The potato chip: a humble, straight-forward vehicle we use as a quick snack, or a side to a sandwich, or to shovel dip into our faces, comes from a humble, hearty crop. However, let’s just say frying a chip is probably one of the hardest ways to prepare any potato. Recipes are all over the place and, from what I found, wrong...or at least wrong for what I was aiming to achieve. While a humble vehicle, I was striving for anything but straight-forward.
My inspiration came from a wedding I attended something like 15 years ago. It was a lovely affair at The Water Club in NYC along the East River. The drinks were flowing, the appetizers were being served at a breakneck pace and then, there it was: a simple, yet elevated appetizer: a few common things put together in a masterful display of balance. It was a crab cake on a waffle-cut potato chip. It had other things on it, some sort of sauce component, a light garnish perhaps and I would keep my eye out for any server within arms reach who had them on their tray, I’ve seriously thought about this tasty appetizer for years, and now I finally had a reason to make it for you, and myself, today.
As you may glean from above, I’ve blanked out on some aspects - time will do that to you, but I put some thoughts together of what I believed would taste good and settled on a remoulade and crème fraiche. I set out to make a waffle chip. How hard can it be? My mandoline has a waffle setting and a fluted cutting edge. Slice once to score; turn 90 degrees and slice again, et voila! Non. Sometimes I’d get some waffling at the edges, but the perfect waffle wasn’t gonna happen. Ok, well, I’ve got a fryer and can regulate the oil temperature, so this will be a breeze! Nope. The timing varies on how thick your slice is and most temps out there tell you to fry at too high of a temperature and you end up with a burnt wafer with an undercooked interior. I ended up using a double-fry technique that offered the best result. Still not perfect; extremely close, though. Let’s get to it - but first, we need to make some mini crab cakes!
Maryland Crab Cake Chips
Here’s a secret. Frying chips is a messy endeavor and they are finicky. If you’d like to skip it altogether, or aren’t a fan of fried foods, these crab cakes are amazing on their own. Instead of making bite-sized portions, this recipe will yield 4 regular-sized crab cakes. Just increase the cooking time by a few minutes.
Note: If your crab smells “fishy” or strong, place it in a bowl and submerge it with milk. Cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, then drain. Most quality pulled crab meat will not have an off-putting smell. Picked crab should smell mostly like salty air and seawater and about 20% like seafood.
1 lb lump crabmeat
18 saltine crackers
3 tbsp melted butter, cooled slightly
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard
2 tsp hot sauce
1.5 tsp Old Bay
5 scallions, sliced thinly
Garnish
Tarragon or parsley, minced
Remoulade Sauce (see recipe below)
Creme fraiche
Smoked paprika
Homemade Potato Chips (optional, see recipe below)
Drain and place the crabmeat on paper towels and pat dry with more paper towels. Set aside to continue to dry.
Pulse the crackers in a food processor or place in a ziplock bag and smash to fine crumbs.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, mayo, dijon, melted butter, hot sauce, and Old Bay. Gently incorporate the crab, green onions and 3 tbsp of the cracker crumbs.
Pour the remaining cracker crumbs on a plate.
Using about 2 tsp of crab mixture, roll into a ball and place the ball on the crumbs and press lightly to just flatten and spread out the bottom slightly. Place the crabcake on the foil-lined sheet and repeat with remaining crab. This will make 20-24 mini crab cakes. Alternatively, this same amount will make 4 regular-sized crab cakes.
Cover the tray with plastic wrap, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and place in the fridge for an hour. These will hold for about 10 hrs in total.
When ready to cook, remove the plastic wrap and place the crab cakes under the broiler, with the rack in the upper third, to bake for about 8-10 minutes.
When ready to plate, take about a 1/2 tsp of remoulade and spoon it on the chip. Place the crabcake on the sauce. Top the crabcake with a mini-dollop of creme fraiche and a slice or two of marjoram. Sprinkle on some smoked paprika.
Remoulade
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tbsp champagne vinegar
1 tbsp prepare horseradish, drained of jar liquid
1 tsp flaky sea salt, or kosher salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp drained capers
1/2 cup each of olive oil and vegetable oil
2 stalks of celery, minced
3 green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp ketchup
In a glass bowl, combine all of the ingredients from the egg to the capers and whisk to incorporate. While continuing to whisk, pour in the oil and continue whisking until thickened into a smooth emulsion
Then, quickly whisk in the remaining ingredients with a rubber spatula. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Old Bay Chips
Don’t let the sliced potatoes sit around exposed to the air as they’ll oxidize and brown. Slice only as many potatoes as you can fit into your fryer or pot of oil and place the cut end of the potato on a piece of plastic wrap.
4 russet potatoes
Frying oil
Fine sea salt
Old bay seasoning
Preheat your deep fryer, or a dutch oven, full of oil, to 260 degrees and line a baking sheet with paper towels and a cooling rack.
Rub any dirt off of the potatoes.
Slice 6 chips, about an 1/8 inch thick.
Fry a batch of sliced potatoes for 8 minutes, flipping over half-way through cooking.
Carefully remove the chips from the oil and place on the cooling rack to drain. Repeat with any remaining chips until all have been fried at 260 degrees.
Increase the heat to 350 degrees. Then fry the chips for about 4 minutes, flipping half-way through cooking. Remove the browned and fried chips from the oil back to the cooling rack and season very lightly with salt and sprinkle on some Old Bay seasoning. Flip the chips and season on the other side.
Repeat with any remaining chips and set aside to cool.
___________________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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