Monday, July 6, 2009

Microwave Potato Chips

At 10 pm on a Saturday night, I decided I wanted potato chips. No sooner than the words were out of my mouth must I have gotten "that look" on my face.

I once tried to make potato chips before in the oven, but it just didn't work. I think it was the combination of too little oil and too low of heat. But I still have about five pounds of potatoes, so burning off a couple obviously wouldn't break my heart.

And then, I stumbled across this in my search. Rays of light came from the sky, and angels sang. But would it really work? Aforementioned surplus of potatoes made it too good not to try.

Don't be afraid to doubt, my dears. Here are the results.

I sliced the potato as thinly as I could. Singular, because slicing a potato really thin is really, really boring, especially when it stands between you and potato chip eating.

I rolled the slices around in some vegetable oil (subsequent attempts with olive oil were about the same) and squeezed as many as I could onto the largest greased plate I had. They can't overlap, but touching is OK since they'll get a little smaller.

I watched them spin in the microwave for the recommended 4-5 minutes. Mostly because I was pretty sure that much oil for that long would catch fire. It seemed like something was happening just at the 5-minute mark, so I added two more.

Then there was magic:


They came out ... potato chips. Just like Lays. Tasty, crave-killing potato chips. I'll admit that this is 60% novelty, kind of like microwaved smores. But imagine showing up to a party or a barbecue and saying, "Oh, these? Yeah, I just whipped up some homemade potato chips."

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