Your Favorite Potato Chip

[znachki]

I'm a potato chip tester.

Love it!

The best chips are still hot from the fryer. I never get tired of them. ... I like the ones that have more colour. The colour is caused my the sugars in the potato caramelizing, and it's yummy.

Totally agree. I grew up in Tacoma, WA, the home of Nalley's products, sadly, no longer with us.
http://seattletimes.com/html/busines..._nalley08.html

Nalley Valley (and it was) made potato chips and pickles. You could see the huge pickle barrels from the freeway, and on certain days, you could smell the chips! I can remember taking a tour of the plant, and getting chips still hot from the fryer. YUM!!

Back in her younger days, my SIL was a cucumber sorter.

[Jenny]

I can remember taking a tour of the plant, and getting chips still hot from the fryer.

What fun! Call me a geek, but I love a plant tour and seeing how stuff is made.

[cruisin]

Don't ever tour the Sturgis Pretzel factory. We did, years ago. The place was so full of flies, it was disgusting. Then, they would give people pieces of dough to try and do the pretzel "twist". Afterward, they collected the dough and threw it back into the vat, with the rest of the pretzel dough. I haven't been able to eat a Sturgis Pretzel since!

[GarrAarghHrumph]

I like Cape Cod potato chips, reduced fat version. Basic salt kettle chips they are, and I love them.

[suep1963]

Any tips for homemade chips? We have a deep fryer that we've used for fries, but never chips.

Type of potato? Single or twice fry? Other tips?

I use the Pampered Chef chip maker--it looks like a mini trampoline with holes in it, and goes in the microwave. You slice up the potato really thin and zap for a couple of minutes--voila! Fresh chips! (does sweet potatoes too)

[Marilou]

After reading this thread, I think I'm pretty boring. Just give me a bag of plain old potato chips (Lays or Old Dutch) and I can devour an entire family-sized bag/box! Needless to say, they're not in the house very often

When I was younger I loved salt & vinegar and sour cream & onion.

[rjblue]

Yukon Gold potatoes make really yummy potato chips, with a nice colour. The russet skinned baking potatoes will make really dark burnt tasting chips. Most of the red potatoes in the stores don't chip well either. Round white skinned potatoes will possibly chip. Keep them in a warm place for a week or two so that the sugars in the tuber get used up before you chip them.

Slice them chip thickness, rinse them and blot them dry. Fry them in hot canola oil (350F) until they stop bubbling. Take them out and dump them on some paper towel to absorb the oil, salt, and eat.

Thicker slices will be like kettle chips and take longer for the water to all boil out of the slice, so the thinner the better.

By the way- chips are a pretty decent source of potassium and vitamin C.

[cruisin]

This thread made me buy chips today!

[Jenny]

Yukon Gold potatoes make really yummy potato chips, with a nice colour. The russet skinned baking potatoes will make really dark burnt tasting chips. Most of the red potatoes in the stores don't chip well either. Round white skinned potatoes will possibly chip. Keep them in a warm place for a week or two so that the sugars in the tuber get used up before you chip them.

Slice them chip thickness, rinse them and blot them dry. Fry them in hot canola oil (350F) until they stop bubbling. Take them out and dump them on some paper towel to absorb the oil, salt, and eat.

Thicker slices will be like kettle chips and take longer for the water to all boil out of the slice, so the thinner the better.

From our own ! I'm jotting these tips down for sure.

For slicing, no worries as we have a meat slicer that goes paper thin

[peibeck]

These. They're pretty much only available in western West Virginia - I grew up on these, and to me, nothing tastes as good. I could have some shipped to me in Minneapolis, but I like to keep them a special treat for when I go home.

Woah, they make a 3lb bag. You should stock up on those to take with you when you leave.

I try and be good and not each chips so often anymore, but this thread keeps making think longingly of them.

I don't have anything against "naked" chips, but I definitely am a big fan of dips as well. Rippled Lays with most dips are heavenly to me.

[mkats]

Any tips for homemade chips? We have a deep fryer that we've used for fries, but never chips.

Type of potato? Single or twice fry? Other tips?

So this might make you cringe, but .... microwave chips

I found it on Pinterest and thought that there was no way this could work, but they actually weren't too bad (and I like to imagine a lot healthier than some of the packaged stuff).

I LOVE beet chips though, and unfortunately this method did not work with beets. Too much water content, I think - they just mushed up and did not crisp at all.

