The potato chip was invented in 1853 by George Crum. Crum was a Native American/African American chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. Decades before Crum became a chef versions of fried potato slices were published in several cookbooks. In 1832, a recipe for fried potato shavings was included in a United States cookbook derived from an earlier English collection. Sliced potatoes cooked in hot oil and served with salt was a common dish before Crums time. William Kitchiners The Cooks Oracle (1822), also included techniques for such a dish. Similarly, N.K.M. Lees cookbook, The Cooks Own Book (1832), has a recipe that is very similar to Kitchiners. In later years, the popular Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) by Estelle Woods Wilcox, who was based in Indiana, was sold nationally and included a recipe for similar chips. The New York Tribune ran a feature article on Crums: The Famous Eating House on Saratoga Lake in December 1891, but mentioned nothing about potato chips. Neither did Crums commissioned biography, published in 1893, nor did one 1914 obituary in a local paper. However, another obituary states Crum is said to have been the actual inventor of Saratoga chips.[9] At one time, stories circulated that Crums sister, Katie Speck Wicks, or Moons wife Harriet was responsible for the dish, but Bradley explicitly rejected these versions in his 1940 history of Saratoga. The story about Crum and the potato chips became more widely known after the 1930s, and is featured in a 1940 history of Saratoga by Hugh Bradley. Fox and Banner said that Bradley had cited an 1885 article in the Hotel Gazette about Crum and the potato chips.[4] But, the version featuring Crum and his famous customer, identified in a 1973 version as the prominent railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, was created by advertising agencies for a national snack food association. Crums purported invention of potato chips became most firmly set after a 1973 advertising campaign by the St. Regis Paper Company, which manufactured packaging for chips. A large ad featuring Crum and his story was published in the national magazines, Fortune and Time. It was in the latter 1970s that the variant of the story featuring Vanderbilt became popular because of the interest in his wealth and name, and evidence suggests the source was advertising agencies for the Potato Chip/Snack Food Association. According to a 1983 article in Western Folklore, in several popular culture versions, potato chips were said to have originated in Saratoga Springs, New York. A popular variant featuring Crum said that a customer complained that his french fries were too thick, so the chef kept slicing them thinner, then fried them to a crisp, and seasoned them heavily with salt. He expected the customer to dislike them, but the man praised them highly. The chips became popular and subsequently known as Saratoga chips or potato crunches. The 21st-century Snopes website writes that Crums customer, if he existed, was more likely an obscure one.[10] An early source for the story identifies Vanderbilt as a regular customer of Crums, but says nothing about his role in the potato chips. References: Hugh Bradley, Such Was Saratoga, New York: 1940 Chuck DImperio, Great Graves of Upstate New York, iUniverse, 2009, pp. 87-89 Inventor of the Week: George Crum, MIT, 2006, accessed 20 June 2013 William S. Fox and Mae G. Banner, Topics and Comments: Social and Economic Contexts of Folklore Variants: The Case of Potato Chip Legends, Western Folklore (Western States Folklore Society), Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr., 1983), pp. 114-126, accessed 20 June 2013 Civil War Recipes and Food History - The Potato During the Civil War , Civil War Interactive website Kitchiner, Dr. William, 1822. The Cook’s Oracle; Containing Receipts for Plain Cookery, on the Most Economical Plan for Private Families: Also the Art of Composing the Most Simple and Most Highly Finished Broths, Gravies, Soups, Sauces, Store Sauces, and Flavouring Essences; the Quantity of each Article is Accurately Stated by Weight and Measure; the Whole Being the Result of Actual Experiments Instituted in the Kitchen of a Physician, 4th ed. A. Constable and Co. of Edinburgh and London, 464 pp. (See p. 208 for potato chip recipe. This is identified as the first American edition.)
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:03:06 +0000
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