Sweet Potato Chips

I sure have a lot of "secret patent" recipes that involve taking vegetables and frying the hell out of them and today is no exception.

My first, and only, introduction to sweet potato chips was at a sub par bbq place. The usual fair was never all that great, and I suspect the chef was actually a vampire hunter by the whole clove of garlic they added to every Caesar salad, but oh those chips were so crunchy delectable desirable.

Luckily, after a few attempts I've figured out a mostly fool proof technique.

First thing first, you need some sweet potatoes. I usually do 2-3 at a time and start by slicing each in half.

Then out comes my mandolin, and after a quick solo I get down to slicing the potatoes with quick work.

If you don't have a mandolin you can use a vegetable peeler to shave off sections but I should warn you they'll be a bit on the thinner side and you'll be at it for days (I think you can see why I have a mandolin).

They should be about a mm thick. I'd put that in inches but I have no bloody idea what I did with my denominators, so a few twists up on the mandolin from the bottom.

These pretty little things need a tiny bit of help so I like to add a handful of brown sugar and then a favorite spice rub all over the little beauties. You can use whatever spice mixture you'd like best, it can probably be about anything; Mrs. Dash, Lawrys Salt, an arsenic and old lace combo. Really whatever floats your boat.

Let those bad boys sit out for a half hour- an hour. In the mean time start prepping a huge station on your stove. You'll want to put down a crap ton of newspaper because this oil is going to get everywhere.

I put a nice sized sports and lifestyle section beneath the drying rack and then another couple of ads on the side for the second blotting.

You can also use this time to start heating up the oil, once again aim for around 350, the magical frying number.

In those pixies go, through the door through the frying pan I suppose.

They'll start off a pale pink then turn a milky yellow and if you're not quick a dark black. Usually they sit in the oil for 2-3 minutes but it's a lot of eyeing and watching. These buggers can turn on you in two seconds flat if you're not careful so I suggest starting off by frying just a couple to work on the timing.

And you always want to pull them just a few before they look really done as they'll continue cooking on the rack.

Now those are some tasty crunchies. Nom nom nom nom. What? Oh sorry right.

As they're sitting on the drying rack I add a dusting of salt and then move them over to the second set of paper to blot off more oil and then into the serving bowl of tastiness.

Ta da!

I made a simple honey mustard dipping sauce to go with: Mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, honey, a dash of lemon and keep adding some until you get the balance just right; but really these beauties can be eaten just as.

Enjoy. I'll be over here furiously trying to figure out how to deep fry baby carrots.