| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Treacodactyl |
Making crisps (with pictures)Rather than buying expensive pan fried hand made crisps I tend to make my own if I feel like a treat. I simply take some good potatoes, ones with coloured skins add interest, and slice on the blade side of a fours sided greater. Picture 1. Take care of those fingers!I have found that a fresh potato can be too wet so I lightly dry the slices before frying. Picture 2. I then fry them, a few at a time, in about an inch of vegetable oil in a small saucepan. These took about 5 goes. I fry for a few minutes until the crisps start to turn golden and crispy. I then take them out and place on kitchen towel on an oven proof plate and keep in a warm oven until they are all cooked. When done sprinkle with a little sea salt and fresh black pepper and charge a fortune. Picture 3. |
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| Wombat |
Ummmmmmmmmm......look great 
Wombat |
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| Róisín |
That looks great - yummy and really easy. Will give it a try definitely. | ||||
| Guest |
The nice thing about home-made crisps is that you have to eat them quickly, as they tend to go soft. 
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| Treacodactyl |
Never left them long enough to find out. 
I would like to find a way to drain the crips without using kitchen roll. Perhaps some form of rack over a tray in the warm oven? |
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| Guest |
Hard to get them to sit sensibly on any sort of rack, I would think. Best way is a largeish sheet of kitchen paper or blue roll , put them inside and shoogle them about. Paper goes on the compost heap afterwards. Not completely environment friendly, but that's probably the best way if you feel the need to drain them. You could leave them in a wire basket (lettuce/salad drier type thing, or egg basket - metal), but any excess oil will still have to go somewhere. I just give mine a very good shake as they come out the pan and eat them. | ||||
| Azura Skye |
I made crisps before but A LONG TIME AGO- in the microwave, it only takes a minute, literally.
I sliced them like you did in the grater, then made a concertina out of, hmm now what was it, paper? or greasproof paper? They stayed on it easy... I think I put on a tiny bit of oil on them, and spinkled on salt and pepper, then turned the microwave on for full for a minute, and there they were = crisps! Although, I really must find out how I did it with some experimenting rather that posting on here first 
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| judyofthewoods |
Maybe a salad spinner? Will try my wok tomorow. Mmmm, may be able to wean myself off Pringles. |
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| jema |
Draining is the key, drained well with a lot of kitchen roll, and they will not go soft. But this always seems a wasteful way of doing them. |
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| Treacodactyl |
A good chip shop drains the batter fish very well without paper. The warming bays above the frying pans have holes it that allows the oil to drain. I find it's the last minute or so in a hot oven draining the oil that makes them nice and crispy.
On a slightly different note I used non-deodorised cold pressed sunflower oil (sounds posher than it is) and it gives off a very strong smell. Not unpleasant but a surprise to someone used to the supermarket stuff. Doesn't harm the flavour of the crisps though. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Don't have a salad spinner but I do remember seeing a rack you can place on the rim of a wok. That would be a good idea. 
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| dougal |
I think that getting excess oil off the crisps, without blotting it up into absorbant paper, depends on keeping that (excess) oil **hot** and therefore *runny*...
The frying is going to be at around 180C. So, having the draining rack and oven at 140C/160C or so sounds sensible. Sadly most salad spinners are made of plastics that would melt at temperatures much lower than that, and I wouldn't expect the mechanical strength of the crisps to survive much centrifuging... And hot air blasting would blow the crisps away... hmmm. I wonder how commercial processes limit the oil content (I'm sure they'd recover the excess) especially on the "lower fat" crisps... |
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| Lozzie |
You do sometimes see these at car-boot sales. We had one but it got lost when we moved house.
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| wellington womble |
That's what I was thinking of - I think lakeland do them, too. I bet you could use them for drying fruit and things too.
