George Crum
George "Speck" Crum (1822–1914), son of "a mulatto jockey and an Indian maid", according to a menu used at Moon's Lake House,[1][2] was the cook at Moon's Lake House, a resort at the south end of the lake in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is widely credited as the inventor of potato chips.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Invention of chips
According to one story, on August 24, 1853, a customer complained that Crum's french fries were "too thick". The angered cook was frustrated by this remark, so he decided to give the maximal opposite of what the client was complaining about: he sliced potatoes paper-thin, overfried them to a crisp, and seasoned them with an excess of salt. When the crisps were prepared, he gave them to the customer, expecting him to be dissatisfied. However, the customer loved them. The chips became popular, and became known as "Saratoga chips" or "potato crunches". Crum was able to open his own restaurant in 1860 with the profits he made selling his new chips. They remained a local delicacy until the Prohibition era, when an enterprising salesman named Herman Lay popularized the product throughout the Southeast United States.
According to urban legend, the hard-to-please customer in Saratoga Springs was none other than railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, but more than likely it was a much more obscure customer.[3] An early source for the story identifies Vanderbilt as a regular customer, but not as the unintentional co-originator of the famous snack.[4][5]
However, a recipe for fried potato "shavings" had been printed in the U.S. in 1832, in a book explicitly derived from an even earlier English collection. “Claims that the product originated in Saratoga, NY, in 1853 may be looked at with appropriate skepticism.” [6]
It is curious that a biography commissioned by Crum himself in 1893 did not mention his famous invention.[7] It is possible that Crum's sister, Katie Speck Wicks, either made the first discovery herself or in conjunction with Crum.[8] A contemporary source even gives credit to Cary Moon's wife Harriet, stating that she developed the side dish over time.[9]
Despite all the stories about the invention of the potato chip by George (Speck) Crum and/or his sister Katie Speck Wicks, it would seem that all of this is rendered moot if one only consults cookbooks extant at the time. William Kitchiner's [10] The Cook's Oracle includes a recipe for what can only be described as a potato chip, even though it is not called such in this cookbook. Equally so, one must acknowledge that N.K.M. Lee's cookbook [11] which seemingly at the very least plagiarized Kitchiner, for her cookbook has virtually the same recipe for potato chips as Kitchiner. Whether one called it a potato chip or not, it would seem that a thinly sliced potato cooked in hot oil and served sprinkled with salt existed before either George Crum or his sister Katie Speck Wicks 'invented' the potato chip.
[edit] References
- ^ Moon, D.L. The Descendants of Robert Moon of Boston and Newport, p. 420
- ^ Menu at Moon's Lake House
- ^ Snopes, which lists its sources
- ^ Early Lake Houses Saratoga, New York (Reminiscences of Saratoga compiled by Cornelius E. Durkee, The Saratogian 1927-28 [1]
- ^ Burhans, Dirk, 2008. Crunch! A History of the Great American Potato Chip, Terrace Books (Univ. of Wisconsin Press), Madison, WI, pp. 15-21.
- ^ Civil War Recipes and Food History - The Potato During the Civil War
- ^ History of Saratoga County, New York. Nathaniel Sylvester
- ^ Invented in Saratoga County. Timothy Starr, 2008
- ^ New York Times
- ^ 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, London, 464 pp. (See p. 208 for potato chip recipe. This is supposed to be the first American edition.)
- ^ Lee, N.K.M. (A Boston Housekeeper), 1832. The Cook's Own Book: Being A Complete Culinary Encyclopedia: Comprehending All Valuable Receipts For Cooking Meat, Fish, And Fowl, And Composing Every Kind Of Soup, Gravy, Pastry, Preserves, Essences, &c. That Have Been Published Or Invented During The Last Twenty Years. Particularly The Very Best Of Those In The Cook's Oracle, Cook's Dictionary, And Other Systems Of Domestic Economy. With Numerous Original Receipts, And a Complete System of Confectionery, Boston, Munroe and Francis; New York, Charles E. Francis, and David Felt.
