I like how they didn't just say "nope can't be done, takes proprietary secrets" they actually explained the science behind why it was so difficult to re-create them at home. They gave you just enough info to give you a decent shot at pulling it off.
It is most definitely possible to produce light colored, ultra-thin, crispy chips at home or in a small restaurant setting with normal equipment and grocery store potatoes. Pull your chips quite early and let the carry over cooking on a rack take them to crispy. It's not rocket science. I think there was a bit of marketing 'what we do here is special and unreplicable anywhere' going on in that conversation with the CEO. Special on that scale, certainly, but restaurants around the world achieve it. Nonetheless, an amazing tour of a top class operation.
No... I think it was calculated. If Alex says "you need these potatoes to do it" then you help increase sales of store bought chips. As simple as that!
@@Pre1321 Then again. If you actually get to say 95% perfection. Would you go through the process of doing it vs. going to the store and pay $3 for the finished product?.. I can totally see the fun in learning how to it, and then achieve it. But....
Giving him 10 potatoes as he walked out the door cost them, less than nothing. But what a kind and fair gesture to do nonetheless. Top marks to Brets for being classy.
.... costs them less than nothing, but (in the best case) will bring them thousands of new customers who will try their chips when they're visiting france, thanks to Alex. Marketing at its best.
@@captainsubtext7446 I'm in France and they really great chips, my favorites. The texture is just really perfect, crunchy but soft and bubbly. They have a lot of flavors too, I really enjoy the ones like teriyaki, bacon, raclette, etc. It does feel like they know what they are doing and not just winging it. I'm not surprised the potatoes aren't available in supermarkets; but Alex could have a shot by shopping directly from farmers. Don't need the exact same variety, only one that shares common properties like sugar content and water retention levels. I do think the washing process will be important to remove starch especially at home. Use ice water for best effect (from my understanding, it's done like that in Korea for many potato recipes to remove starch effectively). Then pat them dry with a clean towel and air dry them. Maybe even use an air fryer?
So the technique I learned from working in a restaurant was to: Mandolin potatoes quite thick Bring a 3% salt solution to a boil and pour over the cut potatoes Let sit 1 hour Fry at 140-150 until pale and crispy, stirring the chips often Season with salt and msg Optionally dry in a low oven for a couple hours to drive out excess oil and increase crispiness
@@ifonlysolutions4011 I could see it be left in the water for the salt to brine the potatoes and pull moisture out more effectively once they dry. Interesting they would use MSG like that, I love MSG :p
@@kekw4630 Not at all from my experience. Most have a background in finance/accounting and are not terribly knowledgable about the finer details of the product.
I mean most ceos started from nothing so they had to learn all this information first then, once they expand they can get more r&d and refinement of the process which takes money
I think your factory/professional facility tours are some of the best videos you have produced. You always have such a unique perspective since you're visiting factories that produce things you have also tried to produce. You bring your own experience, be it good practices you learned or refined or faulty methods you were experimenting with and are able to really digest what goes on in production and ask precise, well thought out questions, gleaning a wealth of valuable information from the people who have the experience to accomplish what you are attempting. I really enjoy being brought along with you for the tours 😊
The fact that these people allowed you into their space, and shared just enough knowledge for you to get started at home, AND THEN went ahead and gave you a couple of "Chip" potatoes to give you a genuine shot at this, is incredible beyond measure. I never would have thought a company would share what they did, knowing it would come to UA-cam. "Bret's" of to you, Bret's.
Two ideas I had watching this: * Beef tallow doesn't degrade with use like vegetable oils. * Since water content of the potato is a problem, I'd try using a Food dehydrator before frying.
Oil degradation is not that much of a problem in itself as starches absorbed by the oil and continue cooking when the fries are taken out. So tallow, lard or any kind of oil would behave similarly, I believe
@@feedbackzaloop Fats have a wide range of chemical durability in frying. High oleic sunflower is common with commercial frying, while high linoleic sunflower oil oxidizes rapidly. They also add antioxidants and defoaming agents, the oil is pumped through a filter. Temperature is adjusted for the age of the oil, or they blend some old oil with the new to get consistant browning and flavor (when browning is desired) because older oxidized oil causes food to brown faster at lower temperature and lower temperature extends the life of the new oil. Pre-salted food accelerates oil breakdown. Tallow is very durable but solid fats change the end texture when the chips are cool; sometimes this is desirable sometimes not.
@@TheDuckofDoom. You didn't read the second part of my first sentence, have you? Or watched the video... It's the starches from potatoes that brown in the fryer. For this particular case, not in general whens and ifs
@@feedbackzaloop Is english your first language? The first sentence of your first post is not coherent, will you write it again with different words? Starch is not absorbed by oil and nothing about the oil degradation is affected by oil being absorbed by the gelatinized starch in the chip. This specific case is no different from the general case. Starches do not brown, they are broken into sugars and maltodextrines which then react in various ways to create the carmel color. The condition of the oil has a strong effect on the speed of these reactions. The beginning sugar content also has a strong influence. I know exactly how the triglycerides behave chemically in a fryer based on the double bonds and chain length of the fatty acids, and the proportion of free fatty acids that are no longer esterified to their glycerol backbone. (Oxidation and free fatty acids are also a quality problem when making bio-diesel from used fryer fat.) Tallow is stable at frying temperatures because it is mostly stearic acid based which is fully saturated and moderate chain length (18C); This stability is also why it has desiriable high temperature properties when used for the soaps that gel petroleum oil into lubricating grease. Mainly lithium-12 hydroxystearate (sodium, calcium, and aluminium are frequently used in place of lithium)
Brets are, hands down, the best tasting potato chips I’ve ever had. Every flavour is genuine and is exactly what the bag says it’s going to taste like. They are crispy, not oily or tasting of chemicals, and just a delight to eat. Get them If you can.
