Potato Chips
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Pare and slice the potatoes thinly using a slaw cutter.
Soak the sliced potatoes in a gallon of cold water mixed with 2 teaspoons of powdered alum for one hour.
Press out as much water as possible from the soaked potatoes.
Spread the potatoes on a cloth, cover with another cloth, and press gently to absorb moisture.
Fry and serve
Heat the lard until hot enough for frying doughnuts.
Drop a handful of potato slices into the hot lard one at a time.
Fry until they are light brown, then remove and drain in a colander.
Let them drain until the next batch is ready, then spread on brown paper and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
If not serving immediately, place them in the oven to heat just 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
- Potatoes
- Starch and body that crisp into the chip's structure when fried.
- Lard
- Frying fat that transfers heat quickly and gives the chips browning and rich flavour.
- Powdered alum
- Firms the potato slices so they hold their shape and crisp better during frying.
The step that matters
Drying the slices before frying. Surface water cools the hot lard and causes splattering and steaming instead of crisping. Pressing the slices dry lets the fat brown them evenly and makes them crisp.
“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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