This week started off with the most idyllic spring weather. The kind that breathes life back into your body. It also started with the premiere of my favorite tv show, Masterchef Australia. The show that informed my love of cooking and community. So, to celebrate, I wanted to tackle one of the more advanced and difficult recipes on my list. Potato pave. Which is a luxurious compressed and fried potato block that has a godly, crisp exterior and creamy interior. Not much is better than a fried potato. 

A Week of Sunshine + Cooking

So the week started with the most gorgeous, sunny day. We had a visit from a hummingbird, back from its winter break. I’ve spent so much time outside – in shorts! And my favorite show is back. It might sound silly that my favorite show boosts my mood quite a lot each year. But Masterchef Australia is extremely special to me. I first discovered it when I was a pre-teen, and I binged the seasons that were available (1-4). The show, unlike the American version, is a celebration of food, creativity, community, and it focuses more on growth than competition. 

If you love the lovely vibes of The Great British Bake Off, this show is for you. I have never seen more kind, supportive, openly emotional, creative, and passionate home cooks. Each season brings a new collection of lawyers, engineers, stay at home parents, and people looking for a chance to explore their passion for cooking. To launch their careers. The through line seems to be putting yourself first and going after your passion. Your joy. And I remember vividly watching season 4 in bed when I was a teenager on my old clunky green laptop. I barely slept that summer and hated going to work. I just wanted to watch Masterchef. 

Masterchef + Potato Pave

It also has taught me so many techniques and introduced me to so many ingredients, recipes, and native foods and herbs in Australia. Nothing makes me more excited than when a new season comes out. It’s just pure sunshine. And the new season started Monday, which features 24 former contestants. Some of my all time favorites. The skill level is higher than usual because many of them have since opened restaurants, bakeries, or trained in kitchens. So Monday was like my own personal Christmas morning. Add with the first day of incredible spring / summer weather in Maine my serotonin was through the roof.

So, I’ve been watching Masterchef with my dad, which is our tradition. Installing a bird feeder for my grandmother. And walking with my mom. I’ve also been trying to give my body a rest and really prioritize my comfort and health. So, of course, I decided to make an advanced recipe that I’ve been dying to make for a long time. Potato pave. I don’t remember when I first saw potato pave, but I was enthralled by the dozens of thin, crisp layers of potato and the elegant, uniform shape of the potato cubes. Essentially, potato pave is a brick of compressed cooked potato slices. Extremely thin potato slices, coated in clarified butter and salt. 

Slicing Potatoes

I started my recipe on Tuesday after a visit from our favorite hummingbirds. I prepped my camera and my black backdrop, as always, and fired up my laptop with songs and podcasts, ready to spend the whole day cooking. First, I collected a big bag of russet potatoes, inspecting them for any impurities. I dug out a couple restaurant-style plastic prep bins from my sourdough experimentation phase and filled them with water. Then, I spent the next eternity peeling potatoes. 5 or 6 big ones. They went into the water bath to keep them from browning, and I found my mandoline slicer. 

If you’ve ever used a mandoline, you know how dangerous and scary they can be. So, I made sure to track down the guard tool so that my fingers stayed far away from the blade. Mostly just to follow my mom’s advice for once. I adjusted the thickness to a fairly thin setting and tested a couple swipes of raw potato. I could see through them, so I decided to forge on ahead. But something didn’t feel right. They were too thick. I looked at a Youtube video of a chef making potato pave and realized his were slightly thinner than mine. They had a certain signature bend and curve in the water and mine were too stiff. 

Making Clarified Butter

So, I realized the first two potatoes I sliced were a no-go. I thought for a moment about trying to slice them all in half. But it would have taken me a year. I decided to discard them and use them for another recipe, which turned out to be a happy accident. I had my hand at making Spanish tortilla de patatas, another recipe I’ve been dying to try. And I had it two days in a row for breakfast. Anyway – the potato pave needed thinner potato slices. A razor’s edge between too thick and too thin. So I slowed down and studied them carefully. When I was happy, I carried on with my 4 other potatoes and filled up my water bucket with potato leaves. 

