Saratoga Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Pare the potatoes and slice them as thin as possible using a potato cutter.
Soak the slices in cold water for 1 to 1.5 hours.
Dry the slices with a towel.
Fry and drain
Heat deep lard in a kettle for frying.
Cover the surface of the hot lard with the dried slices and sprinkle a little salt over them.
Turn the slices with a skimmer and fry until done.
Remove the fried potatoes and lay them on double brown paper in the open oven.
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
- Thin slices fry into crisp, golden chips, and soaking removes surface starch so they crisp rather than stick.
- Deep lard for frying
- Hot fat transfers heat quickly, cooking the slices fast and giving them a crisp, browned surface.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the crisp surface of the fried slices so the flavour is carried on the outside.
The step that matters
Drying the slices before frying. Water on the slices cools the hot lard and causes spattering and steaming, which leaves the potatoes greasy and soft instead of crisp. Thorough drying lets the lard brown the surface.
“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.