The Fake (and real) History of Potato Chips

[@TastingHistory]

Happy 2024! Welcome back food history lovers, young and old. Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and leave me a comment of what other historic dishes you'd like me to explore. And check out my new site, www.tastinghistory.com/, feedback appreciated.

[@Unlucky1776]

Happy new years! Love your videos when I'm eating it's always your videos that are go to

[@kidagirl99]

Happy New Year! But you didn't link to the book you recommended! Please put it in the description or something!

[@79antigua]

Hey, Max my mom used to make 2 things I love and miss Brombovie Kenedliki ( plum dumplings } I think it's Czch or Austrian and Bucktah { Gods Bread } it's like a poppy seed roll only with a nut paste.

[@TastingHistory]

@@kidagirl99 there’s a link in the second line: lnk.to/Xkg1CdFB

[@billyt.7306]

Can you do the original nachos - which ARE authentic Mexican cuisine btw, they were invented in Piedras Negras, Mexico

[@uhhuhsure]

As someone who lived in Saratoga Springs for many, many, many years, I can tell that this is going to get under the skin of many a local. And I'm all here for it.

[@TastingHistory]

Uhoh...

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@TastingHistory🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@OldManTomJulio]

Fellow past Saratogian here as well, and they absolutely need a proper kick to the proverbial teeth for their 19th century smugness that still exists to this day!

[@black_rabbit_0f_inle805]

Now all they have are the springs

[@uhhuhsure]

@@black_rabbit_0f_inle805 And the race course, but like honestly, who TRULY like that?

[@AmandaBarncord]

Former Frito-Lay QA tech here. Thank you for briefly explaining the purpose of air-fill. I knew some of the lab techs who spent hours counting broken chips to determine the amount of air-fill needed to deliver the most acceptable amount of breakage. It was tedious work.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Chip dust is the most delicious part.

[@anhhy5486]

@@DIEGhostfish True until you open the pack and half of them is already dust.

[@Austin-gj7zj]

We salute you 🫡 I know people like to complain about half empty bags but I'd rather they be half empty than all crumbs! I work in a receiving department and I've seen how rough the delivery process can be on goods lol.

[@azure6392]

Sounds like a military punishment. More logical to do a pre and post count of whole chips. Big duh!

[@azure6392]

What's the breakage method? Dropping them from the top shelf of vending m.achi e?

[@lauradewein2042]

My mom used to make these on Sunday morning breakfast with eggs and bacon. She grew up eating them in the 1930s. I still make them. Delicious. She is 93 and going strong.

[@CDNR711]

I grew up in the high Arctic and a traditional fried breakfast had chips vs hash browns. Which I didn’t discover until I was a teenager, it was love at first sight. However, for nostalgia I sometimes fry some chips up in lard yum.

[@clinthowe7629]

yeah, but they’re only fried potatoes, they are jot potato chips. did your mom fry them with onions? my dad called them American fried potatoes and they went well with eggs.

[@TheJokerx420]

My grandpa does the same on Sunday breakfasts, the perfect crisp

[@branko103]

Is she still making those delicious kettle chips? God bless her

[@hermaeus_jackson]

The origin stories odd because it almost implies that chips were already a thing - the picky guest asks for thinly sliced fried potatoes, like they had in France. The chef then serves him thinner and thinner fried potatoes until they eventually give them something that the guest likes, which implies that that is close to what they had in France. So the guy ate potato chips in France.

[@Cythil]

Well... The first time I heard the story, I assumed that Chips were absolutely a thing... But that is the same what Americans called French fries. And if one is experienced with how Chips/French fries are around the world, then one do know they can be thought or rather thick. British ones tend to be rather thick. So making them half as thick would be more like what you get in other places. So for me, it just seemed pretty natural. Someone somewhere experimented with making French fries as thin as possible. Note originally when I heard the story France was not mentioned. Nether was a name given to the person making demands. Taking it as the simplest form of the story is not that unreasonable I say. But just because it could have happened does not mean it did.

[@scoutwilliams5875]

france more like africa you mean. same country at this point

[@Cythil]

@@scoutwilliams5875 Africa is not a country. :P

[@DMartinov]

@@scoutwilliams5875except he wasn’t even talking about this point.

[@martinsanchez4827]

Well that's because the recipe was brought to France and they replicated it from the cookbook, as that was a thing in the 19th century Europe. Also the fried potatoes the person wanted were fries not chips like Kitchner invented. I would definitely give the praise to Kitchner and his repescted country for the invention of the potato chip. Also France was never major player into potato chip game, where it didn't seem popular unlike the UK.

[@MalcolmCooks]

i like how even the apocryphal story of how chips were """invented""" in Saratoga has a customer asking the chef to recreate a dish that already existed...

[@southernfriedwestcoaster]

Fr

[@TheGreatAtario]

Every version of the story I've ever heard just had the customer complaining that the potatoes weren't crisp enough. Nothing about "recreating" anything

[@RepublicOfUs]

The chips aren't supposed to be the recreation the guy was after; they're the result of comically overshooting the "sliced thinner" request. .......Like, it doesn't matter, since it didn't happen, but still.

[@SunriseLAW]

Printing press was invented in the 1500's but it took a couple centuries for cookbooks and distribution channels to become available. So, figure that someone invented something really close to what we call "Potato Chips" long before that but did not have way to print/distribute the recipe.

[@frozennorth3426]

@@SunriseLAWThat’s a bit of a historical myth too. Gutenburg’s invention in the 1400s wasn’t the Printing Press, per se, only one specifically featuring Movable Type, which allowed the text being printed to be changed without too much effort. Printmaking using mechanical pressure to press a reusable inked plate to a series/edition of sheets paper (a printing press) had already existed for quite some time in a few parts of the world. Gutenberg’s contribution was the “movable type” part.

[@Lythiaren]

Props to Max's microphone and editing for picking up all that crunch.

[@rueben225]

My ears allowed me to taste it, what a treat.

[@roempoetliar7995]

@@rueben225 that's a wonderful sentence

[@resourcedragon]

I always mute the final part of the videos where he tastes the things he's made, I have misophonia and I _hate_ the sound of people eating.

[@apotentmagic7942]

One thing I appreciate about your channel, even more than the recipes themselves, is how accessible you make the underlying concepts of how to research historical information. You so clearly explain the need to trace ideas to an original source here, and give such a concrete example of why it's important--that's not something you run into often. Thank you for your diligent, careful, and enjoyable work!

