If you're English, you probably think of "chips" as what Americans call French fries, and to the British the American potato chip is called a "crisp."   As a matter of fact, French fried potatoes came to America by way of Thomas Jefferson, who brought the recipe for "Potatoes fried in the French manner" to Monticello, even as he introduced baked macaroni and cheese when he returned home from his travels in Europe.   The creation of potato chips, or crisps, came into being from the failure of fried potatoes (in the French manner or otherwise) to please a wealthy diner.

The story is that a Native American named George Crum was the chef at a resort called Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga County,  New York, an area of rich history and old hunting grounds that the Mohawk and Iroquois tribes called "Sarachtogue."   According to the account in "Panati's Origins of Everyday Things" by Charles Panati (published by Harper and Row, 1987), potato chips were invented in 1853 in  Saratoga Springs, New York.  A visitor to that resort city, who is often identified as Cornelius Vanderbilt (called "The Commodore"),  returned a meal to the kitchen, complaining that the fried potatoes were not sliced thin enough to suit his taste.   Crum was proud of his cooking and, thinking to teach the Commodore a lesson, he sliced the potatoes so thin he was sure the old man wouldn't like them that way.  He didn't.  He asked for them to be sliced even thinner.  Now Crum responded by slicing them so thin they couldn't be eaten with a fork without breaking them.  The Commodore was satisfied.  He liked the crispy morsels!  Crum decided not only to keep on making them that way, but eventually he opened his own restaurant and featured what became known as "Saratoga chips."   By 1880, "Saratoga potatoes" were  featured in Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, edited by Estelle Woods Wilcox  and reprinted by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, over a hundred years later, in 1988.  In the early part of the twentieth century Saratoga chips were featured at meals for fancy occasions as well as on restaurant menus until they became popular as a snack food under the name of potato chips.

To make potato chips successfully in the home kitchen, it has long been considered necessary to purchase the expensive ($150 and up) mandoline machine to make the thin slices required.   For the record, this is the traditional way to make

Peel the potatoes and, using a mandoline or a thin knife, slice them 1/8 inch thick.  To remove the potato starch, rinse the slices in a bowl of cold water; change the water twice.  Pat the slices thoroughly dry with paper towels.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil until almost smoking (about 350 degrees F).  Add half of the potato slices and cook over moderately high heat.  Turn the potatoes once, cooking them for about a total time of 7 minutes, or until they are golden and crisp.  Remove chips with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels.  Repeat with remaining potato slices.  Sprinkle with salt or other seasonings to taste and allow them to cool thoroughly.

You can also make potato chips by an oven method which involves placing 1/8th inch slices of potatoes in a single layer on two lightly greased baking sheets,  brushing them with melted butter and baking them for about 7 minutes in a 500 degree oven.  Then, switching the baking positions of  the pans, baking them for another 7 to 9 minutes, finally seasoning them with salt and pepper.

You can even make them in a microwave.  Slice the potatoes thin and spread on a plate to go into the microwave.  Cook on High for about 4 minutes, turn them over and cook another 4 minutes or just until they turn light brown.  Season them and handle them carefully.  They will crisp as they cool.

For more information about potato chips, as well as some original ways of using them in cooking, click on the highlighted words or on the graphic of chips above or below to visit a witty web page devoted to "The Legacy of Mr. Crum's Potato Chips."

 Who Cooked That Up? is copyrighted 1999 by J.J. Schnebel
all rights reserved for your pleasure and enlightenment

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