Saratoga Chips
Wash and pare the desired number of uniform-sized potatoes. Slice thinly (using slaw cutter) into a bowl of cold water. Let stand several hours, changing the water often or until it is quite clear. Drain and drop them into a kettle of boiling water; allow them to boil just one minute. Drain quickly and cover with cold water. Drain from cold water and dry between towels. Fry a few at a time in deep hot Cottolene, keeping them moving with the skimmer. Drain on soft brown paper and sprinkle with salt.
A straightforward deep-fry that depends almost entirely on getting the starch out and the water off. The recipe's fussy soaking and blanching are the whole point, not padding.
- The hinge: dry potatoesAny surface water turns to steam in the fat and gives you limp, greasy chips. Dry between towels means genuinely dry — press, blot, then let the slices sit uncovered a few minutes before they go into the oil.
- Slaw cutterA mandoline or the slicing blade of a food processor. Aim for about 1/16 inch; uniform thickness matters more than absolute thinness, since thick slices will still be raw when the thin ones are brown.
- CottoleneA branded shortening sold by the N. K. Fairbank Company, made from cottonseed oil compounded with beef suet, and long discontinued. Use any neutral oil with a high smoke point — peanut, refined sunflower, or vegetable shortening if you want the same texture.
- "Deep hot" fatNo thermometers in the original. Work at 350–375°F, and fry in small batches so the temperature does not crash. Keeping them moving with a skimmer, as written, stops them welding together.
- The one-minute boilBlanching gelatinises the surface starch and gives a crisper chip, but a minute in fully boiling water is the ceiling — longer and the slices soften and tear when you dry them.
- SoakingSeveral hours with frequent water changes leaches free starch so the chips do not brown too fast or stick. If time is short, a shorter soak with two or three changes will help, though the recipe's test is water that runs quite clear.
- Draining"Soft brown paper" is unbleached grocery paper. Paper towels or a wire rack over a tray both work; the rack keeps the undersides crisper.
- Salt and timingSalt the moment they come out, while the surface is still hot enough to hold it. These are best within the hour and do not reheat well.
- YieldThe original leaves the quantity to you. Reckon one medium russet, about 6 oz, per person as a side; a pound of potatoes makes a generous bowl for three or four.
Saratoga chips take their name from Saratoga Springs, New York, the fashionable spa and racing resort where the thin fried potato is generally traced to a hotel kitchen in the 1850s — the story usually told credits a cook named George Crum, though the details are traditional rather than documented and the dish's exact origin is disputed. By the time this book appeared the chips had become a standard American home preparation, still made slice by slice in a kettle of hot fat. The specified Cottolene helps place the recipe: cottonseed shortening was heavily advertised in the 1890s and 1900s as a cheaper, more wholesome substitute for lard, and cookbooks of the period often named the brand outright.