[@talirakerouac3248]

I couldn't agree with you more-------Max is SUPERIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💖💖👍👍⛄⛄✌✌🥰🥰😘😘

[@Loxalair]

When I was about 8 or 9, I heard the story with the uppity rich dude. No names, because kids on the playground didn't care about that, but I heard it. I distinctly remember thinking, "If this is the story about the invention of potato chips, why did that guy ask for chips like the ones he'd eaten in France? Wouldn't France have invented chips then?"

[@helenamcginty4920]

No chips aren't crisps aka in the US chips. Chips aka french fries may have been invented in France but the country Belgium, next door claims they invented them.

[@Loxalair]

@@helenamcginty4920 This isn't about french fries. My comment (and the video) are about potato chips

[@sebastianmora5344]

​@@Loxalair The story claimes the development was in making the fries paper thin, the ones in France being more like round french fries (pun not intended). Now how they would have the intended effect according to the story is beyond me

[@IceMetalPunk]

I have one small correction for your history segment: potato chip bags aren't filled with air. They're filled with a relatively inert gas, usually pure nitrogen. This is because, in addition to providing cushioning to reduce breakage, displacing all the oxygen before sealing the bag also prevents the chips from oxidizing, letting them last even longer on the shelf without browning until the bag is opened.

[@siophecles]

One could argue that nitrogen is air.

[@jojivlogs_4255]

so colloquially; air

[@13thbee16]

@@siophecles Air typically refers to the mixture of Earth's atmosphere in these sorts of contexts. Sure, it's ~78% nitrogen, but it's also ~21% oxygen.

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@jojivlogs_4255 I guess? I've never heard anyone call nitrogen "air," though, in addition to that just... not being accurate.

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@siophecles Only in the way you "could" argue that water is just hydrogen and rust is just iron or just oxygen 😁

[@Ammo08]

My mom told me a story about her older brother, who she adored. She said that in the late 1920s he would go down to the potato chip plant in Memphis. They would give him the burnt chips. He would take them, rebag them in paper bags he bought, and then would walk about 2 miles pulling his wagon and sell the chips to the riverboat workers. On his way home, he would buy more bags for the next day. She said he was only about 9 years old and his income he gave to his mom for the family. My grandkids love making their own potato chips. Grown up stuff ya know.

[@mgratk]

Dark chips are the BEST chips. And that's a great family story.

[@Astavyastataa]

Incredibly based and business-pilled

[@zlinedavid]

This is one of those little known facts. A lot of plants that make snack food or candy still do something like this. I grew up near the plant that manufactures Heath bars. They had a small side building where you could go in and buy quality rejects literally by the pound for little to nothing. The “rejects” were typically broken in half, maybe a bubble in the chocolate, shaped wrong, etc. Nothing that impacted the taste at all. And Heath bars that are maybe days old are nothing like the ones on shelves. They’re softer and almost melt….and don’t stick in your teeth. So if you live near a plant that makes snack food or candy….see if they do this.

[@salguodrolyat2594]

A true man in a child's body.👏🙏🙇‍♂️

[@ERSwanger]

I love this so much. So many children did so many adult things like providing for their families during that time and I love that you have this story to share with your grandkids and can do this for fun now!

[@redrix3731]

In the early 1960s the firm Lays/Smiths, probably inspired by allready up and coming basic technology in the field, commissioned the development of a more efficient way of adding seasoning/flavor, specifically paprika powder, to potatoe chips/crisps on an industrial scale, rather than adding little bags of sticky, lumpy powder to the package, or the earlier machinery someone mentioned in the comments. The clever Dutch (yes) guy who eventually invented/designed the fully automated system (elements of which are still used today by chips/crisps factories worldwide, over 60 years later) to evenly dispense the yummy dusty stuff was my beloved stepfather, Piet Van Lienen, who passed away at the age of 90 this Christmas. The 'paprikapowdershootingmachine' story has for decades been an amusing anecdote in my family and I got to tell it to one of his grandkids at his funeral. So this episode is extra special to me!

[@darkgreninja8349]

woow

[@Uniquely-Unoriginal]

That is really cool. I love the irony of a Dutch guy (Old Dutch) inventing/designing the system for Lays. RIP to your stepfather.

[@telebubba5527]

Lovely story. Keep it alive and he'll never die. May he rest in peace.

[@zlinedavid]

That has to be mind blowing….to have at least invented a process that a good portion of the entire world has seen the results of. Rust zacht

[@MrChristianDT]

Most efficient way I came up with for fries was putting them into a big bowl lined with paper towels, adding dry seasoning, put another paper towel over that without pressing down, put a lid on the bowl & shake violently.

[@Fastcar5000]

In the Saratoga story the person orders potatoes the way they had them in France. So based on the chips supposed origin story, they were being made already somewhere else. It’s like saying “I invented the thing I saw last year”

[@cablefeed3738]

Not true, the thing that was being talked about was french fries and he made french fries so thin they were chips.

[@ActuallyDoubleGuitars]

So Happy that Tayto got a mention. My Dad told me he remembers his first taste of flavoured Tayto. A neighbour of his in Co. Sligo had bought a bag of the new crisps, and he opened up the bag flat like a plate, and the family and a couple of friends that were there each had a taste of one crisp. I can just imagine them all standing around to taste this new flavoured food.

[@lmm2954]

And, still the way they eat crisps in Ireland and the UK - open bag flat & share.

[@ActuallyDoubleGuitars]

@lmm2954 Not me but definitely have seen people do it.

[@EpicGamer42069m]

Surely, being Irish, they had tasted fried potato before?

[@ActuallyDoubleGuitars]

@@EpicGamer42069m Reread or rewatch the video where he mentions Tayto.

[@kerriclarke66]

​@@lmm2954That's a thing in Australia too, at pubs. Also, if you mix in some peanuts you can call it a salad. 😉

[@fakehistoryhunter]

Ta very much for the mention! And goodness me, those chips look delicious. I used to make them like this in our garden, make a little fire, put a tobacco tin on top of the fire, add some oil add thinly sliced potatoes, use a pointy stick as a fork, delicious. And I almost never burned half the garden down.

[@TastingHistory]

Well deserved! Everyone buy her book!