Alex... You know what I love about your content and your channel? You're not pretentious. You don't pretend to be amazing (although your fanbase would agree that your talents are extraordinary) but you advertise what you believe in: an ordinary (although talented) man doing what he loves and expanding his arsenal by learning from the best, and using this knowledge to better himself and what he loves. You're a true inspiration to me and to millions who view your content. Salut❤
I love a factory tour. Done a few for my own cooking work. Although I agree that there are some very specialized parts of the process that make it seem inaccessible for the home cook, I would suggest you look to potato chip street cooks of South America. I’ve been using their methods for years and always have perfect chips. Without fail. The potato variant of course matters but the method to get a crisp with good colour and great crunch is also very accessible with a few tweaks on your original trials. I assume you’ve already shot that though so can’t wait to see it 😊
In my late teens to early 20s I worked at a pub that cut their own chips from mealy russet potatoes. There were 2 guys there that had different schools of thought about chips, and it just boiled down to thickness for them, and I took it upon myself to be like "This can't be right the thin ones get clumpy, the thick ones get dark before they're crisp, why is this even a thing, do they like suffering?" Did a little research and heard things about a low-temp fry, but they called it blanching in the reddit thread or wherever I read it. Being in my early 20s and near obsessive about food service without any proper guidance, I only heard of blanching in respect to a brief boil in water followed by an ice shock, so I did that. Turns out that works PRETTY GOOD. At least with mealy inherently low-sugar russet varieties, and I think it has something to do with sugars' solubility in water, starch gelatinization, low-temp moisture-loss on a cellular level from being pre-cooked before frying, and accidental micro-cavitation from the soft potatoes rubbing up against each other in the 5 gallon buckets of ice-water post-blanch. Anyway, those turned out REAL close to store-bought. Knowing you've got their secret weapon potatoes, all these extra steps probably won't be necessary at all, but to anyone trying this out there with civilian potatoes, that should give you decent results. Also, things to consider: Acids like DWV slow pectin breakdown in vegetables, and also slow Maillard browning, both of which are ideal in a chip environment. I think I did a batch with vinegar in the blanching water, but I don't remember if the results were better or not because that was a decade ago, that pub shut down, and anywhere I've since worked either didn't bother with chips at all, or used frozen ones.
I went in to this video having a pretty good idea of what you might find. My grandmother used to make home made potato chips and I got to help... by repeatedly washing the slices until her "taste test" of the raw potato passed. "Still too sweet" she would say until it wasn't. Then we'd leave them in a strainer to dry out some before deep frying, season, then bake on a low heat to get them crispy. When I heard that guy mention sugar and starch balance it all made sense what my grandmother was doing with her taste test.
Alex! Please farm the potatoes! If you bury them in soil after they have begun to chit, they will multiply your potatoes!!! You can continue to make potatoes out of the variety that they do!
Cultivar is only half of it, there are special farming conditions needed to get the needed qualities which is why they are grown according to a contract rather than being an open market commodity. Then he also needs to build special controlled environment storage.
When I found your channel I was captured by your curiosity to make things at home and building a system. It WAS exploratory. Genuine. Actually authentic.
Get a couple of those potatoes planted! Your own home grown stock of perfect chip potatoes is going to be key surely. I guess we’ll see you in October for Episode 19…
I love these kinds of videos where you simply learn that it's basically impossible to make a better "at home" version of some food/recipes. And btw, Brets is by far the best potato chips I've ever eaten in my life. It's just so good, and not that expensive actually. Thank you for giving them more visibility !
Olivier, Cavard and Mollard were so nice, welcoming and passionate! Really speaks to the love and pride they have for their craft and bussiness! I always love when you get to meet these amazing people to help you alex! They're fantastic! These learning experiences are great! Your potato chip will be incredible!
Love your trips to factories! Seeing how the treats are made is such an amazing experience! And your cinematography makes it even better alex! Thanks 😊😊😊❤❤❤
Hey Alex, I usually like your content, I am a long time subscriber of your channel, never made a complaint. In Spain, churro shops, or churrerías as we call them, make potato chips from regular potatoes with no effort, way crispier, way more natural, and way more satisfying in the sense that you don't need to have a lot, and therefore healthier. And it is really something you can cook in any regular kitchen.
factory guys seem really nice and friendly. cant believe they would even give you raw proprietary potatoes as a gift. i expect that would be tightly controlled to stop competitors from growing what they r&d.
Merci beaucoup to Laurent and his team for having us over and let us look around. It is indeed very fascinating how much work and expertise goes into producing a "simple" product like the humble potatoe chip.
I don't understand... You guys in France don't have fried dough ("churros") and potato chip street stalls? In Spain there's one every few streets, and they all make potato chips on the spot. Pale, thin and crispy. Some are better than others, obviously. But it's something quite trivial, no superhigh tech factory required...
I work in a very large factory. Still love factory tours and see why they appeal to people. While our process is largely chemical and hidden in tanks and pipes, it still impresses people. Mainly due to size of the installation.
I have had the opportunity to go on factory tours in a variety of sectors and I am always amazed by the technology but also the dedication of the people working there.
a tip for future Alex is to rinse the potato slices until the water runs clear and then do a 5 minute boil in vinegar water and then after the potato slices have dried that is when you can fry them in 160 Celsius oil.
It really is quite straight forward to achieve at home (and I think this will be Alex's conclusion in the end of the series when he lands on his method). I think Brets wants to tell you its impossible because what they do is 'special', but it's VERY doable. Restaurants do it all over the world every day with simple equipment and normal potatoes, and the result is more delicious than any bagged mass-produced chip.
Everyone was so nice at the factory. They may have deflated you a little but the science and care they put into the humble chip is fascinating! Bravo Alex for unearthing this and sharing it with us on UA-cam 😊
Beautiful music choice, for one. And I love how you bring attention to food making. Not just Michelin star restaurant techniques, But you also show us the hidden world behind the food that is much a part of our everyday world, like dried pasta and potato chips.
You can do it Alex! We once made potato chips at home here in the states, wavy cut and it was DELICIOUS!! It was actually a bit too good because they went so fast and all those carbs need to be worked off. I am sure you will unlock the secrets of how to do this at home!
Brets ❤️ Sooo French. The second I get to France I load up on some crazy flavors of Brets. And then I always get a few bags of the extra thin salted ones as well. They are actually my favorites but you gotta try some of the flavored ones too. Yay Brets.
Here's an idea: what about lacto-fermenting the raw potato chips? Some of the starch and sugar will be converted and maybe enable the use of standard-variety potatoes. Then dehydrate them a bit before frying.
