If You're Going To Do It, Do It Right

Today, my church fasted from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.  No biggie. Much improved over last year's monthly 25-hour fast. However, I remembered we were fasting around 7 this morning. I had been up since 5:00 and I was ready for breakfast. This was going to be a long day.

After service, I spent the afternoon watching TV in bed; I had to conserve my energy (and I wouldn't be tempted to snack). Around 6, I hit the kitchen with my mind set on two things -- chicken and waffles and sweet potato chips. Okay, that's three things, but chicken and waffles kinda count as one. If I was only getting one meal today, it was going to be a meal to remember. I was actually going to fry something! Weight Watchers be damned!

I knocked out the sweet potato chips first.  I got up on my step ladder and hauled down what I now affectionately refer to as The Beast - my De Buyer Professional Mandoline.  I may have used this thing five times in the 10 years I've owned it. But today, I took it out of its case for a single sweet potato ...

WA-Fa thin!

Get thee to some hot grease and grab a spider.

I am a firm believer that at all times, sweet potatoes should taste like sweet potato pie. (This time with pronounced salt and pepper.)

Sweet potato chips fry up dark. God bless those caramelizing sugars.

Ooo wee! I had to move these outside of my reach so that I would have some left for dinner. Sweet potato chips had been on my mind for a couple of weeks. I had some at work and I knew I could make them better. I'm going to cut these a hair thicker next time and they will be perfect.

Now for the chicken and waffles. These are my tried and true recipes.

Seasoned meat, seasoned flour, seasoned buttermilk (including hot sauce). Dry-wet-dry to coat. If you have the time, coat twice and let it air dry for a while. Please start with brined chicken. Add to hot grease.

Waffle recipe from Cook's Illustrated.

Bake and assemble including maple syrup and hot sauce.

Yes Lord! I had homemade ginger lemonade too.

Now I have the itis, so I'm going to bed. I'll correct the typos later and add my Tools of the Trade. Shout out to my cast iron skillet!

Blue Chip

Morton's is one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. We tend head over after work at least once a week. They have $5 appetizers. Order three and you have a steakhouse meal for $15. One of my three is always the blue cheese fries.

Last week, we switched it up a little and went to a different spot, Sullivan's. When I saw the blue cheese potato chips on the menu, I was a little disappointed because I am not a fan of potato chips. Since I was familiar with the concept of fries and blue cheese, I decided to give these a shot. Oh my damn. Who knew??! These were excellent!! Creamy blue cheese (I'm still trying to figure out the creamy part.) The chips were thick-cut and some were just slightly soggy from the cheese. Oh man.

I had to see if I could recreate these at the house. Here's the attempt:

Get a baking potato. Scrub it well (I leave the skin on.) Slice using a mandoline. You can use a V-slicer or your knife if you like. I wanted thin, even slices. My knife skills aren't that good. I sliced mine thicker than wafer-thin Lay's, but still relatively thin.

I put the sliced potato to ice water. I let it hang out there for about 30 minutes. I pulled the potatoes from the ice water, rinsed them and patted them dry.

I let the canola oil heat to 325 in a cast iron skillet. I fried the rounds in batches. Each batch fried for two minutes. Drain on paper towels. The easiest way to do this is to use a strainer or a spider.

I know these look woefully underdone. Never fear -- we're going for round two!

After your last batch, crank up the heat and get the oil to 375. Fry again, in batches, until you have the desired crispness and color.

Here's the magic. As each batch comes out, drain the chips on paper towels and salt immediately. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with blue cheese. Repeat until all the chips are done. Try not to drool into the bowl as you layer. You can stash these in a warm oven, about 200 degrees, as you wait for the next batch.

These didn't make it to join their brothers. (I had to taste test my frying skills.)

Now that all are done, sprinkle your last cheese on top. The cheese on the first layer should have melted by now. Give the cheese on the top layer time to melt, or sit the dish in the oven for a moment. Wow.

All is now right with the world.

Tools of the trade:

• Lodge Logic 10" cast iron skillet
• de Buyer Mandoline
• WMF Spider