[@Poodleinacan]

Oh dear. Sounds like you heated that oil/lard too much 😂😅

[@m.janski]

When I was a kid we had a blind neighbour, she was a very sweet lady and we knew better than thinking we could goof around because she would know. And this lady was fully blind, she had 0% sight. What she also knew were the sounds of different foods cooking and when they were done. Her fries were the best though, she made them by hand, pre-fry them (don't know if that's the right term, English isn't my first language) And then deep fry them on a higher temperature till they were done. And she was spot on every single time. Nice and crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. So when the chip was invented they didn't have thermometers, but maybe they also listened better like my neighbour.

[@mahbuddykeith1124]

Your English is pretty good. It’s better than most native speakers, honestly. Pre-frying is a passable usage, but a more correct term would be “par-frying”. Par-cooking (most notably, par-boiling) comes from the French word “parboillir”, which means “to boil thoroughly”. Of course, it was mistakenly interpreted as partially-boiling, and so we have the current use today.

[@zlinedavid]

You’ll also see “double-fried” or “twice-fried” in certain areas. Same thing: a low temp fry to cook the potato all the way through, then a higher temp fry to crisp the outside.

[@SeuOu]

@@mahbuddykeith1124 See, now I feel uneducated as if you had asked me to 'par-fry' something, I would have had no idea what you were talking about.

[@machematix]

I'm a chef, and hearing is super important! Same with smell. With enough experience you know when a pot needs stirred, meat needs turned on the bbq, or something taken out of the oven, just from how it sizzles.

[@azure6392]

Precook=parcooked

[@tomwalsh2244]

Hey Max, I’m in Ireland and the quarter inch ones we used to call “game fries” to be served with game and the thinner ones were called crisps. Crisps are a BIG thing in Ireland. “Spud” Murphy was credited with inventing our cheese and onion “Taytos” one of our fave brands.

[@dmckim3174]

I appreciate the addressing of fake history. It is so great to have such muddy history cleared up.

[@enterchannelname8981]

Plus, it's an interesting story, so it's fun to hear (even if it's fake) after all, it wouldn't get spread around if it wasn't a good tale!

[@jsbrads1]

@@enterchannelname8981 the story might be true, a 1/2 inch chip isn’t a chip

[@theanimatedjunkyard5921]

​@@jsbrads1More of a fried potato more than what we think of as a potato chip.

[@brucebigglesworth9532]

In Britain the thick-cut chips were known as game chips. As the name suggests, they were served with strong-flavoured game meats, particularly venison and pheasant.

[@Alizudo]

As someone who _prefers_ lean, game meats, I absolutely *_must_* try this combination!

[@WobblesandBean]

Do you mean chips, or crisps?

[@brucebigglesworth9532]

@@WobblesandBean Traditional game chips were who;e slices, so like a very thich crsip. However, very thick chips (US - fries) were served with game - the modern derivative in Britain is the so-called steak chip.

[@SolTheIdiot]

​@@buffys3477 chisps perhaps?

[@NextWorldVR]

Uh,.. 'CHIPS and EGG ' ❤ ... ?

[@delphinelavendermorgan4627]

Funny enough, my flatmate has been making his own potato chips for roughly seven years, and now he has a new recipe to try out. May our kitchen survive this year because it almost didn't last year

[@LunarisArts]

Best of luck to your kitchen!

[@avaliervilla]

Damn, what happened to your kitchen? Did the oil boil over or caught on fire?

[@roahir]

I want to hear that story and may your kitchen, indeed, survive.

[@joanhoffman3702]

Fire extinguishers are a handy kitchen accessory.

[@jackielinde7568]

@@joanhoffman3702 Let's change that from "handy" to "essential". Also, I have one mounted next to a landline wall phone (that doesn't have service anymore) in the kitchen. Always make sure your fire extinguisher is easily visible, easily accessible, and in good condition. Also, they only last about ten to twenty years, so write the purchase date on the side of the device and take your old ones down to your local firehouse for disposal.

[@DoomGoy88]

I just found your channel, and let me just say that your old timey voice makes me smile. I don't know why. But I enjoy it.

[@PvtPuplovski]

I’m sure there’s places all over the country that do this, but in Wisconsin there’s plenty of pubs and restaurants that make “homemade” or “in-house” potato chips just like this, though they tend to use a savory blend of seasonings and an in-house sour cream based dip to accompany them. It’s nice to see that sometimes the perfect recipe never needed a change, and I’m glad it’s making a simple comeback over having a plate of stale ruffles on the side.

[@manicdonkey]

I grew up about 30 mins south of Saratoga, and the potato chip story was genuinely a multi-day topic in elementary social studies. I knew from the title you were going to take that away from us! You're not the first to tell me the real story, but man it really salts my chips to see this in my notifications. I'm mostly joking, lol. Hope you and yours had a great New Year celebration! =)

[@TastingHistory]

Ahhh!

[@salguodrolyat2594]

Pisses in your chips, you mean.🤣

[@ERSwanger]

*mostly joking lolol

[@MrWordcat]

As a quick anecdote, I used to have to make potato chips at one of my old jobs. I won't go into too much detail but they ALWAYS got clumped together in the fryer, no matter what we did. It was a PAIN. This recipe looks much better, tastier, and easier to execute. Anyway, happy new year to you and your entire family! (Hi kitties!)

[@OutbackCatgirl]

out of curiosity, what are some of the things you tried back then? Parboiling, freezing, pre-applying oil and a little salt? I imagine if you were making them in bulk it'd be a lot more of a problem than your average home cook would face,so I'm curious.

[@MrWordcat]

@OutbackCatgirl oh gosh, that was like a decade ago and I don't really remember, I'm so sorry! We couldn't have frozen them; our freezer was TINY. Nowadays, I would imagine tossing them in starch like Max mentioned would work a treat. Sorry I can't be more help!

[@OutbackCatgirl]

@@MrWordcat Heh, all good! If you get a chance, try making your own at home, it's genuinely a pleasant experience. I prefer peanut oil over lard myself for this sort of snack since it's got a lovely, mild flavour profile and doesn't give me heartburn.

[@MrWordcat]

@@OutbackCatgirl Well heck, after watching Max's video, I may give these thick ones a try. They look *yummy*!

[@kh23797]

Excellent research, Max! As a 9 yo boy in Norfolk, England in 1961, I would spend a pre-decimal 'old' penny (240d made £1) on a bag of small crisp pieces left over from the manufacture of Smiths crisps in their nearby Great Yarmouth factory. You got a lot of tiny, tasty fried potato crisp fragments in a bag, making them very popular with schoolchildren. By the way, we'd get a 'Saturday sixpence' as our weekly pocket money in those days.

