Monday, April 23, 2012

My New Favorite Food Trick

Got a microwave, a potato and a mandolin (or v-slicer)? Congrats, you've got potato chips! I really, really like this idea because a) it's very cheap, b) it's very quick c) there's no grease/oil so they gotta be healthier, amirite? and d) you can control what goes on your chips. For instance, my mom is trying to avoid salt, so she can make hers with little or no salt. I happen to like vinegar on my chips, but I don't keep salt & vinegar chips in the house since Amy doesn't care for them, but now I can make them on demand. A few notes before you try:

  • Don't get greedy and try to make too many all at once by crowding the tray. Leave some space between the potato slices.
  • You don't have to use russets. I used a waxy-ish red and my chips came out fine. Others who commented on the article used sweet potatoes.
  • I salted my chips before I nuked them, I think that worked out pretty well
  • Don't slice the chips too thin. They'll shrink a fair amount during cooking.
  • Yes, you really do need to use parchment paper. I tried other surfaces, and I had problems with sticking. The nice thing is that you can reuse the parchment paper for a couple of batches.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make another batch or two.

... or ten.

2 comments:

Darrin said...

sounds tasty!

Bald Man Tom said...

Darrin -

It *is* tasty, and totally cheap, and way less bad for you than regular chips. Plus, portion control is dead simple, one potato = one serving. Just some simple, back of the napkin guestimates, if you buy a 5lb bag of potatoes, you get 10-15 potatoes, which is 10-15 servings. Your bag of potatoes costs around $2, and you're not tempted to eat the entire 5lb bag. Compare to a bag of chips, which costs $2.50 at a bare minimum, you just keep eating them because they're there, regardless of portion size, they're gone in one or two sittings. Total win-win scenario here. Hrm, all this typing has made me hungry, might need some chips now...