Homemade potato chips

I have never met anyone who doesn't like potato chips. I don't think I ever will.

For most, filling a potato chip craving means buying a bag from the store and eating. There are a variety of tasty flavors to choose from, my personal favorite being salt and vinegar.

Unfortunately, many store bought items just can't match the flavor of their homemade counterparts. This is true for potato chips. The homemade variety is really tasty, and even more addictive than store bought.

Before you go down the road of making your own chips, you should invest in a decent deep fryer. It is possible to use a cast iron skillet or some sort of pot to fry your chips in, but controlling the heat of the oil is pretty difficult. The deep fryer you purchase should have, at a minimum, temperature control and a basket for frying in. I'm pretty happy with my fryer - Waring Pro Stainless Steel Deep Fryer.

Now on to the chip making!

Pour peanut oil into your fryer and heat to 350 degrees.

For your chips, use a floury potato such as an Idaho Russet. I'd recommend frying one potato per person.

Peel your potato with a peeler and discard the peels. Now many recipes would call for making chips using a mandolin. I, however, like to stick with the peeler. Using the same motion you used to peel the potato, start peeling off ribbons of potato. Try to make these ribbons as long as possible. Peel as much as you can without peeling your fingers.

Grab a handful of potato ribbons and drop into the oil. You'll want to stir the chips around for 5 to 10 seconds with metal tongs so they don't stick together.

Fry your chips until golden brown. Please note: the first couple of batches in new oil won't brown up as much as you'd expect.

Once done, remove from the oil and sprinkle with kosher salt immediately (while the chips are still wet). To switch it up a little, you could also try sprinkling with Parmesan cheese (the powdery processed kind).

BTW, you can do the same recipe with sweet potatoes. These are also seriously good.