[@kgbkeyboard7697]

late to the party here but i am just SO fascinated by pre-decimalization english currency. i’m a die hard monty python fan, and one of my favorite sketches (new brain from curry’s) actually references that it was written pre-decimalization and has the new decimalized prices in the captions

[@PTEC3D]

I don't know if it's relevant but in the late 50s my Oma (back in Vienna Austria) made potato slices in this wafer-thin style with her good knife laid on two thin pieces of wood (might have been toothpicks) on the corner of her table, and with a plate in her lap, pulled the peeled potatoes through the blade towards her, the slices fell into the plate. She did that because I liked them thin and crispy. What a great Oma. And I have to say I was only a few years old at the time, but her ingenious ways have stuck with me for life and made me interested in all things technical and food. In a way she shaped my life with those chips. Happy New Year to you and J.

[@Siriuslyyy]

How sweet!

[@NormanVN]

She made a DIY mandoline!

[@spizC]

not relevant since the video talks about much older times happy new year

[@vascotelesdagama6072]

​@@spizC Who do you think you are to classify the relevance of comments as an absolute? Some kind of nonexistent made up mod? He was not competing with the video he was telling a story.

[@lisahinton9682]

Oh, this takes me back. My mom would make chips (she was English...but married my American dad and they raised us here in the USA) when we had hamburgers. The whole kitchen, I swear, was covered in a micro-film of oil, but that meal was dang delicious. Thanks for this episode, Max, and Happy New Year to you and your husband.

[@josephowens4654]

The 1/4 inch ones remind me of what we called ‘fried potatoes’ back home in southern Appalachia. They were often served with breakfast and were somewhere between a French fry and potato chip in taste and texture. Real hearty comfort food.

[@brianmckee2267]

We have those as a kid in Ireland, you fried the left over potatoes from last night's dinner. Very tasty brekkie

[@AgxntAqua]

Known as silver dollars up here in Ontario, Canada

[@serenkeating7672]

Irish person, this is what happened to the boiled new potatoes that didnt get eaten at dinner, during new potato season - they'd be sliced and fried and eaten for tea. Lovely with a tiny bit of salt, especially because new potatoes are just a little bit sweet.

[@annalieff-saxby568]

My mother used to make those!

[@jmcg6189]

Sounds like the ones my mother used to make for brunch.

[@JohnMoseley]

This channel reminds me of when I had to do a class on the history of clothing as part of an art history degree. Being an overly angry teenager, I was initially furious about it, until I realised that this stuff was in no way superficial and I was gaining fascinating insights into social history. Not saying your channel ever angered me, just that the ultimate benefit is pretty much the same.

[@BBB_bbb_BBB]

My dad always made chips when I was growing whenever we'd have hotdogs or hamburgers and they were always leaps and bounds better than the store bought ones. He'd just toss them in some salt and I liked them just like that, but my siblings would put vinegar on theirs and they seemed to like them quite a bit. It's amazing how something so simple, just potatoes in lard, can be so delicious.

[@dirtyfiendswithneedles3111]

Your dad and siblings knew what was up. I always put malt vinegar in my ketchup for potato’s. Plus, I ❤ salt and vinegar flavored anything.

[@BBB_bbb_BBB]

@@dirtyfiendswithneedles3111 I learned to like it as an adult. As a kid I always thought that vinegar felt like it was burning my tongue, lol

[@dirtyfiendswithneedles3111]

@@BBB_bbb_BBB 🤣

[@BeyondDaX]

Most never had vinegar chips so a claim is subjective but something to consider

[@PhotonBeast]

So this episode added another level of appreciation for Max. Not for anything about the topic itself, but the bit at the end where he uses his platform to support and share other people's work. That's a lovely show of recognition and sharing.

[@JohnKelly2]

I recently had a burger at a little place that had "frips". They were really thick cut house made chips, but weren't crisp all the way through. They were crunchy like a chip on the outside half and soft and fry like on the inside. I'm now determined to make some at home.

[@debrascott8775]

These are the best, used to make them a lot at my house growing up

[@baie_nuuskierig]

These are our go-to at home as well! Love them much more than 'chips'.

[@salmonsays1466]

I thought about how to translate "frips" into german and came up with either "Pips" or "Chommes" (Chips + Pommes)

[@zer0nix]

These are also known in some parts of Africa as slap chips, although those are particular in that they are started in colder oil and have a much longer fry time, and they seem to absorb the oil so that they're crunchy on the outside and explode into oily creamy goodness on the inside. You used to be able to get similar creations at American fast food places before they switched to automated systems that produce 'perfect' fries one order at a time. I'd make them myself but frying at home is a hassle.

[@lipstickzombie4981]

I'm aging myself faster than Max and think aren't those just un-breaded Mojos?

[@theliteraryabyss]

Max, the way you dragged the brits by saying that they make "soggy fries," you're a savage, I adore.

[@mrs.g.9816]

I had bought that Saratoga story of the fussy diner and the disgruntled cook hook, line and sinker. Thanks for clearing things up. I prefer my history honest, too. Happy New Year, Max!

[@John_Fugazzi]

Another reason for Ruffles besides not breaking in the bag is that dips had become very popular but the chips would break if you took just a bit too much, so a stronger chip was needed. The bowl of dip shown on the bag illustrates this purpose.

[@bazookamoose7224]

“Ruffles have ridges.”

[@Austin-gj7zj]

@jamesratliff1803 I'll second the recommendation on those traditional chips. It's like if corn chips and tortilla chips got together! Very good stuff. I don't even bother with dip but I know I'm the weirdo for that :P

[@HeyNaniNani]

I suddenly really REALLY want you to do an episode on corn dogs. There is a restaurant in Oregon, Pronto Pup, that claims to have invented corn dogs in the 1940s, but there is also record of a man in 1927 in Buffalo NY filing a patent for a machine that cooked corn dogs. Pleeeease tell me this is at all interesting to you, because I am super curious if you could find more information than I can that maybe would go back further or prove one story true over the other.

[@zlinedavid]

That origin story is as convoluted as the chip. The concept of covering a type of sausage in cornbread batter actually came from German Texans in the 1920s. Some stories have the true corn dog being invented in Iowa in 1937, or the Texas state fair in 1938 or Pronto Pup at the Minnesota state fair in 1941. The first place corn dogs were served on sticks or skewers was the Cozy Dog drive in, Springfield, IL, in 1946.