For the sugar issue you could leave the sliced potatoes to soak in water for some time to reduce the sugar level since sugar is hydrophilic (attracts/ed water). For the water problem put it on a dryer after soaking. Dried food already have some crispness to it so you will only have to quick fry it to add the fat and make it extra crisp. The drying and frying will require some experimentation before finding the perfect ratio.
Yes, I wanted to say the same thing, but then, I checked to see if anyone already told it first... 😆 In fact, I don't remember anyone having coined this sugar problem in the previous video's comments, but it confirm what multiple people suggested about drying the chips before frying them. Now, this raises the question about the best temperature for this drying process (even possibly frozen with vacuum)
I knew the potato would be the biggest limiting factor and was just waiting for them to give you some as a parting gift. Glad I was not disappointed, your charm won them over Alex!
I'm visiting France these days, and I couldn't resist buying a bag of crisps from this company. Even though I'm not a big fan of snacking, I have to admit that these crisps are pretty good.
Chez Roger&Roger, en Belgique, on utilise la variété Croky🥔, une hybride de la Bintje.... Mais : il faut laver les chips et les sécher partiellement avant cuisson. Ils y a des additifs dans l'eau de lavage : du dextrose. Il est retiré en grosse part dans le train de séchage, mais il en reste assez pour assurer une cuisson ultra-courte et une couleur très uniforme. Après cuisson, assaisonnement contenant un peu de fécule de maïs, etc.... les chips sont séchées une deuxième fois, ce qui assure un degré d'humidité vraiment minimum et une bonne conservation. 🤓
Hey Alex. You probably already finished filming the series and now you are releasing the videos but here´s a tipp from a chef that made pale crispy potato chips in restaurants: Slice them really thin using a mandoline, wash and dry them off(you already did those three parts) but now for frying temperature: Fry them slowly at 130-150°C until you stop seeing water bubbles. That way they are crispy and stay pale.
Haven't been watching Alex's videos for some time. I have to say it feels a bit like coming home after a long break. It's always fun to watch your videos and I will have to keep up even if I don't use them in my own cooking. It has to be said I've made a few attempts here and there but it's just so fun watching you go about this.. Massive respect and love from Norway ❤
Salut Alex! Good luck with your Potato Chips experiments ❤ And much respect to Bret's for allowing you to visit, film and for sharing their knowledge 🙂😎
Brets is the best! I lived on Brets last summer when I bicycled to Biarritz. I grew up 1km from Estrella Chips factory in Storås Angered Gothenburg Sweden and Grill&Pepper chips has been a part of my life since I was a child. Sometimes you need to give up... and it's good to support you're local brands. Salute! Ciao!
Factory Automation is poetry in its own right. Love the guys, and of course I'm looking forward to some hacks to get similar results at home in small batches. Here's to better outcomes whan the pasta series!
So after your first video I actually decided to try and make my own potato chips again and I think I just so happened to have the PERFECT store-purchased potatoes to do it with. I am not kidding nor exaggerating when I say these tasted like Homemade lays after the extremely simple process I went through which I'd be glad to share with you to give a try in your own kitchen Alex.
I grow my own potatoes in my garden and last season I grew russets just to see the difference in frying from others I have grown. Simply switching the variety was like night and day.
Since sugars are soluble, it should be pretty easy to get rid of them by soaking (or boiling as Kenji does). As far as reducing water content - seems pretty simple as well, just air dry them for a while or use a dehydrator.
That is crazy how much of an artisanal product potato chips are. Props to the owners for being so open and transparent about their process. I hope you can figure out a workaround.
My dad would've loved these videos. I remember him trying to make potato chips in a small, kitchen top fryer in the 80s, just because he loved them. Didn't work and he pivoted to to donuts. But i know he wouldve thought this was great :)
I can’t really find Brets chips in a lot of places here. But they damn worth it when it becomes available. Great and interesting video of potato chip cooking process.
I haven't watched beyond that you're visiting Brets, but I absolutely love their elusive Chèvre chips. All their chips are good but that one is dangerously good
ABSOLUTLEY FASCNINATING! I love learning new things. I think you can manage water content in small batches, and I understand why the factory would want to use a lower water content spud. But sugar content would be super critical to the caramelization, coloring and flavor and much harder for a small batch to control. In the US the "Russet" is the usual choice from grocery stores, but I get the feeling that wouldn't cut it. I do wonder how critical oil temp is compared to cooking time. I think your still going for what would be called a "kettle chip", but I've had some fresh hot ones that very closely resemble bagged chips, so I think it's very possible with some tinkering. Keep up the awesome videos.
Damn I just went to France last week, and now I discover I need to try Bret's :') It's incredible to discover how much finesse is required for this "humble" product. Can't wait to see the result of your work with the specialty potatoes!
It would be interesting if you could add a segment about how/when the transition was made to the modern potato chip. Obviously the first chip ever made wasn't the modern chip. When did the chip industry hit the important milestones that put them on track toward the modern mass produced chip? At what point in chip history did they arrive at the modern variety of potato? When did they learn about optimal oil temp, batch size, potato variety, etc etc? Was it a continuous process or great leaps? Love the series.
Im jealous. The potato chips looked so good! Here in Finland (at least this time of the year), a good portion of the chips are made out of moldy potatoes.
French gourmet bill Nye and low key French algo Romeo. Thank you so much for posting videos it’s means so much to have Europeans on our side. Like and so amazing going the extra mile to break down the Asian food complex. Thank you. 2024. We here.
Had been a bit obsessed with potatoes a few years ago and that is when i learned, that every mass production industry that uses potatoes as basic ingredient has its own special variety of potato that has been specially adapted over the years to suit each industry. These potatoes are not commercially available to normal people as they are not really suited for anything else, but the one product.
The availibility is less about the variety being rare or unsuited to general use and more about price and quality control. Processing potatoes are generally grown on contract that creates a more complicated pay scale based on tested samples from each field of harvest and rewards things like achieving starch, sugar, and moisture targets far more than it rewards fresh weight alone. The retail market is entirely driven by price per fresh weight and visual blemishes. Farmers selling to retail will target maximum fresh weight yields and lower cost types of fertilizer. Maybe 1 in 50 retail customers have the knowledge to notice anything more than the skin color and price, let alone specific cultivar or the use of fertilizer based on sulfates instead of chlorides and the level of irrigation 3 weeks before harvest. That 1 in 50 is not worth the shelf space and extra spoilage.