Shame I don't have a microwave! |
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| Bugs |
Just come across this on the MSE site, someone makes crisps in the microwave and links to some other recipes on other sites:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=15453 |
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| Jonnyboy |
Anyone tried parsnip crisps, I've done them a few times they were nice, but I think I made them a little thick. | ||||
| Guest |
I've made them, they're lovely; they need to be thin, or they stay chewy in the middle. Apple crisps are nice too. | ||||
| Erikht |
To make a draining "rack":
Take an old cake spring form(you know, bottom, the sides, can be loosened or fastened). Take a powerdrill. Drill lots of little holes(I mean lots. Put in the oven with crisps in it. Have a plate with foil under the tin, to catch the oil. |
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| Jonnyboy |
Oh yes, apple crisps are surprisingly lovely. |
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| judith |
Hmm. I have a couple of pizza trays with holes in them - that might work as well. I also have some left-over sweet potato waiting to find a home. I feel almost duty-bound to experiment
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| dougal |
Wouldn't a cake-cooling rack over a roasting tin work better? | ||||
| judith |
I have a very small, quasi-temporary(!) oven - my roasting tin with roasting rack doesn't fit in it 
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| judith |
But the replacement grill pan that doesn't fit under the grill  might if I turn it sideways.
Good thinking Dougal! |
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| judyofthewoods |
Not tried the wok yet, but had another thought. I have seen oil pump/spray bottles at Lakeland
http://www.lakelandlimited.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/GBP/DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=sJiGuDBdWJR15nNeCaSNvpidDS2Tytfx5qY=?ProductID=E1bAqAYU1eAAAAEAglXYYT02 and also this one http://www.lakelandlimited.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/GBP/DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=sJiGuDBdWJR15nNeCaSNvpidDS2Tytfx5qY=?ProductID=zt7Cy5OSpZwAAADkzZUcABKU By applying only as little as needed in the first place, there won't be anything to remove afterwards. Me thinks. But maybe it needs lots of oil to do the crisping. Worth an experiment if anyone has some oil spray. |
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| wellington womble |
I've got one of those, and I wouldn't reccommend them - they leak, and need loads of pumping - I don't think its a lakeland one, though, which may be better quality. | ||||
| mark |
parsnip crisps are the best !! but if you never tried beetroot they are pretty excellent - carrot is nice too!
for the carrot and parsnip slice them off lengthwise mark |
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| Penny Outskirts |
Just tried making crisps. We have very nice thin slices of potaoto. but if we fry them till they're crispy, they are burning. Is the oil too hot perhaps?? We don't have a thermometer to check 
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| dougal |
Penny, I'm no expert on this (no deep frying kit at present) but I don't think you should expect them to come out of the oil fully crisp.
Like streaky bacon, it only really crisps as the oil drains away, and it cools a little. You don't want the oil to be smoking... 
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| Treacodactyl |
Did you dry the crisps off first? I tend slice them, dry a bit on kitchen paper, cook them in small batches untill they go golden and then take them out and place in a heated oven while i cook more. They may not be a crisp packet crisp but they go pleasantly crispy. If they are taken out too early they can be squidgy but they get put back into the oil and crisp up. | ||||
| Penny Outskirts |
Thanks both. We definitely had the oil too hot methinks. Steve's trying again with it a lot cooler, and it seems to be working much better. It is a pain without kitchen roll though - loo roll just doesn't do it
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| Penny Outskirts |
Cracked it!!!! They are gorgeous Bit of salt and pepper, really crispy too. Anyone tried making crisps from pink fir apple potatoes - they're probably the wrong sort of tattie, but they'd make some interesting shapes.....
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| Green Man |
Thanks for this link. I shall try some tonight.
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| Treacodactyl |
How did they go? I made potato, sweet potato, parsnip and carrot crisps over the weekend. The first batch didn't quite go crispy but the next few got better and better until I managed to get some very scrumptious mixed veg crisps. I think the carrot is the most difficult to go very crispy but even if it's a little chewy it still takes fine. | ||||
| Green Man |
My wife wouldn't let me  We had people round. I shall try again when she is out. (Seemingly it is something about clearing up and putting things away in the correct cupboards)
I've bought mixed veg ones before. I'm going to try some of these too once I've perfected the potato crisps. |