It’s easier than you might think to make potato chips at home. These particular chips are skin-on, thicker than usual, asian-spiced crunchy bliss. And? They take about 10 minutes to make.

The short version of this recipe goes like this: Slice. Fry. Sprinkle. Inhale. Read on for detailed instructions.

You only need a one or two potatoes to serve four people as a side. I like to dust my chips with hand-mixed Asian 5-Spice salt. They make a totally great accompaniment to burgers—or a pan-roasted sirloin.

How thick should you cut your potato chips?

I like them a little bit thicker than a standard potato chip. I also like to leave the skin on the potato. If you prefer, though, peel the potatoes before slicing.

I’m really good with a knife, and some of mine still came out uneven. You want them to be the same thickness so they all cook evenly.

Generally speaking, I like to cut the potatoes so that they’re a little on the thicker side, but they’re still thin enough to see through. Too thick = floppy chips.

All that said, I’d recommend using a mandoline to cut these. Or a food processor fitted with a thin slicing disk. Trust me. It will save you time and hassle.

How to buy a mandoline

If you haven’t seen one before, a mandoline is a hand-operated machine that you use to uniformly and precisely slice firm foods (fruits, veggies, etc.).

The blade is housed in the body of the mandoline, and you slide the food over it to make your cuts. You can adjust the height of the blade to change the thickness of the slices.

Mandolines usually fold up, and come with a nifty little guard to hold the food so you don’t slice your fingertips off. (I’ve done that before. Use the guard. It’s not worth the risk.) For more info on how they work, check out this in-depth description of the different parts.

Now, a high-quality French mandoline is a beautiful—but pricey—thing. I’m talking about one of these babies, the Bron Original Stainless Steel Mandoline, which will run you just under $200.

There are a bunch of in-between models, too.

If you don’t want to spend a ton of money, you can pick up a Japanese beniriner for about $20.

It’s missing some of the bells and whistles of the French model above (folding legs, etc.), but it delivers where it counts—i.e. it’s compact and sharp. It accomplishes most of the basic cuts for a lot less money.

I’ve had one of these for years. I picked it up in Boston’s Chinatown, and it’s been indespensible to me. I highly recommend it.

Alrighty. To the hot oil!

Rustic 5-Spice Potato Chips

1-2 large russet potatoes
canola oil for frying
1 tsp. five-spice powder
1 tsp. kosher salt

Serves 2-4 as a snack

Slice and rinse the potatoes

Grab your potato(es). Scrub them. Peel them if you like.

Slice them into thin rounds.

If you have the time, soak them in ice cold water for about an hour to leach out some of the starch. (Less starch = crispier chip.)

If you don’t, put them in a colander or strainer and give them a good, long rinse under cold, running water.

Shake them around under the water to get them good and wet.

Pat them dry with paper towels. You want to get as much water off them as possible. (Water splatters when it hits hot oil, and nobody likes a grease burn.)

Make the Five-Spice Salt

Do this before you make the chips. You’ll want to season the chips when they’re hot out of the oil—which is when the seasoning will stick best.

Put the salt and five spice powder in a small bowl. Whisk together to combine until relatively uniform. Set aside.

Fry the potato chips

Line a baking sheet with a few paper towels. Set a rack on top. Set it aside.

Put about 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Set it on the stove over high heat. Heat the oil to about 380 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer handy.

If you don’t, heat the oil until the surface shimmers, then start testing it. Dip (carefully!) the edge of a potato slice into the hot oil. If bubbles start to form furiously and immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry. If not, wait a minute or two, then test again.

When your oil is hot enough, add a handful of potato slices to the pot.

Stir them around with a skimmer or slotted spoon, so they fry on both sides.

Pull them out of the oil with your skimmer or slotted spoon when they’re light brown and crisp. This should take about 2 minutes, depending on how thick your chips are.

Season the potato chips

Transfer the hot chips to your prepared rack. Sprinkle with five-spice salt to taste.

Repeat with the rest of the potato slices until you’ve fried them all.

Enjoy!

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OK, so this isn’t diet food. This is a fried pork chop. And it’s just about one of the best things I’ve had in a long time.

These pork chops are dipped in a mixture of garlicky buttermilk and egg, coated in fluffy, Japanese panko breadcrumbs, then shallow-fried in a bath of pure olive oil ’til they’re golden brown and crispy.

This recipe starts with super-thin, center-cut pork chops. (Don’t try this with regular pork chops, as the crust will likely burn before the meat cooks through.) A quick, shallow fry practically guarantees they’ll stay moist and juicy.

Since they’re so thin, they cook through by the time they’ve developed a good crust. The meat is juicy and succulent, and just the tiniest bit tangy from the buttermilk.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: A note on ingredients

Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs.

They’re made from crust-less white bread, and are larger and coarser than regular breadcrumbs.