One of the factors in a chip starts at the potato. Alot of the chips that are orange/well-done looking are actually potatoes with high amounts of Starch in them. We used to test the potatoes in my job to try and get rid of them if it was bad. Any black spots are usually defects but sometimes can be the result of bruising the potato was tossed around extra. The peeling process is usually done with long hard bristle brushes spinning really fast in a tube that rubs off the peel + any surface defects.
A quick washing of the chip slices can help reduce surface starch limiting sticking and potential additional caramelization of the starches. The oxidation of the oil will affect the flavor of the chip as well, the fryers use hoods to control the exhaust the fumes and steam but also to limit the amount of oxygen the oil is exposed to all to extend the "life" of the oil.
I can get some pretty decent potato chips. Light, and crispy. I slice potatoes VERY thinly on a mandolin. Thin enough to let light through. I wash them in running water really well, and put them on a water bath with a couple tablespoons sugar and a teaspoon baking soda. I am not sure if they make any difference, but it seems to help. After like 20 minutes I drain the potatoes, and spread them on a clean dishtowel, to try them as well as I can. I fry them in warm oil. Not sure what the temperature is, but it is enogh to make them bubble gently. A handful at the time, stirring a few times so they don't stick to each other. I keep the oil temperature fairly low, so they don't burn, but enough to keep them bubbling. after they are fried, I scoop them out of the oil and let them drain over some kitchen paper, and repeat the process until I am done. It is important to drain them well, so the oil won't make them all soft again.
I figured the primary reason for not being able to make crisps at home was down to the variety of potato used but your video just cemented this reasoning. Looking forward to seeing if you can make crisps at home now that you have 10 of the correct variety of potato.
I too have been on this quest. Took me many different failures before I figured out a method that works for me. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Blimey, now I have a much better understanding of what is meant by 'ultra processed'! If that's what it takes for a simple crisp, what torture are the various stages of ready meals subjected to? As always a very interesting video Alex - thank you!
This is the first time i can't t relate with Alex! I slice my potatoes thinner that what he did in his previous video, soak the slices in cold water for an hour or two, then fry them on a medium flame in soyabean oil. They turn out crispy everytime, with maybe just 5-10% turning brown! P.S: I use Kufri Pukhraj potatoes (~12%starch).
"How hard can it be..." famous last words :-D this reminds me very much of your Pasta series. A 99c product, how hard can it be? Nice one, keep them coming.
Alex, I am a huge fan of your cinematic videos, how you tell a story, the passion for cooking and the interest you have in getting to the root of a recipe. That's why I couldn't help but feel this video was paid by the company that produces the fried potato chips. Usually, we see you looking for advice by the very best crafstmen in their area, like the chefs in prominent restaurants etc. In the previous video, you tried to make the chips by yourself, everything was homemade. And then you go to this factory where nothing is even touched by a hand, to ask for advice on how to make good potato chips. You are comparing two very different processes, one is a very artisanal one done by you and the other is completely made by machines where there is no room for human intervention. I live in the Spanish city of Córdoba where you can still find small shops that have been doing only one thing for the entire time of their existence and that is to fry potato chips. They use very little machinery and fry only in olive oil. I am sure they could give you a much different advice on what is this craft than the factory. Also, the crunch and the taste of these kind of chips is nowhere near comparable to any factory produced potato chips. Salut!
I like how they didn't just say "nope can't be done, takes proprietary secrets" they actually explained the science behind why it was so difficult to re-create them at home. They gave you just enough info to give you a decent shot at pulling it off.
This! they were bloody fantastic
They can't say that-is possible, how many more companies are doing it?maybe tricky to do it at home but is possible.
It is most definitely possible to produce light colored, ultra-thin, crispy chips at home or in a small restaurant setting with normal equipment and grocery store potatoes. Pull your chips quite early and let the carry over cooking on a rack take them to crispy. It's not rocket science.
I think there was a bit of marketing 'what we do here is special and unreplicable anywhere' going on in that conversation with the CEO. Special on that scale, certainly, but restaurants around the world achieve it.
Nonetheless, an amazing tour of a top class operation.
No... I think it was calculated. If Alex says "you need these potatoes to do it" then you help increase sales of store bought chips. As simple as that!
@@Pre1321 Then again. If you actually get to say 95% perfection. Would you go through the process of doing it vs. going to the store and pay $3 for the finished product?.. I can totally see the fun in learning how to it, and then achieve it. But....
Oh boy. Is this gonna be like the dried pasta series? Is he going to make a machine? Is this going to be an 8 video series?
😅I also was reminded of the dry pasta series. In think the pasta factory they also told Alex that it is very hard.
this time he will build a factory. 100 million euros? Pff!
"I want my own potato chips"
I can see it already
This Old Tony: Okay today I'm here to make a continous fryer for French Guy Alex.
Too much commercialism
Ow boy I wish
Giving him 10 potatoes as he walked out the door cost them, less than nothing. But what a kind and fair gesture to do nonetheless. Top marks to Brets for being classy.
.... costs them less than nothing, but (in the best case) will bring them thousands of new customers who will try their chips when they're visiting france, thanks to Alex. Marketing at its best.
He could plant them, and grow hundreds of more potatoes!
@@Konr-c5c From storage most are sterilised to stop the aging/growth, but some locations run fresh.
@@captainsubtext7446 I'm in France and they really great chips, my favorites. The texture is just really perfect, crunchy but soft and bubbly. They have a lot of flavors too, I really enjoy the ones like teriyaki, bacon, raclette, etc. It does feel like they know what they are doing and not just winging it. I'm not surprised the potatoes aren't available in supermarkets; but Alex could have a shot by shopping directly from farmers. Don't need the exact same variety, only one that shares common properties like sugar content and water retention levels. I do think the washing process will be important to remove starch especially at home. Use ice water for best effect (from my understanding, it's done like that in Korea for many potato recipes to remove starch effectively). Then pat them dry with a clean towel and air dry them. Maybe even use an air fryer?
