-by-step photos I am sure these are truly made by you. They look like fancy, expensive "delicatessen" crisps.
I have a mandoline, but a very simple one. Now you have made me think I should buy one with attachments 🙂
Thank you for linking to my blog!
Thank you so much for your kind comment Sissi! It’s really a test of “will-power” when you’re making these… As soon as you remove one batch from the oil, and you’re standing there watching the next pile of chips being fried… the urge to just start eating the chips draining on the paper is SO strong! 😀 It’s a lot of fun to make them – my wife was very impressed by them too 🙂
I’m looking forward to trying some felafel now too, since I’ve conquered my deep-frying fear, and you made it seem quite unscary in your post! 🙂
I have the same aversion to frying. I also hate the idea of using all that oil in one go. These chips do look amazing, put a little Old Bay on there…. you can't change me Charles… ha, kidding. Got a friend with a deep fryer. The wheels in my brain are turning.
Thanks Greg – deep-fryer… totally, that's the way to go. Perfect results every time and (hopefully) no chance of melting yourself in the process 😀
Now these look like some good potato chips! Hubby is totally impressed that they look "ruffled." You know I have the same fear of frying (after our little fire and all). A few other things to keep on hand – a deep fry thermometer. I love it! Know where the fire extinguisher is…and one more…don't keep the baking soda in a cabinet too close to the stove should you need to douse it on anything. Other than that…and in addition to your tips, it's a breeze. LOL! My hands still shake every time we deep fry anything.
Yeah, I think a deep-fry thermometer would be really handy… I should look into that actually. No more messing around with cubes of bread or the like 😀 Shakey hands when deep-frying? I hope you don't try and lift the pan of boiling oil with those hands!! Glad you liked the look of the chips… do you have a mandoline? If not you should totally get one. They vary in price from very cheap to outrageously expensive and are SO useful!
They look perfect! Even better than Ruffles…I'm so impressed. I'm not a huge fan of frying, primarily because the smell it leaves behind in the kitchen when I'm done, but it would be worth it so I could munch on these. 🙂
Hi Caroline – I agree… when I've been making an English fried breakfast and then take an after-breakfast walk in the forest… as soon as I return home – my God. The smell hits me like a sledgehammer in the face. Grease, stodge, fat. Really unpleasant, but I've found that if you buy an oil specifically for deep-frying it's amazing. Smoke and smell output is drastically reduced. My house didn't smell at all afterwards!
Charles, until now for me the best oil for deep-frying is the peanut oil. I once saw this advice in a Caribbean cookery book (they do lots of deep-frying) and it really is the best. The taste is quite neutral and it doesn't smell as strong as some weird mixtures…
Otherwise the pork fat is fantastic (as scary as it might seem donuts fried in the pork fat are amazing!). Though I'm not sure if it's easy to get in France (I buy it in Switzerland).
I have been hesitating to buy a deep-fryer, but am afraid then I will deep-fry all the time. When I bought a rice cooker our rice intake was tripled at least (which was great, but in the case of dee-fried food I'm not sure…).
Ah yes, you're right of course – I had peanut oil before – it was very good actually – very high smoke point apparently. Pork fat eh? Never seen it in France, but I can imagine that once all the piggie taste is rendered away it must give an amazingly crisp, rich flavour to things, especially doughnuts (omg! now you made me hungry!).
I think I'll probably stick with my trusty saucepan for now. If I had a deep-fryer which I didn't even need to clean each time I used it (urgh), I'd end up dumping all sorts of stuff in there, just to "see" what it's like. Hey, this banana is boring, LET'S STICK IT IN THE FRYER!!! lol 😀
I love your potato chip recipe. I am so making this. I can't stand when you buy potato chips and they're none in the bag. So you know I will be making this for a snack or for a party :). Love this
Ah yeah – a bag all puffed up with air with nothing but a small handful of crushed crumbs in the bottom! I hate that 🙂 Cheers Kay – let me know how it goes if you try it 🙂
Ok, true confessions time: I like potatoes almost as much as I like my kids (only a slight exaggeration). I adore them in all nasty forms: chips; fries; poutine (has poutine made it to Europe yet?!!) Oh dear. The only lingering, unshakable problem is that when I bite into a hand-cooked, golden brown, lightly salted, crispy potato chip, I get an enormous urge to keep biting… These chips look AMAZING Charles – loved this post!!
I know there is a Canadian Pub in Paris that serves poutine (and I intend to eventually go and try it :P)
Yeah!! Let me know if you track down the name of the pub.
http://www.mooseparis.com/
Should be that one
I'm so happy to discover this – thanks Lucia!
I'm so going here! Thanks for the link 🙂
Hahahaha, oh yeah – there's something about a golden, crispy potato chip though isn't there? And potatoes in general are pretty much perfection. If I had to choose between potatos and bread in my life I'd have a hell of a time deciding.
Poutine isn't actually common over here, but now I'm going to make a point of going to that Canadian bar (beer, eh?) and trying some very soon!
Charles,
Incredibly good ripples on them chips. I am frightened of the deep-fryer too. It sort of makes me worried if the bubbles will boil over and start a fire!! but by the look of your pics, you have the perfect pan and right amount of oil so I may try the same thing out one of these days.
I love the way you've sprinkled that beautiful seasoned spice mix over them… I wish I could just grab some off the screen:)
Cheers
Hi Malli,
The most "scary" part is when you first put in the chips. The frothing and boiling is so violent and aggressive that it really seems like it might indeed boil up, over, but I don't think that can happen… I've never seen it happen at least, or heard of it happening. They were really a success so I hope you have a chance to try them… let me know how it goes if you do!
Oh, Charles! It's like you knew I've been on a chip binge lately!!! These look so deliciously addictive.
Thanks! Chip binges are dangerous, aren't they? You can so easily sit there and casually walk through an entire sack of potato chips over the course of an evening! At least this way there's the penance of having to wash-up after the frying. This helps to serve as a way to dissuade you from immediately going to make more once the first batch is eaten! 😀
Beautiful Charles. Definitely an classy potato chip.
Thanks Eva – I have a hankering for more of them now though. Might need to make some more tomorrow 😀
I really had to take a second look as they looked so perfectly made! I'm not one to deep fry,but these really look so tempting! I think the lattice look is what truly makes these so unique!!
Thanks so much for the kind comments Linda. I agree – the lattice effect really gives them a lovely finish! (even if they are a bit less "durable", but then it's not like they'll last long enough to worry about that!). I must invest in a deep-frying thermometer next I think. Perfect results every time then 🙂
These look amazing and are something I've been wanting to try. Stopping by from the foodie blogroll – Welcome.
Thanks for stopping by, and for your kind comment. If you never tried them before I'd definitely recommend them! Totally worth any effort of post-frying washing up 😀