[@rhondawileman1466]

Reminds me of the homemade chips my grandma made when I was a kid. Thanks for this video Max. Brought back some good memories. 💙💙💙💙

[@patavinity1262]

In Britain, you can still get potatoes prepared in exactly the same way. They're called 'game chips' and are typically served with game - venison, grouse, pheasant, etc.

[@Viriatha]

I gave your cookbook to my oldest son for Christmas. His reaction, "Wow! I'll actually cook out of this one!" :P

[@LunarisArts]

I'm looking forward to your reports on his attempts on hard-tack *clack clack *

[@Viriatha]

I'll be sure to ask lol @@LunarisArts

[@davidreddington4381]

Happy New Year everyone!!, there is no better way to start this 1st week of the year with a good dose of culinary history by Max.

[@TastingHistory]

Happy new year!!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@TastingHistoryyou're awesome max! Happy new year 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@Katze5335]

@@TastingHistoryhappy new year to you, Jose, and your baby kitties - From the Wisconsin cheese guy who wants you to do beef Wellington hehe

[@teaguejelinek4038]

8:05 "...in published publications... Of course it's published, it's a publication! anyway.." Bro 😂

[@heatherrocchi6232]

Thanks you so much for the debunking aspects of your show, so important! Also thanks for your amazing cookbook!

[@TastingHistory]

Thank you for the support!

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

"I'm dating myself" says the man who made an entire video in honor of his 40th birthday. Still can't believe you're 40. Happy New Year, Max! Awesome video.

[@TastingHistory]

Hah! Touché

[@HJKelley47]

​@@TastingHistory:. Oh to be 40 again. I absolutely love, love, love kettle potato chips!

[@jonesnori]

I well remember those Ruffles ads, and I'm a lot older than you, Max!

[@tif7305]

Is this an English idiom..? Cause I would so date him??

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

@@tif7305 what he meant is that he was giving clues about the year he was born.

[@frocat5163]

I think it's worth noting that the difficulty in locating original sources is one of the clues to indicate that a story / account is actually folklore. Multiple details that differ in small ways, such as the cook being the owner's sister in some stories and sister-in-law in others, is another clue to indicate that the story is folklore. I took a folklore class in college as a joke (expecting it to be a blow-off elective), ended up learning all sorts of relatively useless information (which I love), and finding the subject fascinating. As a result, I took as many folklore electives as I could. Those classes really opened my eyes to how many things large groups believe to be true are complete fabrications. For what it's worth, possibly the most obvious clue that a story is folklore is when the person relating the story begins it with something like, "My brother's friend's cousin..."

[@capuchinosofia4771]

Hahah thats amazing! Please share more folklore detection tips!!!

[@iCABALi]

The fact that the Frenchman had already had thinly sliced fried potatoes would suggest that he had already had something resembling potato chips, so the story falls apart there anyway.

[@lih-annviolette]

Love watching you! im currently in an eating disorder facilility but i feel like watching your video really helped me change my relationship with food as not only calories but as history and flavor , so thank you for making videos :-)

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

Best wishes to you in your recovery 💙

[@FAB13]

Sending good vibes and a hug ❤ As the previous person said, best wishes in your recovery! ❤

[@adedow1333]

I hope you develop a really good relationship with food. Food is a glorious expression of culture as well as duel for the body. Way to go for getting the help you need! Get well soon and enjoy food!

[@terrylawrence4121]

Good luck with your recovery and congratulations on getting help!

[@n0raaa]

kudos to you for getting help, you got this!

[@williamtyre523]

Thanks for setting the story straight. As an FYI, the house museum where I work has two beautiful sterling silver "Saratoga chips scoops" one by Tiffany. So apparently these crispy treats were served at the finest tables!

[@dawnelder9046]

Time consuming when making from scratch with real fat. But worth it. Best with tallow.

[@samgrant83]

You can still get the salt and shake crisps with the separate blue bag of salt in the UK. By the way the crinkle cut "game chips" in the UK, date back to at least 1903 , as a fancy accompaniment for roast game birds such as grouse - Escoffier has the recipe for it.

[@barriemilgate]

Thanks for that wanted to make the same point

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

They go great with pheasant and pigeon!

[@londongael414]

You can, but it's not quite the same. Today's salt bag is a pale blue paper sachet, a shadow of the original fairly substantial piece of very dark blue waxed paper, twisted to form a bag. I remember as a kid, we'd leave a some salt in it and (I can't believe this now!) suck the bag for a super-salty taste. Man, that was really living!

[@FrancisArmstrong-vu4cg]

@@londongael414we would try and untwist the bag, salting the crisps without opening the bag. Got quite good at it back in the day.

[@schreck.gespenst]

watched this today and was like oh that's actually pretty easy, i'll try that sometime when i gained consciousness again i found myself in my kitchen at one in the morning making these hahah and i LOVE them! your videos are a huge motivation for me to cook and try out new things, thank you

[@kymberlys]

Not just the internet - I remember reading that Saratoga Springs story from a book in the 90s. But even in that original story, the customer was asking for potatoes the way he'd had them elsewhere, which is basically an admission that they *didn't* invent them.

[@lihchong2267]

The story I heard was that the cook cut them so thin they couldn't possibly have done it that way in France, and hence he invented them out of spite.

[@LindaB651]

I've made chips by hand, many different ways, many different thicknesses. Sometimes the reason was curiosity, frugality, healthier choices, etc. It's wonderful seeing the progression of variation of this very basic snack which, lets face it, was probably not just a snack for some, but probably a very essential side dish. Anyway, all the thicknesses: they're all good! Happy New Year, Max!

[@beldingjman]

I often have my wife pick a number 16-238. We shuffle through to the recipie and do our best to make whatevers on the menu. It often turns out teriible or its something neither of us knew we would like, but we try our best and read the history and/or watch the video while we cook. Its always our favorite go to date idea. Love the book. Love the videos. Thank you Max Miller for making and doing something so awesome.

[@oekookie]

Here in Germany we have ridged chips with the name brand Riffles. Every time I see them I say out loud, "Riffles have rudges." No one else laughs 🤷

[@mrsean1999]

Good news :I just laughed out loud

[@Moccashio]

"Published publications- of course its published, its publication" made me chuckle- Max was feeling very strong about those chips.

[@leannerae]

"I'm aging myself" - like fine wine Max, like fine wine! 🍷 Happy New Year Max & Jose! Looking forward to more wonderful food history! And congrats on launching the website! 🎉

[@feral_orc]

Yay Tayto got a mention! The Irish did something! It just had to be potatoes... Edit: It can also be noted that the biggest thing about Tayto was that they got the flavouring to actually stick to the chips. As pointed out, previously the salt came with the bags. They were not only the first company to do a "new flavour", they figured out the whole process of how to do it.