So the technique I learned from working in a restaurant was to:
Mandolin potatoes quite thick
Bring a 3% salt solution to a boil and pour over the cut potatoes
Let sit 1 hour
Fry at 140-150 until pale and crispy, stirring the chips often
Season with salt and msg
Optionally dry in a low oven for a couple hours to drive out excess oil and increase crispiness
By “let sit” do you mean you leave the potatoes in the water? Or you just pour over and then sit to dry?
@@ifonlysolutions4011 I could see it be left in the water for the salt to brine the potatoes and pull moisture out more effectively once they dry. Interesting they would use MSG like that, I love MSG :p
I love that the CEO is so technically knowledgable and not just a finance person.
most ceo‘s are like this
@@kekw4630 Not at all from my experience. Most have a background in finance/accounting and are not terribly knowledgable about the finer details of the product.
I mean most ceos started from nothing so they had to learn all this information first then, once they expand they can get more r&d and refinement of the process which takes money
I think your factory/professional facility tours are some of the best videos you have produced. You always have such a unique perspective since you're visiting factories that produce things you have also tried to produce. You bring your own experience, be it good practices you learned or refined or faulty methods you were experimenting with and are able to really digest what goes on in production and ask precise, well thought out questions, gleaning a wealth of valuable information from the people who have the experience to accomplish what you are attempting. I really enjoy being brought along with you for the tours 😊
The fact that these people allowed you into their space, and shared just enough knowledge for you to get started at home, AND THEN went ahead and gave you a couple of "Chip" potatoes to give you a genuine shot at this, is incredible beyond measure.
I never would have thought a company would share what they did, knowing it would come to UA-cam.
"Bret's" of to you, Bret's.
It’s a great add for them. Bet you their marketing team jumped at the opportunity for such a long add with out paying millions.
Incredible beyond measure? You're naive beyond measure...
Two ideas I had watching this:
* Beef tallow doesn't degrade with use like vegetable oils.
* Since water content of the potato is a problem, I'd try using a Food dehydrator before frying.
Oil degradation is not that much of a problem in itself as starches absorbed by the oil and continue cooking when the fries are taken out. So tallow, lard or any kind of oil would behave similarly, I believe
beef tallow has a strong flavour, which is not bad, but would produce a very different result
@@feedbackzaloop Fats have a wide range of chemical durability in frying. High oleic sunflower is common with commercial frying, while high linoleic sunflower oil oxidizes rapidly. They also add antioxidants and defoaming agents, the oil is pumped through a filter. Temperature is adjusted for the age of the oil, or they blend some old oil with the new to get consistant browning and flavor (when browning is desired) because older oxidized oil causes food to brown faster at lower temperature and lower temperature extends the life of the new oil. Pre-salted food accelerates oil breakdown.
Tallow is very durable but solid fats change the end texture when the chips are cool; sometimes this is desirable sometimes not.
@@TheDuckofDoom. You didn't read the second part of my first sentence, have you? Or watched the video...
It's the starches from potatoes that brown in the fryer. For this particular case, not in general whens and ifs
@@feedbackzaloop Is english your first language? The first sentence of your first post is not coherent, will you write it again with different words?
Starch is not absorbed by oil and nothing about the oil degradation is affected by oil being absorbed by the gelatinized starch in the chip. This specific case is no different from the general case.
Starches do not brown, they are broken into sugars and maltodextrines which then react in various ways to create the carmel color. The condition of the oil has a strong effect on the speed of these reactions. The beginning sugar content also has a strong influence.
I know exactly how the triglycerides behave chemically in a fryer based on the double bonds and chain length of the fatty acids, and the proportion of free fatty acids that are no longer esterified to their glycerol backbone. (Oxidation and free fatty acids are also a quality problem when making bio-diesel from used fryer fat.)
Tallow is stable at frying temperatures because it is mostly stearic acid based which is fully saturated and moderate chain length (18C);
This stability is also why it has desiriable high temperature properties when used for the soaps that gel petroleum oil into lubricating grease. Mainly lithium-12 hydroxystearate (sodium, calcium, and aluminium are frequently used in place of lithium)
Brets are, hands down, the best tasting potato chips I’ve ever had. Every flavour is genuine and is exactly what the bag says it’s going to taste like. They are crispy, not oily or tasting of chemicals, and just a delight to eat. Get them
If you can.
I love Brets crisps too. They have great flavour and texture. Every time I go to France.
I never had Brets crisps but I live in Geneva so I might hop to France to get some soon.
Brets are too good don't go near them when doing groceries and hungry @@firbolg
@@ommsterlitz1805 Fair point! :D
they're the beeest
they're above average, that's about it
Alex... You know what I love about your content and your channel? You're not pretentious. You don't pretend to be amazing (although your fanbase would agree that your talents are extraordinary) but you advertise what you believe in: an ordinary (although talented) man doing what he loves and expanding his arsenal by learning from the best, and using this knowledge to better himself and what he loves. You're a true inspiration to me and to millions who view your content.
Salut❤
true, good and praiseworthy. Amen!
This was so good. A great reminder, when I complain about the price of food, all the systems that go into making it.
🤡
I love a factory tour. Done a few for my own cooking work. Although I agree that there are some very specialized parts of the process that make it seem inaccessible for the home cook, I would suggest you look to potato chip street cooks of South America. I’ve been using their methods for years and always have perfect chips. Without fail. The potato variant of course matters but the method to get a crisp with good colour and great crunch is also very accessible with a few tweaks on your original trials.
I assume you’ve already shot that though so can’t wait to see it 😊
and.. what is the South American secret? Don't always think about Alex, pls. Think about me :)))
In my late teens to early 20s I worked at a pub that cut their own chips from mealy russet potatoes. There were 2 guys there that had different schools of thought about chips, and it just boiled down to thickness for them, and I took it upon myself to be like "This can't be right the thin ones get clumpy, the thick ones get dark before they're crisp, why is this even a thing, do they like suffering?"
