Warm deep-fried homemade potato chips that have only been allowed to cool for a minute or two. Test it. But I warn you. You should be aware that those you buy in the store will always appear as inferior copies.
It’s many years ago since I tried to make chips for the first time. I was a teenager, and not many things were impossible. Making potato chips was not one of them. How hard could I be I asked myself. You just need to slice a potato thin and deep-fry it. After the first attempt, I realized that it might not be that easy after all. The first batch looked simply delicious. Maybe a little bit too dark in color, but not that bad. But when I tasted them I realized they were a failure. They were soggy in the middle, and nobody likes soggy potato chips.
So I tried to fry them a little bit longer. Now the chips were dark brown. But still a bit soggy. The third attempt ended in a batch of burned chips. At last, they were not soggy. But they tasted awful, so I had to throw them away.
After that, I went to the supermarket and bought a bag of chips instead. I couldn’t help thinking about why the big chip manufacturers could make perfect chips when I failed completely. I got the answer a few years later when I accidentally got employment as an engineer for a company that manufactured machines for … that’s right … chips production.
The problem is sugar.
All potatoes contain sugar. And the sugar content increases if the potatoes are stored cold, which is usually the case to prevent the potatoes from sprouting. The chips manufacturers know that so they always blanch the potato slices before deep-frying them.
The blanching process removes some of the sugar which will make the potato slices more resilient against the high temperatures.
But how does this blanching process work then?
It’s very simple and something you can easily do at home.
You need a large pot filled with water, a thermometer, and a ladle or a large spoon. You heat up the water to 185 °F/ 85 °C. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar. Slice the potatoes. A thickness between 1/8 – 1/16 is preferred. Test which thickness you like best. After that, you pour the potato slices into the hot water and stir with the ladle for 3-4 minutes. The sugar in the potato slices will leak out in the hot water. Some of the starch will also gelatinize, which will give the potato chips a better structure.
After that, just take up the slices with a slotted spoon or similar and let them dry on paper towels.
Deep-fried, NOT oven-baked.
The potato slices are now ready to be fried. And we’re going to boil them in oil. No baking in the oven, or any other healthy options. Potato chips are supposed to be unhealthy. And don’t even try to convince me that oven-baked chips taste just as good. They don’t.
The deep-frying process is quite straight forward. You heat up oil to about 360 °F / 180 °C. Add the slices to the oil but be careful. Don’t add too much or the oil may boil over. Needless to say, oil this hot can cause severe burns.
Now you just have to boil the chips until you don’t see any bubbles anymore. Press the slices under the surface to be sure there is no moisture left. All water has to be boiled out of them.
Remove the chips from the oil when they are ready and let them drain on paper towels. Add salt and preferred spices immediately. All that remains now is to open a bottle of beer and enjoy your chips. For you will love them. I promise.
Murder is like potato chips: you can’t stop with just one.
Potato chips
Ingredients
- 4 big potatoes
- 1/4 gallon vegetable oil Canola, sunflower, corn or any other oil suitable for deep-frying.
- 2 tablespoon vineagre
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water. Add Vinagre and heat to 185 °F/ 85 °C. Slice the potatoes to your preferred thickness. Normal thickness is between 1/16 - 1/8. Rinse the slices in plenty of water.
- Add the slices to the hot water an stir with a large spoon for 3-4 minutes. Let the slices drain on kitchen towels.
- Heat the oil to 365 °F/ 185 °C. Add potato slices in small batches and boil until there are no bubbles. Be careful. Hot oil can cause severe burns.
- Remove the chips and let them drain on paper towels. Add salt and maybee some black pepper or any other preferred seasoning.
2 Comments
Hi, my name is Tessa and I want to thank you for this insight of using vinegar to make my chips come out like the store-bought kind. I’ve been trying to figure out how to improve my chips and no matter how thin they are, they always burn with a soggy centre. Thank you so much! Wishing you all the best results with your blog.
I’m glad you liked the recipe, Tessa.