It all began at New York
All of the several accounts of how potato chips were invented lead to the Moon’s Lake House restaurant at Saratoga Springs, New York, the U.S. In 1853, George Crum was a chef at Moon’s Lake House, serving some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in New York. Well-respected but notorious for his crankiness and arrogance, the chef claimed that he could transform the most basic and meagre ingredients into food fit for royalty.
One night, business tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was dining at Moon’s Lake House, returned a plate of Crum’s fried potatoes saying they were cut too thick. In the next batch, Crum had cut the potatoes thinner but the guest sent those back too, saying they weren’t crisp and tasty enough. This was too much for Crum. To teach Vanderbilt a lesson, he fried wafer-thin potato slices, making them impossible to pick up with a fork, and seasoned them with extra salt. Picking up the food with fingers was unthinkable back then – the wafer-thin slices were Crum’s revenge: a way to embarrass his guest. Vanderbilt, however, loved the snack, lavishly complimented the chef and asked for more. Other diners ordered it too. Soon, potato chips became the signature dish for Moon’s Lake House, Saratoga. Although popular, this tale was refuted by Saratoga County historian, Violet B. Dunn. From her conversations with Crum’s contemporaries, she found no evidence that Crum had anything at all to do with inventing the potato chip.
A good accident!
A more credible version of the legend relates to a kitchen accident at Moon’s Lake House. Katie Speck Wicks, who worked alongside Crum, was frying crullers (a deep-fried pastry) and peeling potatoes at the same time. A thin slice of potato landed in the hot oil. By the time she fished it out, it had become crisp. Crum tasted it and called it “a good accident”.
The newly invented ‘Saratoga Chips’ remained confined to Saratoga for several decades – as no more than a side-dish served in baskets and paper cones – until Cleveland entrepreneur William Tappenden, judging its potential, took it out of the kitchen and into one of his barns: the first-ever potato chips started appearing in grocery stores, to be stored in barrels or glass cases and sold by weight. This was in 1895. By the 1900s, several large, medium and small potato chip factories opened up across America. Many of these are still in business albeit under different names.
The smart move
Laura Scudder, a lawyer, former restaurant owner and a strong-willed woman who had also started her potato chip factory in the 1900s, realised that both the grocer and the customer had to go through a lot of trouble, transferring the chips from their barrels and weighing them out into bags. Besides, the chips at the bottom of the barrel typically crumbled, staled and were wasted. Her solution was simple: She asked her employees, mainly women, to iron wax strips on top of the empty paper bags. The chips would be filled directly into the wax-lined paper bags, which could be sealed airtight by just ironing the top again, keeping the chips fresher for longer. The bags of chips would be displayed on shelves with ‘freshness dates’. With the invention and use of cellophane, truly air-tight packaging for potato chips was perfected.
And it evolves…
The potato chip industry continued to evolve. Farmers began cultivating and supplying chipping potatoes directly to potato chip factories. Chipping potatoes contains less water and are better suited for frying than the ones used in home kitchens. As markets expanded and demand increased, kettle cookers, which were used to make the chips in small batches, made way for continuous fryers. Huge amount of potato chips were available in only one flavour – plain salted. Then, technology made it possible to season the chips directly. The first flavoured chips were cheese and onion and salt ‘n vinegar.
The next time you visit a supermarket, just look at the potato chips shelf to appreciate how far potato chips have travelled from that accident in a kitchen in upstate in New York. It continued to spark the imagination of anyone wanting to experiment with exotic flavours.
Picture Credit : Google