The Tavern at the Holly Inn is a quaint and popular dining spot for both locals and guests. The antique wood bar imported from Scotland is part of the charm, in addition to the amazing service. But if we’re being honest, the fresh chips served with every meal at The Tavern are likely the guilty pleasure of countless repeat customers. We go through lots of chips as outlined in this Q&A w/ Chef Adam Hinderliter.
Q: Are they homemade every day?
Chef Adam: Yes, they are homemade at The Tavern every single day.
Q: How are they made? How long does it take to make them?
Chef Adam: The chips are cut in-house using a food processor with a slicing blade attachment. (Fun fact – when I was a cook in The Tavern 19 years ago, we didn’t have the machine, and I hand-cut all of the chips daily using a mandolin slicer.) Once sliced, they are rinsed in cold water to remove as much starch and natural sugars as possible. This helps to keep the color lighter as the extra starches and sugars are what burn first during the cooking process. After that, they are fried at 325 degrees in large batches, drained and salted. We keep them in a food warmer to be served crisp and warm. Total process time for 100 pounds of chips is about 1.5-2hrs, cut to wash to fry.
The chips at The Tavern.Q: How many baskets of chips do you think we go through in a day? A week?
Chef Adam: On average, we go through about 550-600 pounds a week; 2,200-2,400 pounds a month; 26,400-28,800 pounds a year. I would guess in 15 years we have produced close to 450,000+ pounds of chips.
Q: How long have we been serving them? When and why did the tradition if giving them out to start a meal at The Tavern begin?
Chef Adam: The Tavern has been serving for 15 years and the chips were simply created as a starter – something unique.
Q: Are they available anywhere else at the Resort?
Chef Adam: No, only The Tavern.
Q: What’s your favorite way to enjoy them?
Chef Adam: Plain with salt and vinegar, also with ranch and/or blue cheese dressing. But there’s no right or wrong answer!
Q: Anything else interesting about them that we should know?
Chef Adam: Fun fact about the potato chip origin story – they were born by a complaining patron and an annoyed chef. The story goes the potato chip was born out of pure annoyance. In 1853, an unhappy customer at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, kept complaining to the chef that his French fries were not thin enough. After returning the fries several times to have them slimmed down, the irritated chef eventually sliced the potatoes so thin, they could not be eaten with a fork when fried.