Barbecue Potato Chips (crisps)

If you don’t have a food processor with a slicer, you can use a mandolin.

I would not recommend using a knife, because uniformity is key to this recipe. Everything needs to cook through at the same rate and manually adjusting will make that very difficult.

Most of these spices can be found at your local supermarket. There are only 2 spices you might have an issue local sourcing if you don’t live in a big city, mesquite powder and black lime powder. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can purchase them from The Spice & Tea Exchange.

The mesquite powder is necessary in my opinion, but you can probably substitute sumac for black lime powder. It’s not exact or as intense as black lime powder, but they have a similar flavor profile.

Looks like it’s time for a science lesson.

TLDR: Soaking the slices in water leeches some of the starches out of the potatoes before frying, which helps them crisp up better and slows down browning. Including vinegar in that soak adds flavor and slows browning down even more so.

The long answer: The Maillard reaction happens at temperatures over 300°F (150°C)
It’s a heat-based reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars to create compounds like melanoidins. This reaction is what creates the brown color and savory flavors in things like steak, roasted veggies, and potato chips!

The less sugars (carbohydrates) there are to reduce at high temperatures the longer it takes for the chips to turn from golden to dark brown. So, soaking the slices in liquid and leeching their starches into the water, reduces the sugar and thus the Maillard reaction.

The Maillard reaction is also sensitive to pH levels. By adding vinegar to the soaking liquid, we reduce the pH and make the solution more acidic. The more acidic something is the longer it takes for the Maillard reaction to occur. Pretzels and bagels are great examples of the connection between pH and the Maillard reaction. During the process of making them, they are boiled in a very alkaline solution (with lye or baking soda) to increase browning. In this instance, increasing the acidity of the potatoes does the opposite of what happens to bagels and pretzels. It keeps them from browning quickly and gives them longer to crisp up without burning.

I do recommend following the ratio of water to vinegar to potatoes 6c:1c:3 potatoes (1.4L:240ml:3 potatoes).

– If you keep the same amount of water and vinegar and add more potatoes, the water will be starchier (more sugar on the potato while cooking) and lead to browner chips (crisps).

– If you use less vinegar, you will also get browner chips (crisps) but with more potato flavor.

I like the light tang the chips (crisps) get and think it really helps with overall flavor. You could literally eat these with no other seasonings because you are adding some brightness on the front end.

Play around with what you like!

For frying, I prefer an enameled Dutch oven for 2 reasons: 1. to keep any splattering safe below the lip of the pot and 2. to retain heat. But you can still make it work if you don’t have that.

The second-best option is probably a carbon steel wok, followed by a stainless-steel pot. Just make sure you are very aware of your oil’s temperature before, during, and after you fry the potato slices.

The size of the pot in diameter is also fairly important. Just like with sauteing or shallow frying, it’s not a good idea to crowd the pot if you want better heat control and even frying. The more surface you have the more potato slices you can fry at one time.

1. Dry off as much water from the potato slices as possible before frying. Water and oil do not mix and any pooled water on the surface of a chip will splatter instead of just bubbling.

2. Use a thermometer! I use a digital probe thermometer, but a candy thermometer would be a great hands-free way to keep track.

I supplied temperature ranges to help guide your through the cooking process. There is going to be huge dip in temperature when you add the potatoes, and the material and size of your cooking vessel as well as ratio of potato slices to hot oil are going to contribute to how much of a change you see. You may need to adjust your start temperature, so the initial drop range and end of cooking range are reached at the right time.

Calibrate as you go and know that this process is actually very forgiving because of the vinegar soak. You can still turn out delicious product as long as you keep stirring and keep an eye on the bubbles. I’d only be concerned if it takes more than 6 minutes to cook the chips. That means your oil temperature is too low, and you will end up with oily and hard chips. bleh.

3. Use the bubbles as a guide. The chips will only bubble in oil if there is still moisture present. A few bubbles clinging to a chip isn’t a big deal: I’m talking about active bubbling. If you take a chip out of the oil when it’s still actively bubbling that spot on the chip will be soft. Of course, if a chip looks like it’s going to burn, take it out of the oil regardless of the bubbles on its surface. You shouldn’t have that issue unless the oil is too hot during cooking.

First things first…DO NOT POUR OIL DOWN YOUR DRAIN! It can cause all sorts of issues with your pipes.

You have 3 options to choose from when deciding what to do with the fry oil from your barbecue potato chips:

1. Strain and reuse the oil 2-3 more times. Chips don’t have a lot of debris (like breading), and they are a vegetable, so animal fats and by-products aren’t getting introduced to the oil. You can pour the cooled oil into a glass container and keep it in your pantry until you use it again. Fair warning oil stored at room temperature will last about a month before it starts to go rancid. In the refrigerator, oil can last up to 3 months. And you have about 1 year if stored in the freezer.

2. Pour the oil into a container you already plan to throw away. seal it closed and take it out with the trash.

3. Add flour to the oil and mix until it’s sludge. Then, throw it away.