My wife loves salt and vinegar potato chips. And we both really love oven baked potato wedges. So we had a bright idea—what if we could make vinegar flavored oven baked potato wedges. As soon as that brainstorm hit we both started salivating. And there are virtually no recipes out there for how to make them. The only one I found called for “painting” the wedges with a vinegar solution half-way through baking. Bleech!
So I came up with a technique to “infuse” the flavor into the wedges and the results are fantastic! If you think you want to try it, here’s the recipe which really only has one extra step to it than making regular oven potato wedges. Here’s the recipe for 2 dinner servings:
Recipe: Homemade Vinegar Potato Wedges
Summary: Get an incredible salty, vinegary flavor in home baked potato wedges blanched in vinegar
Ingredients
- 3 medium potatoes (I use russets because they’re cheap!)
- 2 cups vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
Instructions
- Take out your cutting board and knife as well as a baking sheet, a 3-quart
sauce pan, colander and a medium bowl. - Slice each potato lengthwise into quarters and then slice each quarter in halflengthwise.
- Turn the oven on to 450 to preheat.
- Put the pan on the stove with the water and vinegar in it. Add the salt and turn the burner on high.
- (We like the wedges “vinegary”. If you want them a bit milder go to 1 ½ cups each
of water and vinegar or 2 cups water/1 cup vinegar.) - Bring pan to boil and drop a dozen of the wedges in.
- You’re going to blanch them for 3 minutes.
- (Hint—when you’re blanching the wedges, turn on theoverhead fan on your stove because it’s going to smell vinegary in the kitchen).
- At 3 minutes remove from the stove and with a slotted spoon or “spider” move the wedges to the colander to drain (do NOT rinse them).
- Bring the pot back to a boil and add the rest of the wedges and do the same thing.
- While the 2nd batch of wedges is blanching, drop the first batch of potatoes into the bowl. When the second batch is done, drain and add them to the bowl.
- Add the cooking oil, some more kosher/sea salt and some granulated garlic. Toss
this all together with either your hands or a pair of tongs. - Arrange the wedges in one layer on a baking sheet and pop into the oven. At about 15 minutes, remove the pan and flip each wedge over. Put back in the oven for about another 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes, then dig in.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating 5 stars: ★★★★★ 1 review(s)
The potato wedges will have been infused with the vinegar. You’ll get a bit of that pungent tanginess with each bite. (A hint though—when you’re blanching the wedges, turn on the overhead fan on your stove because it’s going to smell vinegary in the kitchen).
The Cheap Bastid Test: I used 3 potatoes. Five pounds cost $1.99 so I used maybe $.40 worth of potatoes and $.50 worth of vinegar. Total cost was less than $1. Give ’em a try. Damn, they’re good! (And, if you don’t want the vinegar flavor, just do these without blanching them or adding any vinegar. It’s easy and cheap and good).
That’s the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!
