- A TikTok chef went viral for turning a bag of fries into mashed potatoes.
- Eli from @elis_kitchen cooks Lay’s Chips in boiling water, drains them and then adds cheese.
- Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter told Insider he thought the hack was “ridiculous.”
- You can find more stories on the Insider homepage.
From tiny pancakes to perfect fried potatoes, TikTok has been a constant source of cooking inspiration over the past year.
But a chef takes innovation to a whole new level by turning a bag of french fries into a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Eli from @elis_kitchen has become an internet sensation for his signature cheesy potatoes mashed potatoes video, which was viewed more than 670,000 times on TikTok at the time of writing.
To make his special porridge, Eli first adds salt and vinegar to a pot of water
After the water has come to a boil, he throws in a small bag of classic Lay’s chips and fills the pot.
He cooks the fries until they lose their shape, then empties the pot with a colander.
Before finishing the dish, Eli enthusiastically drinks a shot of the cooking liquid.
Then he adds smoked paprika and lots of cheese to the dish and mixes everything together before taking a bite – what he called “delicious”.
Eli spices his mashed potatoes with cheese and smoked paprika.
Elis_Kitchen / TikTok
Many viewers were not sold at Elis Hack, and one person commented: “No video has ever caused me more pain.”
“It feels illegal to see this,” read one of the most popular comments.
“There is mashed potatoes immediately, how why?” another added.
Turning potato chips into a creamy pulp is nothing new
Eli’s video of mashed potatoes has been viewed more than 600,000 times on TikTok.
Elis_Kitchen / TikTok
Chef, restaurateur and “chopped” judge Chris Santos told Insider that another judge taught him a hack that could turn potato chips into a tasty side dish.
“While we were up against each other, the brilliant chef Alex Guarnaschelli taught me that you can make deep, satisfying, delicious, silky mashed potatoes by rehydrating potato chips in cream and then mixing them,” he said.
But Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter thinks the idea (or at least Eli’s version of it) is “ridiculous”.
“It looks like mud, and it is obviously not a good thing to puree all that cooking oil into your food!” Carter of Carters of Moseley in Birmingham, England told Insiders about Eli’s chip hack. “I’m a purist. A porridge is a dish in itself, so it needs respect!”
“Ten out of ten for lockdown innovation, I have to say,” he added.
If you’d rather upgrade your mashed potatoes without chips, there are plenty of other Michelin-starred, chef-approved hacks that you can use instead.
Michelin-starred chefs shared their favorite hacks for mashed potatoes with Insiders.
Ryan Benyi Photography / Getty Images
Los Angeles chef Michael Mina tosses olive oil and fresh herbs into his mashed potatoes to give them a Mediterranean twist, while Mari Katsumura, head chef at Yūgen in Chicago, adds a little wasabi oil to give their mash an extra kick.
To take his mashed potatoes to the next level, Carter adds roast beef drops instead of butter.
“It gives him a taste of roast,” he said. “You get this amazing meaty roast-flavored British roast.”
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