Homemade chips.

Since the eggplant chips were such a success, we tried the recipe again with sweet potatoes. Very good. Very, very good. Ever since we got our mandolin slicer our batches of homemade chips and fries have turned out so much better - way more consistent.

We've also (in the past) made chips out of eggplants, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, regular potatoes, squash, and zucchini. The only ones that didn't turn out well were turnips. Thinking about root veggies, the law of completion says I need to try parsnip chips when they come available. Oooh, and beet chips, those would be great (and are currently in season, locally).

We've tried deep frying in oil (in our cast iron skillet) and roasting in a 400*F oven. By far, the best results have been obtained from the oven. I just can't control the frying in the same way. With the oven, I find rubbing oil and salting each side prior to baking and then flipping over each piece after five or so minutes is the best (and easiest) approach for our crazy house hold.

I've considered getting a deep fryer for making chips, fries and chicken tenders, fried zucchini, etc. Now that I've written it out, I don't know why I haven't yet. Heh. But, in reality, we really don't eat fried foods all that often enough to warrant an entire machine devoted to their production. Although, if we had the deep fryer we'd eat fried foods more often, I'm sure. Yet another good reason not to get one, I suppose.