[@heart6438]

I can’t believe how long I had to find a video related to this, and thankfully it’s from you! Everywhere I look, it credits Crum as the inventor with no information of William Kitchiner’s recipe.

[@chrism7395]

10:50 a version of Smith's crisps with the small sachet of salt are still sold in the UK as 'Salt n Shake' made by Walkers who are known as Lays almost everywhere else in the world.

[@annematten7218]

Lays bought up Walkers, then they had flavoured crisps, from Walkers.

[@garywait3231]

Thanks for setting the potato chip story straight in your typically delightful way. Having grown up near Saratoga almost 3/4 century ago, I have been making chips about as you did for most of my adult life, serving them hot with burgers as a side dish, or cold as a snack -- and, as you say, and my guests observe, the flavor is far superior to anything you can get in the store. . Thanks for a deliciously informative kick-off to another season of Tasting History!! 🙂🙂

[@AnniCarlsson]

Is this a reason why all of us on langue trip in England allways had a bag of chips in the lunchbag?

[@tullyDT]

I worked in a manufacturing plant that made packaging used for the food and pharma industries we needed a non toxic food safe glue so we actually made the glue in house using the same starch that pringles are made of. After a while the glue would spoil and it would actually smell like rotten pringles

[@LunarisArts]

Reminds me of when my elementary school had a "school 100 years ago" where we dressed in period appropriate clothes for a farming community, desks from the turn of the century, ink bottles and nub pens, graphite boards and chalk, and everything in candle light. This happened before christmas, so the candles were nice, and if we needed glue, we had to go to the teacher to get some potato glue from her desk. It was a fun experience that made me appreciate what we have.

[@zlinedavid]

TIL that Pringles can rot. Never had a can long enough to discover that. 😂

[@OcarinaSapphr-]

@@LunarisArts We had a similar event, when my Queensland primary school celebrated its' centenary- a whole classroom was set up to look as it would have in 1907- & the dress style was what was called Federation-era (basically from 1900/1901 'til WWI- though the cut-off of the era might have been earlier, idk); all these small little desks, & hard wooden chairs- someone had looked in a copy-book, to re-write the alphabet & numbers, & a simple passage out 'in the correct manner' on the chalk-board, but only the teacher's desk had an ink-pot {no-one trusted visitors or students not to make a mess}- a couple of the kids' desks had slates, chalk, & little bits of rag- the rest were set with books & pencils - several of the old books were opened, to show handwriting practice (& it more or less looked like my grandma's writing, though she'd gone to school in the '20's-'30's) - the glue looked like it was meant for wall-papering, not little kids' projects...

[@helgenlane]

Pringles to chips is what sausage is to steak.

[@catzkeet4860]

​@@helgenlaneexactly... And they leave a horrible gluey texture in your mouth.

[@aussieknuckles]

Great video, I like the Intro clip and how you speak briefly about the video before you play your opening intro clip.

[@DH-xw6jp]

One of my favorite ways to make a crispy potato snack is to use a veggie peeler, and shave an entire potato (not bothering to skin it first) into super thin slices and then flash fry them in crisco (they do _not_ take very long to cook) and lay them on a wire rack with a paper towel _under the rack_ (so the potatoes do not come in contact with the soon to be soggy paper) then sprinkle with either Old Bay or Lawry's season salt. Pair with your choice of dipping sauce.

[@micahphilson]

Lawry's, that's such a good idea!

[@kippie80]

Change the crisco for lard or tallow and that sounds good! I wouldn’t use crisco for the bearings on my car (the original purpose)

[@graceofspades.3198]

This is such an amazing idea!! I've got to try it out!

[@JohnBuck-rb3pi]

You removed the best part....skin

[@DH-xw6jp]

@@JohnBuck-rb3pi no, I didn't peel them. I used the peeler to shave the entire potato into thin slices, like a vegetable mandolin does.

[@alynnasantiago8977]

i dont usually comment on videos but i have to say that I love your channel so much! I've been so obsessed, your videos are amazing from the production, to the cool history, even to how it's explained makes me spend most of my free time watching your videos. thank you for the hardwork you put into the channel❤ you need to have your own TV show!

[@alynnasantiago8977]

if possible, an episode on Puertorican cooking would be so fire🙏

[@richardlovering1291]

You can still buy the Smiths (now Walkers) crisps called salt n shake which comes with a little packet of salt, you add the salt and shake the bag, I remember them when I was a kid and not shaking them very well and always having one or two crisps that would be really salty leaving the others with barely nothing.

[@KittehKatful]

Thanks!

[@edim108]

It takes real talent to make a video about the history of potato chips so interesting! Tried this recipe in a couple batches (1/4", 1/8" and 1/16") and I was floored by how much better they were than regular chips and how much of a difference the thickness makes. The 1/16" was easily my favorite though you do have to be careful with them bc they cook much more quickly so it's a couple minutes tops between them going in and being done. Drain them quick and immediately salt them so it sticks to them as they cool down. The difference between those and store bought is astounding!

[@CarlGorn]

The Saratoga Springs lore predates the internet. I first heard it on Ripley's Believe it or Not back when the late, great Jack Palance was still hosting it. Technique Tip: Toss your sliced potatoes with a bit of salt and let sit on paper towels for 10 minutes before putting them in the fat. This draws out more water, allowing them to get crisp faster. Learned that on Chopped, from a 13-year-old contestant who also blew the judges' minds with this technique and how well it worked. 👍

[@kitefan1]

I'm pretty sure my parents told me the Saratoga story far predating Ripley show with Jack Palance. Of course, Ripley was a cartoon square way before the show.

[@SchwarzSchwertkämpfer]

*_Equivalent to saying beef steak has a earlier history; still top sirloin as we know it is from the chefs who made it and set the standard for top sirloin_* . *_To clarify culinary history is a rich deep history, ever changing ever always a quest to improve on every dish, in doing so the dish becomes a unique_* *_There is the first cake to be made; then there is a Dutch chocolate cake it stands on its own merits as being Amazing_* . *_Big difference to know how to make the first cake to be invent and to know how to make the first modern cake_* . *_Sometimes people want know how to make barbeque potato chips so they are going to look at the person who first invented barbecue potato chips_* . *_Because that person is going to use the recipe to prepare a snack of potato chips with barbecue flavour_* . *_It is Excellent to know when it started, but cooking is like eggs; Good to know who first cooked a egg, even nicer to know who made a omelet, or sunny side up, or to know the various methods of scrambling eggs etcetera_* . *_All culinary contributions deserve recognition because everyone is looking for a recipe to prepare_* . *_Prototype potato chips have a home feel to it, that is nice_* .

