Potato Chip Sandwich: A Crunchy Salty Guilty Pleasure

Today is National Potato Chip Day. Hey! Stop rolling your eyes and muttering there’s a holiday for everything. Potato chips are awesome. According to Punchbowl, 1.2 billion pounds of potato chips are devoured each year in the United States alone, proving that this food demands your respect. So honor potato chips properly. Put them on a sandwich.

In honor of the holiday (and my favorite snack), I’ve posted a recipe from Susan Russo’s Encyclopedia of Sandwiches, the Potato Chip Sandwich. Read on, enjoy, and make sure you say hi to Susan on Twitter and visit her fantastic blog.

The Potato Chip Sandwich
From The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches by Susan Russo

Known as a crisp sandwich in the United Kingdom, a Potato Chip Sandwich is any sandwich that includes an overlapping layer of potato chips. Many people like to match a flavored chip with a particular sandwich, such as barbecue chips on ham and cheddar, salt and vinegar chips on tuna fish, and plain chips on peanut butter.

Potato chips were invented in 1853 in Saratoga, New York, but it was the 1920 invention of the mechanical potato peeler that launched the chip industry. When moisture-resistant packaging was created soon after, potato chips could be shipped anywhere. It’s impossible to identify the first person to place potato chips on a sandwich, but it’s safe to say that virtually everyone has done it at one time or another. A recipe for one proudly appears in the 1986 cookbook White Trash Cooking. It may not be epicurean, but it sure tastes good.

Layer the chips and gently press the sandwich with the palm of your hand before biting into it. Otherwise, you could risk a puncture wound in the roof of your mouth, which will hurt like the dickens when the salt hits it.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 slices white bread
4 to 6 dill pickle chips
A layer of your favorite plain potato chips

Directions:

Spread peanut butter on both bread slices. Place pickle chips on one slice. Top with overlapping potato chips. Close sandwich and enjoy! Makes 1

Variations:

Plain Jane: Spread mayo on white bread and top with potato chips.
Banana Crunch: Spread peanut butter on white bread. Add sliced bananas, and top with potato chips.
Cheese ’n’ Chips: Make a grilled cheese sandwich with American cheese and potato chips on buttered white bread. This salty sandwich may be the best midnight snack of all time.