#chaaaaps

So you want to make your own Chaaaaps!

There are two aspects to this, of course: making/flavoring the potato chips, and designing the packaging.

If you're making this for party favors for a Steven Universe event, packaging is such a nice touch! So what I did was take the logos from the show and match colors to get a nice solid square image to print out. (You could also draw it!) I recommend printing on sticker paper (you can find full-page shipping labels that are stickers!). I didn't have any, so I just printed on paper and used double-sided tape. It doesn't look as classy so I recommend the stickers.

Chaaaaps regular flavor, for some reason, has a "Chumps" label on the back. I made a label for both.

I created bags for the chips out of simple aluminum foil. You take a square of foil, fold it in half shiny side inside, fold the bottom up a couple folds, and fold the side a couple slim folds. You'll get a sleeve that looks like a bag--it's cute AND will keep your chips fresh!

Just glue, tape, or use stickers to get the logo on. I think glue doesn't work well with foil, but I'm not sure.

You may want to make your bags ahead of time so you don't have to juggle it during cooking, but I just made the bags in between waiting for potatoes to fry.

So on that subject...

Here’s how to make your own chips!

The very most important aspect of making GOOD potato chips is slicing your potatoes thin. It's very difficult to do well with a knife--you should use an appliance that can slice potatoes very thin, like a special slicer or mandoline. The only other special equipment is a deep fryer.

Beyond that, you will need paper towels, a clean fabric dishcloth, metal tongs, a metal spatula, a plate and a couple bowls, a cooling rack, and some large plastic bags.

Ingredients include potatoes, distilled vinegar, oil with a high smoke point (I used canola), water, and seasoning. More on the seasoning in a bit.

Decide how many potatoes you need and start by washing your potatoes. I found that one potato yields about 3 personal-size bags of chips. Then, fill a small bowl with water and set it nearby. Set up your slicer and slice thinly onto a plate or clean surface.

As you generate slices, put them in the water bowl and keep going.

Once you have a whole potato sliced, stir the slices around in the water. This step is designed to remove as much potato starch as you can, and the cloudiness in the water is evidence of it working.

From here, you don't want to just let them soak. You're going to rinse them several times. Pour out the cloudy water and rinse them again. Massage the slices with clean hands to release starch into the water. You will probably feel some slimy stuff coating the slices that easily comes off. That's what you want. I rinsed my slices three times before moving to the next step.

Next, create a solution to soak them in. In a relatively large bowl, combine 6 cups of water and half a cup of vinegar. (Don't worry if you don't like vinegar's taste. These will not become salt-and-vinegar chips from this step. It's just to add crispness, and it works!) Make this solution and put your slices in to soak.

Then just get busy on your next potato! It doesn't matter if one batch soaks longer than the others as long as all of the potatoes have soaked at least half an hour, but not longer than 2 hours.

Now for frying.

After they've soaked at least half an hour, drain your potatoes. Then take out some slices and put them on your clean towel. Pat the slices dry with the towel. This is REALLY IMPORTANT. Get them as dry as possible--you should never fry wet potatoes. They won't fry up as crisp and the water will create dangerous splattering. Press all the water out!

Now, about how to fry. First, deep fryers should be used with high smoke point oil--that means it has to get really hot before it begins to smoke. You do NOT want smoke in deep frying. It's dangerous and it flavors the oil in a gross way. Look up what oils are best for frying and get what's available to you. Fill your fryer to the minimum fill line and heat it to 300°F/145°C.

Load a batch of potato slices into the fry basket and lower your potatoes in the oil. (Do NOT put the potatoes in the basket while it is already in the oil.) When you lower the basket in, you should get sizzles almost immediately.

Now just wait. The most dangerous part of frying is right at the beginning, because water from the potatoes may cause splatters no matter how thorough you are about getting water out. So please, please keep your hands clear and DO NOT LEAN OVER THE FRYER TO LOOK. These things are yummy but they are not worth getting popped in the eye with hot oil.

After 3 or 4 minutes, the oil will have settled down and your chips may start to curl. This is when you can carefully use a spatula to flip them over.

Then just wait again. In the meantime, prepare your seasonings!

Now. The simplest potato chip seasoning is salt and pepper, so that's the minimum. Or you can use flavored salt (onion or garlic?), or add onion or garlic powder to salt. Choose a seasoning combo that sounds yummy to you and put a small quantity in a big freezer bag. And since you'll have multiple batches, you can also choose multiple flavors! I decided to make a classic Chaaaaps plus the "special limited time" Maximum BBQ Chaaaaps flavor that Steven was upset about Onion stealing from him!

For my Classic Chaaaaps, I used salt, pepper, and onion powder. For BBQ, I used salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. (If you want, you can use chili powder! But I'm a wimp.)

For other ideas, try ranch seasoning powder, rice seasoning packets, or try to make Cheez-E-Chaaaaps (mentioned by Peridot in "Log Date 7 15 2") with cheese powder. Any dry seasoning can become a Chaaaaps flavor, and maybe you can have fun designing a logo for it.

Now, your chips should be pretty well cooked after 5 to 8 minutes--it varies. Use your judgment. Do they look browned and crispy? Take them out.

Use metal tongs to carefully transfer the chips to a metal cooling rack lined with paper towels. They will get crispier as they cool.

Then get started on pressing water out of your next batch of potato slices and get started frying!

There's a lot of waiting with frying. Don't rush it. Undercooked chips are awful.

When you're sure a batch is cooled, throw them in one of your seasoning bags, seal the top very thoroughly, and SHAKE!

Please note that you should not do this while the chips are hot, and a LITTLE seasoning goes a LONG way. You may consider mixing the seasonings separately in a small bowl and only putting a small portion in the bag at a time. That way you won't over-season like I freakin' did with my first batch. OMG ded from salt. :P

When finished seasoning, use tongs to transfer seasoned chips to one of your cool bags.

Thennnnn seal the top by folding over a couple times!

You're set!

Make sure to label your alternate flavors appropriately.

When you get them all packaged, you can put them in a party basket or something. When you go to this much trouble for something as ridiculous as customized potato chips, presentation matters!

Please note that when you have completed frying, you should unplug your fryer, wait a while for the oil to cool, and then DO NOT pour in your sink! Oil causes plumbing problems. Pour the cooled oil into one of the used plastic seasoning bags, a soda bottle, or a glass bottle, and put in the trash.

So how do they taste?

Great! And crunchy!

Feed 'em to your favorite Centipeetle!