Michael Pollan is an author and foodie. His most famous book is probably "The Omnivore's Dilemma", but my personal favorite is "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual" (folk art illustration). The book is derived from mail Pollan received from all over the world about different cultural norms around food. He compiled all of these letters into 80 or so "rules" that are observed across many cultures and diets. Some are common sense: "Chew your food 15 times."  Some are thought provoking: "If your grandmother wouldn't have recognized it, it's not food."  Some are humorous: "If it comes through the window of your car, it's not food." But my favorite is this one:

"You can eat as much junk food as you like, as long as you cook it yourself."

It is with a nod to Michael Pollan that I share these tips for homemade potato chips.

Mmm...ever had them? One of my favorite restaurants serves them with truffle oil, but let me assure you that you do not need truffle oil to enjoy these little bites of heaven.

Eww...ever made them? Soggy, oily and burnt?  Well, not today! This is an area of cooking where a bit of knowledge is power. Three bits actually:

Tip one: Russets only. No Yukons, no red skins, no sweets. You need lots of starch, and Russets have it!

Tip two: Slice your Russets on a mandolin (or Bohrer V-slicer, see my "cool tools" post here) to no more than 1/8" thick, preferably thinner.

Tip three: Soak your sliced Russets in ice water for at least 30 minutes, discard the water, rinse and dry well (a salad spinner helps quite a bit with this).

Deep fry to a lovely golden brown, remove to a rack or paper towels, salt, and enjoy.  AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! Because you made every one of those chips yourself!  Recipe is here.

A quick word about deep frying: I use a Fry Daddy that my husband purchased for me as a joke after I started deep frying ALL my uneaten veggies the night before my CSA pickup (well, except the lettuce). 

But you do not need a deep fryer to enjoy homemade potato chips. A wok is perfect, a cast iron skillet works well as long as you don't fill it more than 1/2 way (bonus points - you're improving the seasoning!), and a saucepan - preferably heavy - is good too.


You need 2-3" of oil, preferably something that comes in a Wesson-like plastic bottle. Vegetable, peanut, canola are all good. Olive oil breaks down at high heat, so don't waste it deep frying.

You want to get the oil as close to 350 as possible, and while a candy thermometer will measure this for you, if you don't have one, you need to depend on another tool that nearly everyone has: your good common sense. While the oil is heating, put in a small chip. As the oil heats, it will start to bubble, crisp and brown, and when it turns golden brown, take it out - it's done, and you are ready to fry his little potato friends. If the oil starts smoking or your chips begin to burn in less than 90 seconds, turn the heat down; your oil is too hot.

See? No fancy tools needed, just (as I tell my kids) use the brain God gave you.

And enjoy those chips!!

"It's not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change." -- quote inaccurately attributed to Charles Darwin.

Given the 28 inches of snow outside, it seemed a good day for some tomato soup, and I had a delicious new recipe to try. The basics - diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion, basil, chicken broth and a bit of cream - looked promising.  However, the devil is in the details.

My initial concern was loading the vegetables into a crockpot without browning them first. Time saving, yes, but what about the flavor created when fat and my vegetables meet at high heat? I browned the veggies in my stockpot, ditching the crockpot (which takes waay too long anyway).

The next red flag was the recipe's 2 tablespoons of dried basil. Maybe your dried basil is fresher than mine, but two tablespoons of almost any dried basil would leave a dish bitter and stale. Since I didn't happen to have any fresh basil on hand in the middle of a blizzard, I grabbed the next best thing: four small frozen cubes of basil, sold for a pittance at Trader Joes. Each little cube is sealed in plastic to avoid freezer burn. Genius!

But then came the worst crime against good soup; a roux made with a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of flour. Look at the photo below left and tell me that soup needs to be thickened!  I left the roux out, saving both my time and 2 tablespoons of butter per serving.

A quick blend with my stick blender (a necessary cool tool if you like to make soup), some fresh Parmesan (below middle) and a bit of cream later, it was lunch!

My daugher is 14, but I still have her toy IKEA tea set. The cups and saucers make great little dishes for condiments, and in this case, for photographing food. The soup looks so pretty with one tiny oyster cracker on top! Of course we ate from much larger bowls, but we did have oyster crackers just like the picture.

If you'd like to make your own creamy tomato soup, here is a link to the recipe.

With Pintrest and all the recipes on the internet, you will run across some duds (see my Pintrest "Wall of Shame" board here). Don't be afraid to use your cooking skills and good common sense to make the necessary adjustments!

Finally, if you live in New England, I hope that you are enjoying your blizzard as much as I am. Stay warm and enjoy your soup.

Chris

Not sure about your family, but at my house, there is a huge workshop full of tools. There are at least 10 types of saws alone, myriad toolboxes large and small, fleets of wrenches in both English and metric, and boxes and boxes of nails and screws, each one with a special job to do (although somehow there is always a need for one more). It is like a small hardware store down there.

In the kitchen however, I have a high standard for new tools. Each must either replace an existing tool or do multiple jobs very well. However, there are some tools that are so good at one job alone that I am willing to buy them, store them, clean them and otherwise fully embrace their existence. In fact, I'm beyond embracing these tools, I'm ready to proselytize - to share with the world how great they really are.

To provide context, while I am not a minimalist, I do believe that every single possession we bring into our lives lays a tiny claim on us - to use it, clean it and repair it. To find it when we want it, and put it away when we are done. So it's somewhat embarrassing to own these one trick ponies. But when you see what they can do, you will understand how they have worn down my defenses against excess "stuff".

To begin, the world's best inexpensive apple peeler, made by Starfrit. Using six of this cool tool, retailing for around $20, a half-dozen middle school kids peeled 12 bushels of apples for an apple pie fundraiser at my church...in under two hours! Twelve bushels people, that is over 575 pounds of apples!!

Next, a mandolin that I have used daily for nearly 10 years without ever sharpening the blade. The insert reverses to quickly change the thickness of each slice, and it comes with inserts to julienne fruits and veggies as well. Google "Borner V-slicer" to find this on-line, where you can purchase it for about $40; including a sturdy case.

And finally, a tiny strawberry huller that also removes the stems from tomatoes. For a mere $7, the Chef'n strawberry huller can be yours!

If you want to restock your kitchen's toolkit, these can all be purchased at Amazon.com, or at many well-stocked kitchen stores. Enjoy feathering your nest!