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Saratoga Potatoes

Thinly sliced potatoes cooked in boiling lard, drained, and served.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Saratoga Potatoes

Saratoga Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the potatoes thinly using a slaw cutter.

  2. Soak the slices in ice-cold salt water while cooking breakfast.

  3. Remove a handful of potatoes, squeeze out the water, and dry them with a napkin.

Fry and serve

  1. Separate the slices and drop them into a skillet of boiling lard, ensuring they do not touch.

  2. Stir with a fork until they are light brown.

  3. Remove with a wire spoon, drain well, and serve in an open dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 become crisp on the outside while staying tender inside when fried.
Boiling lard
Hot fat transfers heat quickly, browning and crisping the potato slices.
Ice-cold salt water
Soaking draws out surface starch so the slices fry crisper and less sticky.

The step that matters

Drying the slices before frying. Surface water turns to steam in hot fat, causing spattering and preventing crisping. Drying the slices thoroughly lets the fat brown them instead of steaming them.

“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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