Did a little research and heard things about a low-temp fry, but they called it blanching in the reddit thread or wherever I read it. Being in my early 20s and near obsessive about food service without any proper guidance, I only heard of blanching in respect to a brief boil in water followed by an ice shock, so I did that. Turns out that works PRETTY GOOD. At least with mealy inherently low-sugar russet varieties, and I think it has something to do with sugars' solubility in water, starch gelatinization, low-temp moisture-loss on a cellular level from being pre-cooked before frying, and accidental micro-cavitation from the soft potatoes rubbing up against each other in the 5 gallon buckets of ice-water post-blanch. Anyway, those turned out REAL close to store-bought. Knowing you've got their secret weapon potatoes, all these extra steps probably won't be necessary at all, but to anyone trying this out there with civilian potatoes, that should give you decent results. Also, things to consider:
Acids like DWV slow pectin breakdown in vegetables, and also slow Maillard browning, both of which are ideal in a chip environment. I think I did a batch with vinegar in the blanching water, but I don't remember if the results were better or not because that was a decade ago, that pub shut down, and anywhere I've since worked either didn't bother with chips at all, or used frozen ones.
Mom partially dehydrated them prior to frying. The reduced water level allowed for quicker frying and concentrated flavor.
I went in to this video having a pretty good idea of what you might find. My grandmother used to make home made potato chips and I got to help... by repeatedly washing the slices until her "taste test" of the raw potato passed. "Still too sweet" she would say until it wasn't. Then we'd leave them in a strainer to dry out some before deep frying, season, then bake on a low heat to get them crispy. When I heard that guy mention sugar and starch balance it all made sense what my grandmother was doing with her taste test.
Alex! Please farm the potatoes! If you bury them in soil after they have begun to chit, they will multiply your potatoes!!! You can continue to make potatoes out of the variety that they do!
That's the first thing that came to my mind when he generously offered this pack of potatoes lol
Cultivar is only half of it, there are special farming conditions needed to get the needed qualities which is why they are grown according to a contract rather than being an open market commodity. Then he also needs to build special controlled environment storage.
@@TheDuckofDoom. you make a valid point, but based on projects he’s done in the past, I have faith our boy will find a way to do all those things.
Nope that violates Brets intellectual property rights and if the potato cultivar is a hybrid that won't happen
@@TheDuckofDoom.
It was so hearthwarming, when they gave you the potatoes!
Tellement heureux de voir cette collab, Bret's a de l'or dans les mains
Top 1 youtuber over the world, no questions asked. Amazing job, congrats Alex. Keep it up!
When I found your channel I was captured by your curiosity to make things at home and building a system. It WAS exploratory. Genuine. Actually authentic.
Get a couple of those potatoes planted! Your own home grown stock of perfect chip potatoes is going to be key surely. I guess we’ll see you in October for Episode 19…
He makes something as simple as a potato chip interesting
It's a gift
I love these kinds of videos where you simply learn that it's basically impossible to make a better "at home" version of some food/recipes.
And btw, Brets is by far the best potato chips I've ever eaten in my life. It's just so good, and not that expensive actually. Thank you for giving them more visibility !
that's the best informercial i've ever seen, i'm not even mad
Olivier, Cavard and Mollard were so nice, welcoming and passionate! Really speaks to the love and pride they have for their craft and bussiness! I always love when you get to meet these amazing people to help you alex! They're fantastic! These learning experiences are great! Your potato chip will be incredible!
thats really cool they let you go in and film stuff and give you potatoes. i respect companies like that.
Love your trips to factories! Seeing how the treats are made is such an amazing experience! And your cinematography makes it even better alex! Thanks 😊😊😊❤❤❤
Hey Alex, I usually like your content, I am a long time subscriber of your channel, never made a complaint. In Spain, churro shops, or churrerías as we call them, make potato chips from regular potatoes with no effort, way crispier, way more natural, and way more satisfying in the sense that you don't need to have a lot, and therefore healthier. And it is really something you can cook in any regular kitchen.
"Every aspect of the process must be under control." is the most important sentence in the whole video, love it! :)
factory guys seem really nice and friendly. cant believe they would even give you raw proprietary potatoes as a gift. i expect that would be tightly controlled to stop competitors from growing what they r&d.
Merci beaucoup to Laurent and his team for having us over and let us look around. It is indeed very fascinating how much work and expertise goes into producing a "simple" product like the humble potatoe chip.
I don't understand... You guys in France don't have fried dough ("churros") and potato chip street stalls? In Spain there's one every few streets, and they all make potato chips on the spot. Pale, thin and crispy. Some are better than others, obviously. But it's something quite trivial, no superhigh tech factory required...
I work in a very large factory. Still love factory tours and see why they appeal to people. While our process is largely chemical and hidden in tanks and pipes, it still impresses people. Mainly due to size of the installation.
I have had the opportunity to go on factory tours in a variety of sectors and I am always amazed by the technology but also the dedication of the people working there.
Brets makes the best chips by far.
a tip for future Alex is to rinse the potato slices until the water runs clear and then do a 5 minute boil in vinegar water and then after the potato slices have dried that is when you can fry them in 160 Celsius oil.
It really is quite straight forward to achieve at home (and I think this will be Alex's conclusion in the end of the series when he lands on his method).
I think Brets wants to tell you its impossible because what they do is 'special', but it's VERY doable. Restaurants do it all over the world every day with simple equipment and normal potatoes, and the result is more delicious than any bagged mass-produced chip.
5 minutes seems a bit long for something that thin.
Factory visits and interview with the R&D is absolutely fantastic !
I love these factory tours you do. I’ve worked in several factories and. The processes are so interesting.
Bret's are the best and lts great to see just how simple and effective their operation runs
Sallé, what a great name to work in potato chips industry. (Salé means salty)
Everyone was so nice at the factory. They may have deflated you a little but the science and care they put into the humble chip is fascinating! Bravo Alex for unearthing this and sharing it with us on UA-cam 😊
Beautiful music choice, for one. And I love how you bring attention to food making. Not just Michelin star restaurant techniques, But you also show us the hidden world behind the food that is much a part of our everyday world, like dried pasta and potato chips.
Come to Chihuahua, México, bro. Here, people make potato chips to sell on the streets!
Plus, you can start to dig into Mexican food!
Great idea! I hope Alex takes this comment to heart! Street food has a lot of learning potential.
