This latest recipe was born during a Finger Lakes summer vacation. After an afternoon of wine tasting and snacking on Salt and Vinegar potato chips one of my friends asked, “How do the chip companies actually get all the vinegar flavor into these chips?” Kyle said he practically could hear the sound of a record scratch because he realized, he had no idea how this occurs. Until this point, the magic of salt & vinegar chips has always been taken for granted, never giving a thought to how the chips gain their flavor. Once the vacation was over, the quest to find answers to this question began.
Serious Eats has a great article summing up the science behind salt and vinegar chips. Most companies spray vinegar over maltodextrin, a starch derived powder that absorbs the vinegar and basically creates a vinegar powder, they use this powder to season the chips. This technique is an ancestor to a former method dating back to 1615 from The English Housewife. This method made dry vinegar by grinding wheat or rye in a mortar and pestle, forming it into a paste with the strongest vinegar available and letting it dry in the sun. Just a little food history for you….
Today, you can easily buy the powered vinegar online. However, Kyle was sure he could find a more accessible way to incorporate the vinegar flavor that doesn’t involve ordering a specialty ingredient or busting out the mortar and pestle and harnessing the power of the sun. There should be a way to use a common household item like Distilled White Vinegar to produce the flavor we wanted.
So, it was time to set out on our mission to create salt and vinegar potatoes at home. The goal was to make a salt & vinegar version of the spectacular Ridiculously Crispy Potatoes that we featured a few years ago. The potatoes, which are par-broiled, then smashed and roasted at a very high heat have creamy potato center enrobed by crispy, crunchy skins that somehow invoke both a twice-baked potato and fried potato skins to create a bit of potato nirvana.
To gild the lily, Kyle incorporated a bit of duck fat into the Crispy Potato recipe. This addition helped lend a savory flavor and crispy texture to the mix. Mixing a tablespoon of duck fat with the rest of your vegetable oil is really something you should try, it amps up the flavor and textural benefits. It is also how one can justify buying $10 jars of duck fat (hint: you can get a lot of mileage out of the jar by diluting it with a milder vegetable oil). A 16-ounce jar can go a long way over many months, and Kyle should know, he makes A LOT of roasted potatoes.
Bon Appetit featured a recipe for Crispy Salt and Vinegar Potatoes that used the familiar two-step process of boiling then roasting the potatoes; however, they Salt-and-Vinegar’d (making up words is fun) the potatoes by adding 1 cup of vinegar to the boiling water and splashing the finished potatoes with an extra shot of vinegar.
By drizzling the potatoes with vinegar, it seemed like a guarantee they would provide a acidic POP! of flavor. However, Kyle feared that the added liquid at the end would render all those deliciously crispy bits soggy. This fear led to the doubling of the vinegar to 2 cups in order to concentrate the vinegar flavor from within. The desire to have our roasted potatoes to have a strong tangy punch of vinegar AND still have the generously crispy texture was strong, so this was the course of action that was taken in order to preserve the integrity of our precious zing/crispy potato wonders.
The potatoes really pair well with any protein, even eggs at a breakfast/brunch. However, who needs a planned meal to enjoy these – one can just whip up a batch to snack on at will! Try the potatoes with a batch of our Fry Sauce from our Fish and Chips recipe and a spicy ketchup. The spicy ketchup can be whipped up by mixing 1 tablespoon of Sriracha per cup of ketchup. No matter how you decide to enjoy these potatoes, dinner party, holiday meal or snack, you can’t go wrong!
- 2 pounds baby yukon gold potatoes (or use regular sized Yukon Golds and cut them into quarters)
- 2 cups vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- ¼ cup olive oil (or chicken or duck fat)
- Freshly ground black pepper and flaky sea salt
- Scallions and parsley, for garnish
- Place a rimmed baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven and preheat oven to 475°F. Poke each potato a few times over with the tines of a fork and place potatoes in a large saucepan. Add vinegar and kosher salt; then add enough water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cook about 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender but not completely cooked through. Potatoes should show slight resistance when poked with a paring knife or a cake tester. Drain potatoes and transfer to a large bowl.
- Add your fat of choice (I like equal parts duck fat and olive oil!) Season with pepper and more salt to taste, then toss with a large spoon until exteriors are slightly bashed up and coated in a thin layer of potato/fat paste. Using oven mitts, carefully spread potatoes evenly onto the preheated baking sheet.
- Roast potatoes until crispy and golden brown, 35–40 minutes, flipping them halfway through cooking.
- Garnish potatoes with chopped scallions or parsley (if desired) and serve with your favorite dipping sauces.
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