Deep Fried/Chips: potato chips

Subject: potato chips
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: at pathcom.com
Date: 8 May 1997 23:42:15 GMT
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I am trying to find out when and where and by whom the potato chip was invented. Any information gratefully received.
From: Clairee Meeks ("clairee at olympus.net" at olympus.net)
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 08:11:53 -0700
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Invented in Saratoga, New York in the 1800's. Used to have big races up there--maybe still do. Anyway, they were invented there and originally were called Saratoga chips.
From: LKS (laura21 at ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:47:58 -0400
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Clairee Meeks wrote:
> Invented in Saratoga, New York in the 1800's. Used to have big races up
> there--maybe still do.

Yup, every August. Also, remember that Carly Simon song, "..Saratoga, and your horse natually won.." ?
From: Clairee Meeks ("clairee at olympus.net" at olympus.net)
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 08:14:11 -0700
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Invented in Saratoga New York, in the 1800's. Don't remember exactly why - perhaps the chef was running low on spuds, and was trying to make them go further. Anyway, they were invented there, and were originally called Saratoga chips!
From: Lew Matt (lmatt at alltel.net)
Date: 9 May 1997 23:25:28 GMT
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Potato chips were invented in the summer of 1853 by a Native American named George Crum while he was chef at the Moon Lake Lodge, Sarasota Springs, NY. Story goes that an unsatisfied customer returned his french fries because they were too thick. Mr. Crum tried three times to slice thinner. Finally got it correct. Customer was elated. Chef Crum added them to the menu as Saratoga Chips. These were hand sliced, by the way.
From: D. Carlson (karlsohn at ris.net)
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 18:41:54 -0600
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According to "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" by Charles Panati: The potato chip was invented in 1853 in Saratoga Springs, New York. The book says that American Indian George Crum, who was a chef at an elegant resort there, made the paper-thin, browned potatoes after a guest rejected an order of french fried potatoes, saying they were too thick for his liking. Other customers began asking for the chips, which began to appear on the menu as Saratoga Chips. Crum began to package and sell them, first locally, then throughout the New England area.

Potatoes were peeled and sliced by hand until the 1920's when the mechanical potato peeler revolutionized the process of potato-chip making, and they became a popular snack food.

Also in the 1920's, Herman Lay, a traveling salesman in the U.S. South, helped to popularize the chips there by selling them out of the trunk of his car. Lay's potato chips became the first successfully marketed national brand.

Hope this helps!

(I made a batch of homemade potato chips a couple of months ago. My family and I found them to be superior to "store-bought", but not enough so to warrant spending the time making them again! ;)

M. Carlson
Wetmore, CO
From: eee at netcom.com (Mark Thorson)
Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 12:56:46 GMT
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D. Carlson wrote:
>(I made a batch of homemade potato chips a couple of months ago. My
>family and I found them to be superior to "store-bought", but not enough
>so to warrant spending the time making them again! ;)

How did you do that? Every time I've tried to make my own chips, they get too brown around the edges before the centers became crisp.

And how does McDonalds make their fries like they do? When I make fries, they become browned and hard before becoming properly cooked inside. How does McDonalds get good fries that have such a light color and are so limp?
From: dcopehow at aol.com (Dave)
Date: 10 May 1997 18:19:24 GMT
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Mark Thorson asked:
>How did you do that? Every time I've tried to make my own chips,
>they get too brown around the edges before the centers became
>crisp.

I think the "secret" is the same for both chips and fries -- double fry them. I fry them for two to three minutes, remove them and let them rest for a few minutes on paper towels, then return to hot oil for maybe 30 seconds (you'll know when the sound crispy when stiring them). Works every time.
From: moano at aol.com (Moano)
Date: 11 May 1997 16:33:42 GMT
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>And how does McDonalds make their fries like they do? When I make
>fries, they become browned and hard before becoming properly cooked
>inside. How does McDonalds get good fries that have such a light
>color and are so limp?

With comercial fries, they are usually blanched in sugar water, and some are flash fried, before packaging.
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Mickey Dee's Fries (was potato chips)
From: ()
Date: 12 May 1997 04:26:00 GMT
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> And how does McDonalds make their fries like they do?

As a former Mickey Dees manager I can tell you that in Canada McDonalds uses Carnation Brand frozen french fries. They are cooked for 7 minutes at a specific temperature. Unfortuneatly I don't remember what that temperature is. The fryers are allowed to recover (ie come back up to temperature) before the next batch of fries are "dropped". This is the reason that McDonalds has so many fryers.
And for that lovely golden brown colour, the fries are sprayed with a suger and water solution before they are frozen.

As for home made french fries, try "double frying". Put the fries in the hot oil and fry for half the time required. Take them out and let the oil drain. This will allow the oil in the fryer to come back up to temperature. When the oil is back to the right temperature put the fries in the oil until they are a nice golden colour.
This should solve your problem.

Jon at OH
From: HIDDA (dennisda at mauigateway.com)
Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 00:07:46 -1000
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> And how does McDonalds make their fries like they do?

I read somewhere that the potatoes used for MacDonald's fries are "cured" to a specific water content. In other words, I took that to mean the potatoes are a bit drier than you would normally find in the market.

As another poster has suggested, you can try frying twice. My mother used to fry it first at a lower temperature until the insides were cooked. Then she'd fry it again at a really high temperature to crisp the outsides.
From: sue at interport.net (Curly Sue)
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 04:41:41 GMT
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> As for home made french fries, try "double frying". Put the fries in the hot
> oil and fry for half the time required. Take them out and let the oil drain. This
> will allow the oil in the fryer to come back up to temperature. When the oil is
> back to the right temperature put the fries in the oil until they are a nice golden colour.
> This should solve your problem.

Yup. That's what my mother does for her fries too. Not only do they cook through properly, but it's much better when making up large batches. You can give them all the initial cooking and hold them until it's time for the meal. Then the second cooking goes much faster and you don't end up with the earlier fries getting cold while the last ones cook.
From: onebozfan at aol.com (OneBozFan)
Date: 14 May 1997 11:26:15 GMT
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Hey, as a former employee of MD's, back in 1978, I used to work at one of the only remaining MD's that used REAL potatoes to make the fries by hand. We used whole russets, put them into a rotating tub that would remove most of the skin, and the secret (here we go), was using oil that contained Beef Tallow. Now those were fries. In the 80's MD's changed to a different oil (because the saturated fat with the Beef Tallow was too high - the health movement, you know). The fries today are no comparision.
From: kate at wwa.com (Kate)
Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 21:35:58 GMT
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OneBozFan wrote:
> and the secret (here we go), was using oil that
>contained Beef Tallow. Now those were fries. In the 80's MD's changed to
>a different oil (because the saturated fat with the Beef Tallow was too
>high - the health movement, you know). The fries today are no comparision.

You'll get no disagreement here with that. I did an experiment once cooking french fries and onion rings breaded in flour (twice fried: first batch at 300 to 325 F for about 5 to 7 minutes and second at 375 F for 2 or 3 minutes). Fried one batch in lard and one in corn oil because SO said the healthier oil was better (HA!) tasting. Needless to say, the lard cooked batch was the huge winner!