I can not overstress how excited I am about this series
You can do it Alex! We once made potato chips at home here in the states, wavy cut and it was DELICIOUS!! It was actually a bit too good because they went so fast and all those carbs need to be worked off. I am sure you will unlock the secrets of how to do this at home!
Brets ❤️ Sooo French. The second I get to France I load up on some crazy flavors of Brets. And then I always get a few bags of the extra thin salted ones as well. They are actually my favorites but you gotta try some of the flavored ones too. Yay Brets.
Here's an idea: what about lacto-fermenting the raw potato chips? Some of the starch and sugar will be converted and maybe enable the use of standard-variety potatoes. Then dehydrate them a bit before frying.
Works with my chips or steak fries whatever other countries call em. Crispier yet paler than non lacto fermented ones
For the sugar issue you could leave the sliced potatoes to soak in water for some time to reduce the sugar level since sugar is hydrophilic (attracts/ed water).
For the water problem put it on a dryer after soaking.
Dried food already have some crispness to it so you will only have to quick fry it to add the fat and make it extra crisp.
The drying and frying will require some experimentation before finding the perfect ratio.
Yes, I wanted to say the same thing, but then, I checked to see if anyone already told it first... 😆
In fact, I don't remember anyone having coined this sugar problem in the previous video's comments, but it confirm what multiple people suggested about drying the chips before frying them. Now, this raises the question about the best temperature for this drying process (even possibly frozen with vacuum)
I knew the potato would be the biggest limiting factor and was just waiting for them to give you some as a parting gift. Glad I was not disappointed, your charm won them over Alex!
I'm visiting France these days, and I couldn't resist buying a bag of crisps from this company. Even though I'm not a big fan of snacking, I have to admit that these crisps are pretty good.
Chez Roger&Roger, en Belgique, on utilise la variété Croky🥔, une hybride de la Bintje.... Mais : il faut laver les chips et les sécher partiellement avant cuisson. Ils y a des additifs dans l'eau de lavage : du dextrose. Il est retiré en grosse part dans le train de séchage, mais il en reste assez pour assurer une cuisson ultra-courte et une couleur très uniforme. Après cuisson, assaisonnement contenant un peu de fécule de maïs, etc.... les chips sont séchées une deuxième fois, ce qui assure un degré d'humidité vraiment minimum et une bonne conservation. 🤓
Hey Alex. You probably already finished filming the series and now you are releasing the videos but here´s a tipp from a chef that made pale crispy potato chips in restaurants:
Slice them really thin using a mandoline, wash and dry them off(you already did those three parts) but now for frying temperature: Fry them slowly at 130-150°C until you stop seeing water bubbles. That way they are crispy and stay pale.
Haven't been watching Alex's videos for some time. I have to say it feels a bit like coming home after a long break. It's always fun to watch your videos and I will have to keep up even if I don't use them in my own cooking. It has to be said I've made a few attempts here and there but it's just so fun watching you go about this.. Massive respect and love from Norway ❤
Salut Alex! Good luck with your Potato Chips experiments ❤ And much respect to Bret's for allowing you to visit, film and for sharing their knowledge 🙂😎
Keep a couple and grow them :D
I'd try dehydrating potatoes before frying to crisp faster without burning the sugar...
Brets is the best! I lived on Brets last summer when I bicycled to Biarritz. I grew up 1km from Estrella Chips factory in Storås Angered Gothenburg Sweden and Grill&Pepper chips has been a part of my life since I was a child. Sometimes you need to give up... and it's good to support you're local brands. Salute! Ciao!
What a flex Alex!!! Managed to get a potato chip factory tour!!! Well done 🎉
Factory Automation is poetry in its own right. Love the guys, and of course I'm looking forward to some hacks to get similar results at home in small batches.
Here's to better outcomes whan the pasta series!
So after your first video I actually decided to try and make my own potato chips again and I think I just so happened to have the PERFECT store-purchased potatoes to do it with. I am not kidding nor exaggerating when I say these tasted like Homemade lays after the extremely simple process I went through which I'd be glad to share with you to give a try in your own kitchen Alex.
Pros: Dont bother, can't be done.
Alex: But this is only episode 2 😅
I grow my own potatoes in my garden and last season I grew russets just to see the difference in frying from others I have grown. Simply switching the variety was like night and day.
Brets are so good ! I love their varied flavours, they always have a strong identity.
And they're pretty cheap too !
I discovered Brets last year when I was visiting Normandie, and they're my favorite brand of chips now!
So glad you’re going to continue your quest, thank you for the tour Alex- so interesting as always🥰✌🏼
Very nice of Brets to allow you into their secrets!
Since sugars are soluble, it should be pretty easy to get rid of them by soaking (or boiling as Kenji does). As far as reducing water content - seems pretty simple as well, just air dry them for a while or use a dehydrator.
That is crazy how much of an artisanal product potato chips are. Props to the owners for being so open and transparent about their process. I hope you can figure out a workaround.
My dad would've loved these videos. I remember him trying to make potato chips in a small, kitchen top fryer in the 80s, just because he loved them. Didn't work and he pivoted to to donuts. But i know he wouldve thought this was great :)
I can’t really find Brets chips in a lot of places here. But they damn worth it when it becomes available.
Great and interesting video of potato chip cooking process.
I haven't watched beyond that you're visiting Brets, but I absolutely love their elusive Chèvre chips. All their chips are good but that one is dangerously good
They are so so nice to give Alex a few of their specialized potato
its very informative. they were not shy in telling you what you were lacking in terms of home equipment to be able to reproduce the chips,
ABSOLUTLEY FASCNINATING! I love learning new things. I think you can manage water content in small batches, and I understand why the factory would want to use a lower water content spud. But sugar content would be super critical to the caramelization, coloring and flavor and much harder for a small batch to control. In the US the "Russet" is the usual choice from grocery stores, but I get the feeling that wouldn't cut it. I do wonder how critical oil temp is compared to cooking time. I think your still going for what would be called a "kettle chip", but I've had some fresh hot ones that very closely resemble bagged chips, so I think it's very possible with some tinkering. Keep up the awesome videos.
