:D
In my recent post on lazy Goyslop tater chips, https://poal.co/s/Goyslop/786322 made some suggestions on how to roll my own.
Today I did. Happy with the results.
Starch wash vs. no wash, the little container is the tallow, RT stands for "Rindertalg" The thing on the right is the slicer I used, notice the "Made in Germany" :)
Frying
1st batch, partly a little too dark, still had timing/heat issues.
Too much heat makes for quick color but you end up being stressed taking them out of the pan before they get too dark.
I ended up putting only like 25 into the pan at any one time and removing single ones when they looked right, shaking off excess fat as I went. Tedious work but I had time. I'll use some kind of tweezers next time, not my fingers. Had a little bowl of cold water to cool them off, don't laugh.
Didn't notice a huge difference between the starch washed ones and the ones without the wash. Washed ones were a little crunchier maybe.
I used salt and freshly ground pepper for three out of four batches and 'Fried potato spice mix' from a butcher shop for one. Salt and pepper is still my favorite.
Some of the ones from batch two to four were still a little 'not really crispy'. Fifteen minutes at 110°C in my little Panasonic convection oven cleared that right up.
Wife's verdict: Those are good eating.
Only had the little container of tallow that you see in the first picture and still have maybe half left over, not a bit of contamination in it. Next time I'll get two of those containers, it'll be just more convenient to maintain that liquid fat level in the frying pan that way.
This is by no means an optimized process but the result is good and you learn a little each time.