By Mike Passanita, Executive Sous Chef at Saint Francis University

Part of the fun of homemade potato chips is you can use whatever potato variety you like: Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, Russian Red Fingerling and even purple.  At Saint Francis we buy our potatoes from a local grower at Blue Goose Farm that grows potatoes specifically for the making of potato chips.  I make a variety of flavors.  Here is a list of some of the flavors:

• Cheddar Onion
• Ranch
• Cheddar Bacon Onion
• Homemade BBQ
• Vinegar and Salt
• Seasoned Salt
• Tomato Herb
• Italian
• Mayo
• Old Bay
• Sour Cream and Onion
• Taco
• Sour Cream and Cheddar
• Paprika
• Spicy Thai
• Mesquite
• Sweet Onion
• Lime
• Cajun Ranch
• Garlic
• Mild Garlic
• Butter and Garlic
• Rosemary Sea Salt
• Sweet Onion Ranch

I buy the sour cream powder, cheddar powder and the vinegar powder from Spice Barn.  To make the sweet onion chip I use salt to taste and equal parts of onion powder and sugar.  I actually use the regular table salt for my mixes because it makes a better blend and coats the chip more thoroughly.  The Italian chips I just use the Good Seasons Italian packets and the ranch chips I use a homemade ranch dressing recipe and just use the dry ingredients to dust the chips with. I have used the Hidden Valley Ranch dressing packets and this makes a great chip!

Here is what you do:

• Look for firm potatoes without any green spots or sprouting.
• Scrub the potatoes and peel if you like, slice the potatoes as thin as you like. I have used a mandolin, robot coup and a slicer depending on the potato being used.
• After slicing the potatoes, rinse the potatoes then soak them in cold water for about 30 minutes, this helps remove the excess starch.
• Drain the potato slices and dry thoroughly.
• When frying the potato chips do not over crowd the frying basket.

I have found that using a lower temperature to cook the chips helps when you are using a potato that has high starch content. I fry the potato chips at anywhere between 275 and 325 degrees.  When I make sweet potato chips I fry them at 275 degrees and they turn out wonderful.

• Drain the chips well, season immediately and enjoy!

You can make many kind of chips and they do not have to be from potatoes.  I have experimented with beets, jicama and parsnips. You can also use exotic things such as lotus root. Have fun and be creative!

Please feel free to contact me for any recipe you might need at Mdpassanita@francis.edu.