The earliest known recipe for something similar…
March 1853 CE
The 1822 edition's version of recipe 104 is called "Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings" and reads "peel large potatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping".
Early recipes for potato chips in the United States are found in Mary Randolph's Virginia House-Wife (1824), and in N.K.M. Lee's Cook's Own Book (1832), both of which explicitly cite Kitchiner.
However, a legend associates the creation of potato chips with Saratoga Springs, New York, decades later.
By the late nineteenth century, a popular version of the story attributed the dish to George Crum, an American cook of African American and Native American heritage at Moon's Lake House, who was trying to appease an unhappy customer on August 24, 1853.
The customer kept sending his French-fried potatoes back, complaining that they were too thick, too "soggy," and/or not salted well enough.
Frustrated, Crum personally sliced several potatoes extremely thin, fried the potato slices to a crisp, and seasoned them with extra salt.
To Crum's surprise, the customer loved them.
They will soon come to be called "Saratoga Chips," a name that will persiste into at least the mid-twentieth century.
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