[@rigues]

Salt & Vinegar chips, especially Kettle Chips, are my favourite. The only problem is that they are not readily available here in Brazil. Not just the brand, Salt & Vinegar is not a popular flavor. We have Lay's, but that's basically all. Up till 5 years ago I would go on business trips to the US almost every 2 months. The FIRST thing I would do after landing and clearing immigration was to stop by the first newsstand at the airport and buy a bag of Kettle Chips.

[@DiviAugusti]

Can’t they be easily ordered in this day and age?

[@martianhighminder4539]

​@@DiviAugustiPossibly, but between exchange rates and shipping costs, the cost per bag could become astronomical.

[@rigues]

@@martianhighminder4539 I wish. Sometimes I find Tyrell's chips at specialty stores, but never Kettle. Even tried making my own "powdered vinegar" (Sodium Acetate) mix at home. It WORKED, but attracted humidity from the air like CRAZY and soon turned to a goop.

[@martianhighminder4539]

@@rigues For what it's worth, there appear to be international parcel forwarding services that act as a receiving address in a host country (like the US) and then help you arrange shipping to your home country. You could then buy a bunch of chips from Amazon, Wal-Mart, whatever and have them reshipped, but again, potentially $$$ to ship the US to Brazil part. It sounds like the sodium acetate works well on its own, but too bad about its weakness to humidity.

[@jakecavendish3470]

There's a pub in Yorkshire which has either a very early potato crisp or Anne Boleyn's ear

[@michaeltres]

I have often wondered if the fame of the Saratoga chips and the "kernel of truth" in the Saratoga myth lies in the incredible thinness of Crum's chips. Perhaps that was the small innovation that made Crum's chips different from other similar chips popular at the time.

[@telebubba5527]

Judging from the video, he did make a point of it. He printed it on his bags, so he did feel he had to justify himself.

[@eloquentsarcasm]

Max, hopefully you've gotten at least a couple subscribers from all the people I've recommended your channel to, but at the least, you have MY subscription. Brilliant stuff, hard to believe you were once an actor for Disney debating on whether it was a good idea to abandon it all for taking a chance on KZbin, but here you are, a success as a videographer, book author, and beloved by people around the world. I wish you, Jose and the cats an amazing new year, full of love and joy. With literally THOUSANDS of years of recipes to choose from, I suspect your channel will be here for decades. Perhaps you could do playlists of recipes from particular eras/regions/countries over the course of a year, like all Roman dishes from 0 Ad to 400 AD, or the greatest Greek recipes throughout history, or Scottish/Welsh/Romanian dishes. Spending weeks/months in an area would give you and Jose a nice vacation (long as you have cat sitters) and give you a chance to really immerse yourself in the local culture. You could start here in the US, going to Southern/Northern/Western/SouthWestern regions and picking out the most iconic dishes from that area.

[@artkoenig9434]

I really appreciate your descriptions of your finished products. Your artistry is not limited to your culinary talents, sir!

[@michaelking7495]

This great vid popped up on me feed and was such a joy to watch. Thanks mate! Instant subscribe.

[@TerkanTyr]

On your point about UK's soggy fries, their soft and slightly chewy version really earned a spot in my heart after living there for a while. It's less of a snack and more of a part of a meal, like mashed potatoes, or gratin. But they do need to be eaten warm.

[@chaosdestructionlove]

Agreed, its more like a sibling or cousin with fries than a direct 1:1 carb. Esp bc they're usually fried once, it functions like fried mashed potatoes.

[@AveCaesar2025]

@@chaosdestructionlove French fries being twice fried,

[@nealgrimes4382]

@@chaosdestructionlove They should be crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle, but we do have thrice cooked Chips as well.

[@Alizudo]

​@@nealgrimes4382 Yes, precisely!! The light crisp on the outside with a warm, fluffy interior is the ideal.

[@immikeurnot]

Let's just face it; the English are bad at food. Really bad.

[@Iissafaith]

The slogan "R-r-r-r-ruffles have r-r-r-r-ridges!" started way back in the 60s, when I was a kid. Speaking of dating oneself... : ) Interesting video, bunch of stuff I didnt know. Thanks. And, Happy New Year to you guys!

[@Franky_Sthein]

First video of the new year and it is about something basically all of mankind enjoys. Really need to try make these, perfect excuse to use my mandoline more often. Hope you had a wonderfull New Years's Eve and a great 2024 to you and Jose

[@mrhappystore8611]

1:33 shots fired and tea pushed into the harbor.

[@GameSlimeOG]

Bwahahahahahah😂😂😂😂

[@sportitojoe]

In the Philippines we have what we went a little bit further, using sweet potato cut thick (somewhere about the 1/4" range) and frying them with brown sugar. They would then get skewered in a bamboo stick and called "kamote-cues," with "kamote" being the local word for sweet potatoes and adding the "-cue" because it resembles barbecue skewered meat.

[@enterchannelname8981]

That sounds delicious, I want to give them a try sometime!

[@cahallo5964]

Kamote is an older form of calling sweet potatoes in Spanish, they are called that in Chile too (written with a C tho). Just wanted to share that really I know it's only tangentially related to your comment

[@sportitojoe]

@cahallo5964 very much appreciated. This is our shared heritage as former Spanish colonies 😊

[@falsenames]

I never knew I needed kamote-cues in my life. Since I have a fryer, I thank you for letting me know about this. Makes me think of a crispier sweet potato fries in the Southern US states. They also get sugar instead of salt, and it's always weird for me when I end up in places that put salt on them.

[@danielbonner-dw3gm]

Sounds similar to bananacue, which is outrageously good

[@tyrion3575]

Love the channel... I gave myself a copy of your 'Tasting history' book this christmas amd oh boy.. BRILLIANT! i'm here in the UK and love your channel. Already I have tried two of the recipes and they worked out great... So, Thank you! I would recommend the book to anyone who likes this channel. Thanks

[@nephalos666]

Hey, whenever someone manages to stick it to those stuffed-shirts at the Smithsonian, I am ALL for it! Another lovely video, Max! Hope you and Jose had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[@bogusbapkins]

happy birthday to this video! quite serendipitous that youtube would recommend it to me today of all days lol

[@AlexTheSwordGuy]

This channel is my depression comfort food. When the world feels like too much, I can always count on the history of potato chips to blissfully take me far away.

