Saratoga Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Select large potatoes and slice them very thin, about 70 to 90 slices per potato.
Soak the slices in salt water for 30 minutes.
Dry the slices lightly with a towel.
Fry and serve
Heat a skillet full of hot lard until it sputters when a potato slice is dropped in.
Fry the slices separately, unfolding any that fold over, until the edges are crisp.
Turn the slices with a fork to fry the middle faster.
Remove the crispy slices with a wire strainer and let them drain on heavy brown paper.
Sprinkle with fine salt before serving.
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
- Large potatoes
- Thin slices fry into crisp, brittle chips with a tender interior.
- Hot lard
- Fat conducts heat quickly, frying the slices fast so they turn crisp and golden.
The step that matters
Frying the slices separately in hot lard. Slices fried in a crowded pan drop the fat temperature and steam instead of crisping. Frying them separately, and drying them first, keeps the lard hot so the edges brown and crisp rather than turning greasy.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.