[LilJen]

Potato chip alternatives:
Original crunchy Cheetos (SOOOOOOO good but so bad. . . )

We've had fun trying out some lentil chips and hummus chips recently. (Unfortunately, they're not really much healthier than potato chips.) Tastiest: Simply 7 Bruschetta Lentil Chips and Simply 7 Hummus Chips, Tomato Basil and Simply 7 Hummus, Roasted Red Pepper

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

I've always loved Dill Pickle.
Lately, I really like the Yukon gold chips. Sooooo yummy.

I also like regular plain Old Dutch chips. Not the ripples though. I don't like ripple style chips.

[suep1963]

So this might make you cringe, but .... microwave chips

I found it on Pinterest and thought that there was no way this could work, but they actually weren't too bad (and I like to imagine a lot healthier than some of the packaged stuff).

I LOVE beet chips though, and unfortunately this method did not work with beets. Too much water content, I think - they just mushed up and did not crisp at all.

When we got the micro-chip maker, the test kitchen people had tried out just about everything under the sun. The four things that work in the microwave are potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples and yucca.

[mkats]

Ooh, I'll have to try the sweet potatoes. Thanks, suep1963!

[Artemis@BC]

I LOVE beet chips though, and unfortunately this method did not work with beets. Too much water content, I think - they just mushed up and did not crisp at all.

I've had a lot of luck with beet chips in my deydrator. You have to be incredibly patient, though -- can take 2 days. Talk about delayed gratification! So I don't make them often, esp. when very yummy store-bought ones are available. Terra is good, but even better are Tyrells Beetroot, Parsnip, and Carrot Crisps (which London Drugs in BC just started carrying!).

ETA: Tyrells also makes a just beet variety. Will have to look for those too.

I had a microwave chipmaker years ago, and it didn't work worth diddly. It was rack, though, not a "trampoline" (LOL!).

[suep1963]

And don't forget--a microchip maker used in a microwave is not a dehydrator, which is why only a few items work.

When I was at conference, we were chatting with the test kitchen people and someone asked about making zucchini chips. My first thought was "why???" and the second thought was "waaaaaay too much water". The test kitchen gal said they did try, and it basically disintegrated, what was left was glued to the microcooker and was not fun to clean up!

[FigureSpins]

When I was a kid, Wise Sour Cream and Onion flavor was my favorite.
Lately, I've taken to Lays Carolina BBQ chips or Salt & Vinegar chips, but I'm perfectly happy with Wise Lightly Salted chips.
Have to say that Pathmark and Kroger have really good plain/ridged potato chips, too.

I have never liked Kettle chips - too hard and sharp. However, Trader Joe's kettle chips are pretty good, but not my first choice.

If you're looking for a short day trip in Pennsylvania, a (free) tour of the Herr's chip factory is very interesting and it ends with hot, fresh potato chips. During the holiday season, they used to set up a holiday light display and let people drive through the property at night. (My sister and BIL used to live nearby, so we were regulars. We miss the Herrs factory now.)

I insisted that we had to have chip dip made from sour cream and Lipton's onion soup mix (the technical name is "California Dip"). Hubby thought it rather pedestrian, and didn't believe me that it's essential to any Super Bowl spread. Sure enough, first market we went to had a big empty hole where the Lipton's is supposed to be, and we had to go to 3 other shops before we finally found it.

I always prefer Lipton's Onion Soup Mix and sour cream. The Knorr Spring Onion was really bland - I made it with one packet and the kids mixed in another packet while I wasn't looking. Our family always had party food on New Year's Eve, even though it was just us kids and our parents at the party. Lipton Onion Dip (as we called it) was a staple. (Along with pickled and/or creamed herring - ugh.)

[AnnieBgood]

-Sweet potato Pop chips
-Cool Ranch Doritos. I never eat them, though. I would probably want to eat the entire bag.

[Jenny]

So this might make you cringe, but .... microwave chips

I have nothing against microwaves It's the microwaveable "food" I have a problem with We moved a few months back so ended up with the unit that came with the house - when it's done, it shows a message "ENJOY YOUR MEAL"

Anyway, in that recipe, it's more the cooking spray I have an issue with, so for now I'm going to pursue the deep fry method. (Which I'm sure someone will insist is less healthy, but there you go.)

I always prefer Lipton's Onion Soup Mix and sour cream. The Knorr Spring Onion was really bland - I made it with one packet and the kids mixed in another packet while I wasn't looking. Our family always had party food on New Year's Eve, even though it was just us kids and our parents at the party. Lipton Onion Dip (as we called it) was a staple. (Along with pickled and/or creamed herring - ugh.)

Hubby has always favoured the awful Philadelphia onion dip (it has the texture of caulking ), and he thinks California Dip tastes just like it but with better texture and less unidentifiable flavours/after tastes.

My favourite dip is still just plain old sour cream

And I am SO buying chips today, and will be making a dip tbd