Over the years, I have requested various pieces of cooking equipment that I have been told I need to have. (Watching massive loads of Food Network and the Cooking Channel, with an emphasis on shows with my all-time media crush Alton Brown, will do that.) Mandolin (the culinary kind), cast-iron dutch oven, stand mixer, pressure cooker…I have them all now. (Or at least access to them: the stand mixer (by far my favorite piece of equipment) is on indefinite loan from a friend.) All of this for a person whose idea of cooking dinner most nights is heating a jar of Classico tomato sauce and pouring it over pasta. (I do bake, hower, sometimes: brownies, biscuits, and date bread, and birthday cakes. This is where the stand mixer comes in so handy.)

One of my goals for the year is to start really cooking and to use the equipment I have now, both the new and the things gathering dust in the cupboard. (One of my other goals is to figure out the proper dosage so I can make pot brownies, but that’s another post.)

So… I ordered a pair of Kevlar gloves, to replace the handguard to the mandolin (that I misplaced before I even used the thing) and a kitchen scale. And last night I made… sweet potato chips. I cooked them in the cast iron dutch oven, which I think will probably be even better for cooking chicken in than the cast-iron skillet. Which means I may make fried chicken more than once every few months.

I followed the advice from the cooking shows to have the oil hot enough, and I sprinkled them with a mixture of salt, brown sugar, and paprika. They were really tasty and not greasy at all. The only thing I would have done differently would be to use more paprika, or maybe replace it with ground chipotle.

After slicing:

After frying:

I know they look dark, but they were really good.

Next up: using the pressure cooker.