How many crisps....

[452]

I thought is was the Irish....

[Wilem]

heh... They are famous for growing potatoes, but they didn't invent chips i don't think... of either type.

And I think I'm thinking of Fish & Chips - think that came from Poland / Spain. Hmmm.

[452]

"It was believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by Native American/African American chef George Crum, at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 24, 1853." from Wikipedia

Not always accurate, but that sounds pretty factual to me.

Here's the full article:

"It was believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by Native American/African American chef George Crum, at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 24, 1853. He was fed up with a customer (the popular myth wrongly identifies him as Cornelius Vanderbilt) who continued to send his fried potatoes back, claiming that they were too thick and soggy. Crum decided to slice the potatoes so thin that they couldn't be eaten with a fork, nor fried normally in a pan, so he decided to stir-fry the potato slices. Against Crum's expectation, the guest was ecstatic about the new chips. They became a regular item on the lodge's menu under the name "Saratoga Chips." They soon became popular throughout New York and New England. This story was first popularized by The Official French Fries Pages; it has since been recanted and corrected on that site's History of French Fries page. Since potatoes are 80% water it takes approximately 4 pounds of potatoes to make one pound of potato chips."

[princealbertofb]

.... Since potatoes are 80% water it takes approximately 4 pounds of potatoes to make one pound of potato chips."

And how much oil....????
(the real culprit!!!)

[Dan1089]

Hmm...suddenly I have a fish & chips cravings.Does anyone have any idea why Americans call them "french pies"?Were they fried in France?!Another American term is "ketchup",it's flippin tomato sauce!

[princealbertofb]

Hmm...suddenly I have a fish & chips cravings.Does anyone have any idea why Americans call them "french pies"?Were they fried in France?!Another American term is "ketchup",it's flippin tomato sauce!

I don't know why Americans call French fries "French fries"... here we call them "pommes de terres frites -- frites for short". The only thing I can imagine is that since the British make their potato chips like huge wedges of potato and since we tend to cut them really fine, it would be the difference in size that may have given them that name... We even have a variety of very thin French fries that we call "Pommes pailles" (ie straw potatoes) that are the girth of a matchstick, therefore very crisp and yummy...

As for Ketchup, Dan, I believe you are wrong. It is a sauce of Indian origin, originally called "Catsup", and I don't know how it became known as Ketchup but that's just a deformed word. It differed from tomato sauce in the fact that it contained vinegar, sugar and spices as well.

[Dan1089]

Really?So ketchup isn't tomato sauce?Here,tomato sauce is sold in glass cylinders and it's ingredients are tomatoes,cane sugar,VINEGAR and spices.When I say "tomato sauce",I'm not talking about the sauce in it's purest form like the one they use for Italian cooking.Thanks for the info too. mile:

[wouldlikemuscle]

As for Ketchup, Dan, I believe you are wrong. It is a sauce of Indian origin, originally called "Catsup", and I don't know how it became known as Ketchup but that's just a deformed word. It differed from tomato sauce in the fact that it contained vinegar, sugar and spices as well.

I'd check the old factbook there mate... I believe Catsup and Ketchup are two entirely different things... my source of info from a Simpsons episode where Burns goes shopping... so I could be wrong!