Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [48]
2. Peel the potatoes. Cut into paper-thin disks.
3. When the oil registers 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer, or when you drop in a tidbit of potato and it immediately sizzles and bobs to the surface, one by one, drop in a handful of potato slices. (If you drop them all in at once, they’ll stick together.)
4. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden. This should take about 5 minutes. Do not remove the chips when they’re still bendable, as chips do not “crisp up” as they cool.
5. As soon as they’re firm but before they darken, with a slotted spoon, remove the chips to the baking sheet to drain. Salt the chips. Repeat with the remaining potatoes.
6. Serve immediately.
Potatoes shed a lot of water as they morph into chips—a pound of potatoes yields only 4 ounces of chips.
ONION DIP
Mixed feelings about this in my household. Using only natural ingredients, I tried repeatedly to replicate the beguiling onion dip that you make by emptying a packet of Lipton onion soup mix into a carton of sour cream and that you serve at Super Bowl parties. The first effort was a failure and everyone—it was tasted by fourteen people—thought mix dip was better. A few weeks later, I tried again, adding homemade Worcestershire sauce and more of all the seasonings. This time, everyone preferred the homemade dip. Everyone, that is, except me. I felt the homemade dip was missing something. Like Lipton onion soup mix. However you make your dip, serve it with potato chips—store-bought.
Make it from scratch or from soup mix? See above.
Hassle: A lot more than the mix
Cost comparison: Lipton: $1.43 per cup. Homemade: $2.05 per cup.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ cups chopped yellow onions, from 1 big onion
¼ teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups full-fat sour cream
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1. Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet. Add the onions and sauté with the ¼ teaspoon salt until soft and caramelized. Cool completely.
2. In a bowl, mix the remaining salt and the other ingredients. Stir in the onions. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Serve immediately, or cover and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Makes 3 cups dip
TORTILLA CHIPS
One night for a party I brought in two different brands of tortilla chips, then cut up some corn tortillas and deep-fried them. Ordinarily polite people became grabby when presented with the hot homemade chips. I became grabby, and I was the hostess. The next day we crumbled up the leftover store-bought chips and fed them to the chickens.
Don’t use thick or homemade tortillas for these chips. You want thin, leathery, factory-made tortillas that will fry up crisp and ethereal.
Make it or buy it? Make it on select occasions.
Hassle: Standing over a cauldron of oil gets hot and tiresome and I wouldn’t fry chips for a big party.
Cost comparison: A half pound of homemade chips: $1.29. The same quantity of Frito-Lay Tostitos: $2.72.
12 ounces thin corn tortillas
6 cups neutral vegetable oil
Salt
1. Cut each tortilla into eight wedges. (You can put them in a stack and cut them all at once.)
2. Line a baking sheet with paper towels or a brown paper grocery bag. Start heating the oil in a sturdy pot. When it registers 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer, or a wedge of tortilla dropped in the oil sizzles on contact, add a large handful of tortillas.
3. Fry until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the chips to the baking sheet to drain. Salt to taste. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve immediately.
Makes 8 ounces of chips
CORN DOGS
To make corn dogs: Mix a sweet cornbread batter—Jiffy would work well, though you could start from scratch if you prefer—and impale some hot dogs on short skewers. Heat a pot containing 6 to 8 cups of oil to 350 degrees F,