The next step was to make clarified butter. Which I’ve never made before. I knew I could just buy it, but I was feeling cheap and determined to learn something new. In theory clarifying butter should be easy. You just heat it on a very low flame until it melts and the milk solids should float to the top. Strain them off with a spoon, save them for something else, then pour the yellow butter fat into a jar and discard the clear liquid at the bottom. But, because I’ve never made potato pave before, or clarified butter, I panicked. And my ADHD took over. I did the worst thing anyone has ever done – I shook the pan. 

Stacking Buttery Potatoes

So it became an hour-long process of reheating, experimenting, making a coffee-filter strainer, and then basically giving up and eyeballing my clarified butter. After scooping out as much butter solids as I could. I highly recommend just buying clarified butter. But I forged on. Next I had to dry my potato slices out of their water bath with kitchen towels. A very tedious and wet process. Once they were dry I threw them in my biggest bowl and poured in the clarified butter. I also seasoned them with salt so my potato pave could be seasoned from the inside out. 

Next I got out two loaf pans and lined one with overhanging parchment paper. I spent the next hour or so carefully picking out potato slices and shingling them in the loaf pan. About 4 or 5 on each layer. Finally, I ran out of potatoes. But my pan was only halfway full. I think I might have cut them a tad too thin. And those two extra potatoes I needed made all the difference. Next, with my tired body, constantly wondering how chefs work all day, I picked out the thinnest of the thick slices of my discarded potatoes to add on top. I managed to get another few layers of potato shingles, about 1/2” to 1” taller. And finally, I remembered that I’m trying to abandon perfectionism, so I stopped. 

Baking My Potato Pave

The taste is the important thing. So, I forged ahead. I placed the overhang of the parchment paper over the top and pressed down lightly. Then, I paced the other loaf pan on top and pressed down to compact the potatoes a little. All that was left was to cover the whole thing with tin foil and bake the potato pave for 2 hours on a low heat. I popped it into the preheated oven, cleaned up, and took a rest on the couch. But there’s no rest for the wicked, so I headed downtown to enjoy the gorgeous weather and took a great, windy walk. 

When I got home the house was filled with a beautiful baked potato scent, swirling with caramelized butter and salt. I took the potato pave out of the oven and let it cool while I made dinner. Then, I uncovered it, checked to see if it was done to my liking, and then covered it gently again. I also fashioned a piece of cardboard for the top, covered in tin foil, as suggested by the chef in the YouTube video I watched. Next I placed the extra loaf pan on top and weighed it down with 3 cans of food. This allows the pave to compress and stick the layers together as it chills overnight. And it did, for about 14 hours. 

Slicing + Frying

The next day I bounded out of bed, thinking only of my potato pave brick waiting to be sliced and fried. I debated deep-frying it, but after making chocolate old-fashioned donuts last week, I was low on oil and down on the idea of hot frying oil. So, I got out my cast iron skillet and added a shallow pool of vegetable oil to fry the bricks in. Which works fine – you just need to flip and turn them a few times as they cook. I was most excited to slice the pave, which I struggled to get out of the pan at first. After about 10 minutes of blowtorching the pan, I realized I never took the piece of tin foil-covered cardboard off the top. And then it immediately came out. And I had a large, compressed brick of pure buttery potato layers. 

I thought for a minute about how I wanted to slice them. But I decided to cut half into long, elegant rectangles, and half into smaller tater-tot shapes. The longer ones took longer to cook, so I fried them first. 3 at a time in my bubbling, hot oil. I watched as they began to turn golden brown on the side. And I was so delighted to see the beautiful gold gradient of caramelization as I flipped them over. I cooked them on all 4 sides for a couple minutes each time and the two ends naturally caramelized along the way. I took the potato paves out of the oil with a slotted spatula and drained them on paper towels. And I stared at them as I fried the next batch, willing them to cool down so I could try one. 

Crunchy, Layered Potatoes

With a quick sprinkle of salt, I picked up the first potato pave and decided to bite into one. Fascinated by the dozens of thin little layers of potato, crisped in the oil. It reminded me so much of puff pastry. When I bit into it, it nearly burned my tongue. But it was so deeply and satisfyingly crunchy. Then you taste a creamy, mashed potato-like center. But even without much seasoning or accompaniment, they are full of buttery, pure potato flavor. And they don’t need anything to go with them. I put on some sour cream and fresh garlic chives for style points, but preferred them on their own. Pure, delicious potato flavor. 

