National Potato Chip Day was this week but the popular American snack food is a celebration of our native bounty - potatoes - every day! Created in 1853 by native American chef, George Crum, at a Saratoga Springs, NY resort, the potato chip became an everyday part of the country's special treats - a salty, crispy celebration of the potato.
Crum created them by accident when a guest complained about too-thick French fries and dished up a batch of paper-thin crisps which immediately became a favorite. When he opened his own place some years later, he offered them in baskets on every table.
This week Great New Hampshire Restaurants celebrated the occasion with free chips - made from scratch - for guests at its seven restaurants http://www.t-bones.com.
In Boston's South End at Union Bar & Grill http://www.unionrestaurant.com, Chef Steve Sherman serves his own variation every day as a bar treat. "We are always making chips for garnishes on different menu items; fingerling potato chips for the tartar, parsnip chips for our roast salmon, artichoke chips for the beef carpacchio. We decided that some sort of potato chip would be a great item as a bar snack. But what flavor? What else besides potato chips are people unable to resist? Garlic bread! So we combine the two… Our crispy house made Yukon gold potato chips are flavored with chopped garlic, butter, sea salt and parsley."
"We cut Yukon gold potatoes very thin on the slicer and rinse them in cold water to rid them of excess starch. We fry the potatoes at 300 degrees until cooked through and crispy. When we need to prepare an order for the bar, we melt some whole butter with fresh, chopped garlic, sea salt and black pepper and coarsely chopped parsley. We toss the chips to coat them with the flavored butter and warm them through. Salty, garlicky, buttery, crispy. People love them. It’s one of those items you can’t stop eating until they’re all gone."
Comments