Another gem of a technique taken from The Naramata Inn (RIP). I’ve seen root vegetable chips in many forms, but they are often either not fully crisp, or too dark in colour and flavour. At the Inn they used a simple procedure for perfectly brittle, vibrant crisps of parsnip, beet, carrot, and other root vegetables. The technique works well for fried shallots, too.

First, get the thinnest possible shaves of vegetable. It’s tedious, but in my experience a peeler is best. A mandolin on the thinnest setting works too.

Next, dredge the product with cornstarch. It is critical to add the absolute smallest amount of cornstarch while still coating the entire surface of the vegetables. At the Inn they did this by putting the vegetable shaves in a stainless steel bowl, sprinkling cornstarch over top, then covering with a second, inverted bowl of the same dimensions, and shaking the whole assembly until the vegetables are evenly coated with the starch.

Fry at 300°F. The low temperature removes all the moisture and crisps the vegetables without browning them.

Remove vegetable crisps from oil and immediately season with fine salt.

The last important nuance of this technique was demonstrated to me by Chef Ivan Ng at NAIT. To preserve the colour of the vegetables, especially carrots and golden beets, the oil needs to be fresh.

This has been a fun garnish on many dishes at Ernest’s. Pictured above is a parsnip and pear agnolotti, with crispy parsnips contrasting the supple texture of the pasta. I leaned hard on this technique with Mushroom Soup ‘Sous-Feuilles’.