I Just Found the Only Way I'm Ever Serving Potato Chips Again (It's So Smart)
I’m not a great hostess. Despite knowing a lot about food, I find party planning to be overwhelming. Because of this, when I do find myself hosting a gathering, I tend to lean on the same tried-and-true snacks and appetizers — think classic crab dip, deviled eggs, pigs in a blanket, or my favorite, a charcuterie board. Recently, though, I was made aware of a party dish I’d never heard of before, and it sounded so good I knew I had to try it. Meet: the potato chip tower.
What Is a Potato Chip Tower?
I had never heard of such a thing before, but a potato chip tower is a teetering tower built from potato chips — and in this case, fried salami — that’s “glued” together with a sticky sweet glaze. I referenced this recipe from Epicurious for my trial run.
How to Make a Potato Chip Tower
Fry the salami. I used presliced salami because I did not trust myself to be able to cut it thinly enough on my own, but choose your own adventure. I fried the salami in a dry skillet, over medium-low heat. Keep a close eye on it because it will crisp up and start to create smoke quickly. Transfer the crisp salami slices to a large bowl with the potato chips.
Make the glaze. In the same skillet, add unsalted butter, honey, and cayenne pepper and cook until bubbling.
Toss. Drizzle about 3/4 of the glaze over the chips and salami and toss to combine. Then mound the sticky chip-salami mixture in a low bowl or large plate, stacking it up to form a tower. Drizzle the remaining glaze over the tower and sprinkle with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
My Honest Review of the Potato Chip Tower
Who knew plain old potato chips could do this much? The tower is a flavorful and unexpected showstopper of a party appetizer. There are a lot of big flavors going on — it’s spicy from the cayenne, salty and fatty from the salami, and sweet from the honey. The whole thing is pretty rich, but since it’s intended to be shared among a group of people I think that’s okay.
Probably my favorite aspect of this is how easy it is. It came together in about 10 minutes, and since its large format, I didn’t have to spend any time making individual pieces of anything. It was closer to assembling a dip than say, individually wrapping shrimp in bacon or something like that. I would definitely make this again for a gathering (New Year’s Eve maybe?), especially because I think people would get a kick out of seeing a big bowl piled high with a sticky, towering mass of chips and meat.
Tips for Making a Potato Chip Tower
Make it your own. This recipe called for fried salami and a spicy honey butter glaze, but I bet this would also be good with fried mortadella, warm olives, and a glaze spiced with crushed red pepper flakes, or barbecue chips, Chinese sausage, and a chili crisp glaze. The world is your oyster, get creative.
Turn on your vent hood. Or open a window. Salami has a very low smoke point, so crisping it up in a pan resulted in a smoky kitchen very quickly for me — and I had to fry it in two batches. It also helps to have all of your ingredients measured out and ready to go, since the whole process happens very quickly. You want to be able to go right into making the sauce from frying the salami.
Wait for it to cool down. As with most food, the temptation is to eat this as soon as you’ve assembled it. I found that the flavor really changed after the tower had a chance to cool, so I highly recommend waiting for those flavors to meld a bit and letting it come to room temperature before digging in.
Further Reading
The One Cookware Brand That Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stop Talking About
Tuscan Chicken Is the "Most Delicious" Dinner of All Time, Says Everyone Who's Tried It
