Saratoga Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Pare and slice the potatoes thinly using a slaw cutter.
Soak the slices in ice cold salt water while cooking breakfast.
Squeeze the water from a handful of potatoes and dry them in a napkin.
Fry and serve
Separate the slices and drop a handful into a skillet of boiling lard.
Ensure the slices do not touch each other and stir with a fork until light brown.
Remove with a wire spoon, drain well, and serve in an open dish.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the crisp body of the chips once fried, with a starchy interior that softens as they cook.
- Boiling lard
- Conducts heat quickly to crisp and brown the potato slices while frying them through.
- Ice cold salt water
- Soaking draws out surface starch so the slices stay crisp and separate rather than clumping.
The step that matters
Keep the slices apart and dry before frying. Wet slices and crowded slices drop the oil temperature and steam instead of frying, so they turn soggy and brown unevenly. Drying them well and keeping them separated lets the surface crisp and brown evenly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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