[@alienonion4636]

After returning home with a bag of chips that I was pining for this video popped up in my feed so I munched away watching you cook along with the history lesson. The Fake History book author sounds great.

[@4eve-R]

appreciate a channel like this that doesn't beat around the bush and gives you the points their presenting straight and forward. tops off to you good sir!

[@sobakathehusky]

This was a nice treat. No less enjoyable than a TH look at a full menu or meal. I really enjoyed the ode to such a simple snack. Thanks for the entertainment!

[@CinnamonQuills]

When I was a chubby, hungry kid my family would sometimes not keep snack foods like chips in the house thinking that I'd just not eat. But ha HA, the joke was on them because they always had potatoes! I would make myself a recipe a lot like this just through trial and error, I didn't completely submerge them in oil, I'd just kind of fry them in light oil in a pan and flip them when they looked halfway done-ish and salted as I went for sort of a firmish thick quasi-chip. The perfect variation was firm enough to hold its shape but a tiny bit mushy in the middle inside and crisp around the edges.

[@Poodleinacan]

At least, it practices cooking! 😂

[@ianthepelican2709]

This is normally how us Brits usually cook leftover boiled potatoes for breakfast the next day. 👍

[@jerseygirlinatl7701]

@@ianthepelican2709 Also done in the US. Mom called them home fries, others just called them breakfast potatoes.

[@hannahblurp9360]

​@@jerseygirlinatl7701that's not what a home fry is

[@AgxntAqua]

I always made those too but I called them silver dollars

[@KatyDidIt124]

My father grew up in Southern Alberta, Canada. We visited his side of the family almost every summer. One of our favorite Canadian treats were boxes of clover club potato chips. My dad, playfully, would use the fact that Canadian chips come in boxes, not bags, as proof that all things Canadian were far superior than anything to south. Fun memory. This is a great channel, thanks.

[@dylany7701]

love your work. i got your book and love it. one thing that would be very helpful: suggestions for the recipes that are really worth making today, vs those more of historical interest. thank you for all your great work!

[@moonglow630]

I grew up in Southern California, and my family bought more of those Laura Scudder potato chip bags than I can count. I can picture the BBQ chip bag too that looked exactly the same, but was just an orangey red color. I even remember taking the mini bags in my school lunches. I haven’t seen or heard about this brand in over 35yrs. Thanks for the walk down memory lane Max!!!

[@N0N4M30]

You forgot to mention the most important part for a Chips lover like me : how did they taste ?

[@moonglow630]

@@N0N4M30 oh, they were heaven! Just the right amount of smoke & sweet

[@patrikhjorth3291]

I don't buy potato chips very often, but today I got a bag of Salt & Vinegar. Fancy my delight when I discovered this video in my subscription list. Thank you for sharing!

[@SpectrasCorner]

Got to this one late, but it was a fantastic episode! I've been a viewer for a little while now (just made the channel, though), and I'm definitely gonna try this recipe next time I get potatoes in the house. Hope you are having a fantastic day!

[@fazdoll]

For folks who live in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, there's a regional brand called Grandma Utz which sell potato chips cooked in lard, and likely taste the closest to what Max made. Every other major chip brand is cooked in seed oils (which I avoid).

[@dalejorgensen4603]

Grandma Utz chips are awesome. I miss them since we moved to MI.

[@pamelagrove7028]

I live close to Utz in Hanover. They give free factory tours, great for kids!

[@Muvandfarve]

Smith Crisps... with separate salt... When I was a child the salt came in a little wrap, made of about an inch square of dark blue paper. The routine was to open the bag, fish around for the blue wrap, untwist it, tip the salt in the bag, grab the top firmly and shake the crisps to salt them. To the best of my recollection, little sachets weren't introduced until introduced until some time in the 70s.

[@telebubba5527]

We can buy sliced potatoes in the supermarket here in the Netherlands. It's quite a popular item. We don't bake them until thoroughly crisp though, we like to have them with a soft inside, more like a flat french fry. There are other uses for them as well, like a gratin.

[@phils4634]

Grandparents used to do their own in the 1960's. Grandma used a mandolin - style slicer, and fried them in beef lard (from our local farm). Absolutely memorable, and "fresh out of the pan" is just unbelievable. Slice, Fry, drain and eat. For variety Gran used to occasionally add in some onion slices (another rural delicacy!) I really miss those days.

[@litehammer69]

Honestly Max you deserve a medal the size of a frying pan for the amount of research and effort you put into your videos 👏👏👏👏👏

[@ghrrum]

Man, I love seeing a good nerd out on cooking history. Keep being awesome man.

[@janicelewis3744]

Happy New Year Max & Jose🎉 Looking forward to learning more about the fun history of recipes & watching your reactions to them!😊

[@emilymeyerding3392]

Also, you should try potato fritters, popular in English chip shops: it's your quarter inch potato slices, then battered in the same batter used for fish, and fried. Delectable, unless the younger daughter is running the shop because it's market day and she didn't get the oil right in the fryer, so the fritter, though golden brown, is still crunchy and not quite what you'd call cooked. There was also the story of my wife, as a child, going with her family to the local chippy in Leicester, England and ordering "a penith of chips." That is one old English penny's (1/240th of an English Pound) worth of chips, which the family would share. I'm guessing this might have been around 1963.

[@tanthalasofficial4487]

A few years back, me and my buddy moved into a place and before we got around to going to the store, a huge blizzard hit and we were stuck with nothing to eat but some potatoes. We didn't know what to really do, because at the time we didnt have any culinary knowledge at all, but we figured that we have oil, a deep pan, and potatoes and that equals chips. They were the best chips I've ever had, and I make them more often than buying a bag, and it's way cheaper (at least where I live)

[@alexandragarcia3414]

Your story reminds me of my preferred way to make popcorn. During Hurricane Sandy, my family was without power for 8 full days, and we had bags of popcorn and no microwave to cook them with. So we cooked the bags in pots over a gas stove, and now i can't enjoy popcorn from a microwave anymore, it has to be from the stove.

[@suran396]

​@@alexandragarcia3414your popcorn method is how I grew up! We didn't have microwaves or, by extention, bagged popcorn. A pot, a flame, a little oil.

[@suran396]

Yep! I've (re) invented many culinary tricks because I didn't have this, or that.