When I'm some day, hopefully, will visit France, I definitely will give Brets a try!
brets are 100% the best potato chips ive ever tasted, i just love the way they are ablo to flavour their chips
Damn I just went to France last week, and now I discover I need to try Bret's :') It's incredible to discover how much finesse is required for this "humble" product. Can't wait to see the result of your work with the specialty potatoes!
Never has a gift of 10 potatoes brought so much joy! 🎉😂
It would be interesting if you could add a segment about how/when the transition was made to the modern potato chip. Obviously the first chip ever made wasn't the modern chip. When did the chip industry hit the important milestones that put them on track toward the modern mass produced chip? At what point in chip history did they arrive at the modern variety of potato? When did they learn about optimal oil temp, batch size, potato variety, etc etc? Was it a continuous process or great leaps? Love the series.
I haven't seen that brand in Asia, Australia nor the US.
Wow... the control from growing to prep to cooking, is precision manufacturing 🎉
I can assure you that those are the best chips you can have in the world. In France, it’s like a religion
Im jealous. The potato chips looked so good! Here in Finland (at least this time of the year), a good portion of the chips are made out of moldy potatoes.
French gourmet bill Nye and low key French algo Romeo.
Thank you so much for posting videos it’s means so much to have Europeans on our side. Like and so amazing going the extra mile to break down the Asian food complex.
Thank you. 2024. We here.
Oh my god. I live a few mins from here. My best mate lived near the factory and was so proud of his local chips
The slightly over cooked, brown chips are my absolute favourite. I always pick them out the bag and eat them first ❤
Had been a bit obsessed with potatoes a few years ago and that is when i learned, that every mass production industry that uses potatoes as basic ingredient has its own special variety of potato that has been specially adapted over the years to suit each industry. These potatoes are not commercially available to normal people as they are not really suited for anything else, but the one product.
The availibility is less about the variety being rare or unsuited to general use and more about price and quality control. Processing potatoes are generally grown on contract that creates a more complicated pay scale based on tested samples from each field of harvest and rewards things like achieving starch, sugar, and moisture targets far more than it rewards fresh weight alone.
The retail market is entirely driven by price per fresh weight and visual blemishes. Farmers selling to retail will target maximum fresh weight yields and lower cost types of fertilizer. Maybe 1 in 50 retail customers have the knowledge to notice anything more than the skin color and price, let alone specific cultivar or the use of fertilizer based on sulfates instead of chlorides and the level of irrigation 3 weeks before harvest. That 1 in 50 is not worth the shelf space and extra spoilage.
One of the factors in a chip starts at the potato. Alot of the chips that are orange/well-done looking are actually potatoes with high amounts of Starch in them. We used to test the potatoes in my job to try and get rid of them if it was bad. Any black spots are usually defects but sometimes can be the result of bruising the potato was tossed around extra. The peeling process is usually done with long hard bristle brushes spinning really fast in a tube that rubs off the peel + any surface defects.
A quick washing of the chip slices can help reduce surface starch limiting sticking and potential additional caramelization of the starches.
The oxidation of the oil will affect the flavor of the chip as well, the fryers use hoods to control the exhaust the fumes and steam but also to limit the amount of oxygen the oil is exposed to all to extend the "life" of the oil.
I can get some pretty decent potato chips. Light, and crispy.
I slice potatoes VERY thinly on a mandolin. Thin enough to let light through. I wash them in running water really well, and put them on a water bath with a couple tablespoons sugar and a teaspoon baking soda. I am not sure if they make any difference, but it seems to help. After like 20 minutes I drain the potatoes, and spread them on a clean dishtowel, to try them as well as I can.
I fry them in warm oil. Not sure what the temperature is, but it is enogh to make them bubble gently. A handful at the time, stirring a few times so they don't stick to each other. I keep the oil temperature fairly low, so they don't burn, but enough to keep them bubbling. after they are fried, I scoop them out of the oil and let them drain over some kitchen paper, and repeat the process until I am done. It is important to drain them well, so the oil won't make them all soft again.
See, finally a video that follows the previous one. This was driving me nuts!!!
I figured the primary reason for not being able to make crisps at home was down to the variety of potato used but your video just cemented this reasoning. Looking forward to seeing if you can make crisps at home now that you have 10 of the correct variety of potato.
Comme ils sont super sympa! J'adore leurs produits en plus. Go Brets !
I too have been on this quest. Took me many different failures before I figured out a method that works for me. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
You got the potatoes Alex! Now you can start your own potato chip company!
That was really Interesting and very informative it was so kind of them to give you a bag of potatoes to work with. I wish you good luck with it
Brets are so good. Especially the salted butter flavour is so gooood!
Blimey, now I have a much better understanding of what is meant by 'ultra processed'! If that's what it takes for a simple crisp, what torture are the various stages of ready meals subjected to? As always a very interesting video Alex - thank you!
This is the first time i can't t relate with Alex! I slice my potatoes thinner that what he did in his previous video, soak the slices in cold water for an hour or two, then fry them on a medium flame in soyabean oil. They turn out crispy everytime, with maybe just 5-10% turning brown!
P.S: I use Kufri Pukhraj potatoes (~12%starch).
"How hard can it be..." famous last words :-D this reminds me very much of your Pasta series. A 99c product, how hard can it be? Nice one, keep them coming.
Alex, I am a huge fan of your cinematic videos, how you tell a story, the passion for cooking and the interest you have in getting to the root of a recipe. That's why I couldn't help but feel this video was paid by the company that produces the fried potato chips. Usually, we see you looking for advice by the very best crafstmen in their area, like the chefs in prominent restaurants etc. In the previous video, you tried to make the chips by yourself, everything was homemade. And then you go to this factory where nothing is even touched by a hand, to ask for advice on how to make good potato chips. You are comparing two very different processes, one is a very artisanal one done by you and the other is completely made by machines where there is no room for human intervention. I live in the Spanish city of Córdoba where you can still find small shops that have been doing only one thing for the entire time of their existence and that is to fry potato chips. They use very little machinery and fry only in olive oil. I am sure they could give you a much different advice on what is this craft than the factory. Also, the crunch and the taste of these kind of chips is nowhere near comparable to any factory produced potato chips. Salut!
This brings back memories! I grew up in and around Frito Lay factories in the US.
My literal dream come true to be in a potato chip factory 😍🤤 I love this series!