Potato Chips

A perfect potato chip almost makes me weep with joy. The oft maligned chip deserves more respect. It is the behemoth producers and economy of scale that ruined the beauty of what should be a delicacy deserving of the most sophisticated palate.

Years ago, I deep fried some mandoline-sliced sweet potato slices. They were absolutely perfect, but deep-fried. Today, I took the mighty russet and sliced it on a mandoline slicer. The slices were soaked in water for about 10 minutes, removed from the slurry of water and extracted starch and left to air dry (about 15 minutes). They were placed on an oiled, black cookie sheet (in a single layer), dabbed with a tad of soy oil using a paint brush (I would've used a spray can of veg oil, but had none) AND baked at 425°F (convection) for about 10 minutes. Voilà.

Why the two piles? Stay tuned ...