They make a fabulous breading for fried foods, and produce a deliciously crunchy crust.

I found my panko at the grocery store in the international foods section. If you can’t find them, you can also order them online.

For the olive oil, use pure olive oil, which is better suited for frying.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops

2 lbs. center-cut, thin-cut pork chops
2 jumbo eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 Tbls. garlic powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1 Tbls. dried parsley
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
pure olive oil
kosher salt for sprinkling

Using two gallon-sized zip-top bags makes the prep on these quick and easy. If you don’t have them, you can totally also use large, shallow bowls for the egg and panko instead.

Line a sheet pan with wax paper or aluminum foil and set aside.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Prep your meat

Grab your pork chops.

They’re about a quarter- to a half-inch thick each. Mine had the bone in them, but you can use thin, boneless pork loin, too.

Put the pork chops in a gallon-size zip-top bag.

Set them aside while you whisk up your egg.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Mix up the egg

Crack your eggs in a medium-sized bowl.

Whisk them together.

Add the buttermilk to the eggs.

Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together to combine.

Add the garlic powder, kosher salt, white pepper, and parsley flakes to the egg mixture.

Whisk together to combine.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Coat the chops with the egg mixture

Pour the egg mixture into the bag and over your pork chops.

Seal the bag tightly. Smoosh it around with your hands to coat the pork chops with egg.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Bread the chops

Next, measure out your panko.

Put the panko in another gallon-size zip-top bag.

Take one pork chop out of the bag with the egg and drop it into the bag with the panko.

Seal the bag and shake it up until the pork chop is well coated with breadcrumbs.

Put the pork chop on your lined sheet pan.

Repeat the breading process with the rest of the chops. I like to do them individually to ensure each gets coated in crumbs really well.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Shallow fry the pork chops

Set a large frying pan on the stove. I use a double-burner non-stick pan for maximum frying real estate.

Fill it with about a quarter-of-an-inch of olive oil. Set the heat to high. Wait a minute or two for the oil to heat up.

After a minute or two, check the oil to see if it’s hot enough. Dip one end of a pork chop into the oil. If bubbles immediately start to form around it, the oil is hot enough.

If you don’t see any bubbles, wait another minute, then test the oil again.

When the oil is hot enough, carefully place all your pork chops in the pan.

The oil should immediately begin to bubble up around them.

Fry them for 2-3 minutes on this side.

While they’re frying, toss the wax paper or aluminum foil that was on your sheet pan. Line it with fresh paper or foil, so you have somewhere to put your pork chops when they come out of the hot oil.

After 2-3 minutes, grab a pair of tongs. Lift up one side of a pork chop and peek underneath it. When it’s golden brown and crusty, flip all your chops over.

Be careful when you flip them, as they might splatter a little bit when the moisture from the top of the chops hits the hot oil.

Once you’ve flipped your chops over, you might need to turn the heat down a smidge, if they look like they’re frying too quickly.

Sprinkle the tops with kosher salt now if you like.

Fry them for 2-3 minutes on this side, until the bottoms are equally browned and crispy. (Peek underneath again to check.)

When the bottoms of the pork chops are brown and crusty like the tops, transfer them to your sheet pan. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt now if you like.

Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops: Serve and enjoy!

***
Copyright 2008-2009 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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She was part owner of a caterer/cafe, which has since (sadly) changed hands. I was working as a freelance writer at the time, and working at the shop got me away from the computer for a little while—and taught me a lot about the practical side of restaurant work.

As for the fried chicken, I’ve tweaked the recipe a little, but here are the main tricks I picked up. Soak the chicken in buttermilk overnight. Fry it hot and fast. Finish it in the oven.

This is a two-day recipe, so you need to start the night before you want your fried chicken.

Fried Chicken, Done Right

Step 1: Marinade the chicken
3 cups buttermilk
1 cut-up chicken
hot sauce to taste
salt

Mix the buttermilk, hot sauce, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the chicken to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Step 2: Make the coating
2 cups flour
salt
pepper
cayenne
thyme
dried mustard

Add all the dry ingredients to a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Close bag and toss to mix thoroughly.

Step 3: Heat up your kitchen
Put about five inches of oil in a deep, heavy pot and heat it to 375 degrees. You’re deep frying, so you’ll want enough oil so that you can turn your chicken without scraping it on the bottom of the pot. I use pure olive oil, because it has a relatively high flash point, but any kind of frying oil will do.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, top with a wire rack, and set aside.

Step 4: Fry & bake
One by one, toss the chicken pieces in the flour mixture. Don’t dry them off first. You want the dry ingredients to stick to the buttermilk.

Drop chicken into the oil and fry til golden. You’re going to let the chicken finish cooking in the oven, so the main thing is to use the oil to get the coating golden brown and crispy. When the coating looks done, transfer the chicken to your baking sheet.

Bake chicken at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until juices run clear. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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