The best thing about them is the crunch. It’s a mind-boggling, never-ending tower of thin potato layers. But potato pave also has a signature creamy center which is enriched by the clarified butter. It’s such a good bite and could make the base for some seriously amazing fine dining dishes. I’d enjoy them on their own. And I did, later that day. My dad and I fired up the Blackstone griddle and enjoyed the late sun. Warm air. And we cooked burgers to go with the potatoes. With bacon, too. The perfect way to celebrate a fantastic, sunny week. A sleepy week too. But one that I will remember. Potato pave is my new favorite potato recipe, aside from my potato puff pastry danishes from last year. 

The Ultimate Potato Recipe

If you get a chance to make it, and you have the tools and time, I would highly recommend it. It’s only a couple ingredients, too, so the flavor and reward is extremely high for the low cost. It’s like being transported to a Michelin star kitchen at home. If you want, you can try topping these with sour cream and chives. Or, maybe make an aioli or a dipping sauce. Even ketchup would do. If you want to make a decadent, incredible breakfast, put potato pave on the menu. 

Thank you for reading! Be sure to check out my Etsy for 100’s of recipe cards and art prints. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. I’ll be enjoying the warm weather, family time, and great food. 

Print Pin

Crispy Potato Pave

Crispy fried layers of compressed upscale potatoes (based on the recipe by ChefSteps)

Course Appetizer

Cuisine French

Keyword potato, potato recipes

Prep Time 14 hours hours

Cook Time 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 6 large russet potatoes (6-7 lbs)
• 10 tbsp clarified butter (2/3 cup)
• Pinch sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

• Peel all of your potatoes and place them in a large bowl of water to keep them from browning.
• Cut potatoes lengthwise to fit the width of your loaf pan. With a mandoline or by hand, cut potatoes 1mm thin and place chips into another bowl of water.
• Once your potatoes are cut, place two large kitchen towels on your work surface. One big handful at a time, pat dry your potato slices. Transfer to a clean, dry, large bowl while you continue drying all of your potatoes.
• When your potatoes are all dry, toss with your melted clarified butter and a generous pinch of salt. Coat completely but be careful not to break your slices.
• Line a loaf pan with parchment paper so that the bottom is covered and the edge has an overhang of parchment to use as a handle. Butter or spray your pan and paper and place a layer of potatoes across the bottom (4 or 5 at a time).
• Continue layering your potato slices, 4-5 slightly overlapping pieces, trying to fill in any gaps as you go. Your pan should be almost full as you finish.
• Once your slices are all stacked, fold your overhang of parchment over the top and place another loaf pan on top. Press gently to secure the potatoes together.
• Remove loaf pan from the top and cover the first loaf pan of potatoes with tin foil. Preheat oven to 300°F and cook potatoes, covered, for 2 hours until fully cooked.
• Remove pan from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Remove tin foil from top and let out remaining steam. Next, cover the top with your parchment paper overhang and fashion a cardboard piece to place on top, covered in tin foil.
• Then, place your second loaf pan back on top and add 3 heavy soup cans to weigh the potatoes down. Place in the fridge to chill overnight, up to 24 hours.
• When ready to cook, add your oil to a cast iron skillet or wok and heat over medium-high until it reaches 350°F.
• Remove your potato brick from the pan and peel off the parchment paper. Trim the sides of your pave so that it has even, square sides.
• Slice your potato pave into even bricks or squares and place on a baking sheet before frying. Keep cold.
• Fry your paves 3-4 pieces at a time, turning occasionally to brown evenly on all sides. Remove from oil with a slotted spatula and let drain on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
• Top with a sprinkle of sea salt and serve warm.

Notes

• My recipe was adapted from the Recipe by Tim Chin of ChefSteps. Full credit to him for the amazing original recipe!
• You can use a square pan if you don’t have a loaf pan – just make sure you have two matching pans that fit together. 
• Cut the paves in any shapes you want!
• The ideal color when frying is medium golden brown.