Tuesday, January 05, 2010

French Fry Diary 75: K-Tel Micro-Chip

K-Tel, makers of many late night infomercial time-saving devices, as well as all those terrific music compilations from the 1970s, contributes this entry to French fry memorabilia – Micro-Chip. This microwave oven potato chip maker includes, as they say, everything you see here – chip maker plate, steaming lid, straight slicer and a wavy slicer. As seen on TV – even though I don’t really recall having ever seen this on television.

The package itself says “Delicious, crispy, fat-free, potato chips in your microwave!” And for the most part, it’s all true, they’re just not as good as the chips you can buy in a store or make on your own with a deep fryer. The texture of the chips is similar to what you get with apple chips, but lack taste. Some experimenting with spices and dipping sauces can easily make up for that.

Micro-Chip has other uses, it should be noted. You can also steam vegetables like broccoli, make tortilla chips as well, and the device itself is a serving tray with a center built for dipping sauces. But, come on, let’s face it, if you bought it, you git it to make potato chips. The slicers, plastic and cheap but damn sharp and functional, can be used without the Micro-Chip for scalloped potatoes for casseroles or almost perfect fried breakfast potatoes. And the wavy slicer is an excellent way to reproduce those great waffle fries from Chick-fil-A and other places.

This amazing invention, and its pristine twin received as a present from thoughtful friends, eventually made their way to our recent garage sale and were given a new home. But I removed one of each of the slicers for my own continued use, because they rock so much. Yeah, the slicers are that good.


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