Got any tips or tricks for making potato chips?

[KurtNYC]

The relentless heat finished off my Yukon Golds so I dug up most of them yesterday. I want to make some into garlic mash but I also want to try and make some potato chips. I also have Kennebecs, German Butterballs and Adirondack Blues coming soon.

If you have had good results or have a favorite way to make potato chips, I would love to hear about it.

[damyank913]

1. Yes the 1st step is...

...go to 7-11. Don't forget the beer.

[ret5hd]

2. Buy one of these...handiest thing you will ever own!:

[Denninmi]

3. Not very hard.

Slice thin and uniform. By hand is difficult, a mandoline cutter would be best, or possibly a food processor with the right blade IF it has a big enough chute.

Fry in oil of your choice with a higher smoke point. Any oil probably would work. Sunflower, peanut are good choices. And olive oil would probably work, but would be pricey AND only if you like the flavor of olive oil on your chips. I think temp would be about 375, but not sure.

Also, some people let the slices soak in water a while, then rinse and drain. This gets rid of some of the surface starch. I don't know if this is necessary or what it does, but I know it's done some times.

Be sure to salt them, if you're going to, as soon as you get them out of the oil, because otherwise it won't stick.

Some potatoes work better than others. Red potatoes don't really work -- get crisp but really don't brown well. Not sure about Yukon Golds. Russets are about the best.

[sir pball]

4. Use the Kennebecs for all things fried.

They're not nearly as well known as a lot of other varieties but they were specifically genetically engineered, sorry, bred to be fryin' taters. They're passable when baked but for the love of God don't mash them!

And like others have said - mandoline them (this is really non-negotiable...get a Benriner for $20), I prefer them a bit thicker, soak them, and fry them in peanut oil. 360-365 works best for me, too hot and they burn before they crisp, too low and they don't get any color. Get it right and you can beat Cape Cod chips (by far the best bagged variety IMO).

[KurtNYC]

8. Will try the Kennebecs too. I got a couple during my dig of the yukons

I planted them to see if they were more disease resistant. You spooked me with the GE thing -- looks like they were bred in 1941 and good for my area of the country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennebec_%28potato%29

[KurtNYC]

11. We cooked all three varieties and the Kennebecs were awesome !

The Adirondack Blues did pretty well but they are tiny and the Yukon Golds might make good french fries or we will just use them in mashed potatoes.

[sir pball]

12. Glad to help!

I wouldn't recommend frying the yukons - we had to do it last week when we ran out of kennebecs, they're lovely and creamy inside but they brown spottily at best and burn super-fast. Maybe properly double-fried would help but I'd probably just stick with mashing them.

[hedgehog]

5. I just used a potato peeler to get thin slices when I tried this

[cbayer]

6. You might want to cross post in Cooking and Baking.

Lots of foodies there.

[surrealAmerican]

7. The oil temperature is really critical.

Use a thermometer, and work in small batches so as not to cool the oil when the potatoes are added.

[Arcanetrance]

9. Soak in some red wine vinegar before cooking than toss with kosher salt after cooking

makes great salt and vinegar chips

[Lars39]

10. There's a microwave method also.

Have't tried it,but supposed to be good.