- 1 year ago
The Food Truck NZ - S02E03 - Potato Chips
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00:00New Zealanders love their food, and they love it fast.
00:04But with more than a third of Kiwi adults tipping the scales,
00:07it's time for a tasty new menu.
00:10Michael van der Elzen is a fun-loving gourmet chef
00:13with a passion for fresh food.
00:16Beautiful.
00:18He's back with his trusty Bedford truck
00:20to challenge the way we eat.
00:23This is awesome.
00:24It's perfect.
00:25Thank you, guys.
00:27Tonight, can Michael make a healthy take on crispy chips
00:30with the quick tick Kiwis want?
00:33Find out in the food truck.
00:39The humble potato.
00:41This grubby beauty is rich in iron, folate, potassium.
00:46It's low in fat, high in fibre, and packed with vitamin C.
00:50So how can something so beautiful become so... crisp?
00:56Us Kiwis munch our way through 64 million bags of chips a year,
01:01and that's just the potato ones.
01:03Corn chips and rice snacks, all of which are at least 30% pure fat,
01:07are loaded with artificial flavours and preservatives.
01:10New Zealand is heading for a chip wreck.
01:14One man with one truck has one mission,
01:17to overtake and overwhelm the packet snack industry.
01:21Chips are just amazing.
01:23The chips!
01:24Well, this will be interesting then.
01:26I am a chip man from way back.
01:29Chips are the most universal snack I know.
01:32You can have them with kids' parties, beer parties, pool parties.
01:37You know, the immense variety of flavours.
01:40Half an aisle, and the supermarket's taken up
01:43with just those wonderful little flavoured crisps.
01:47The chips might be little, but the sales figures aren't.
01:49Kiwis spend about $370 million on snack foods each year.
01:53It might be good for the economy, but that's about it.
01:55You can see the salt. You can feel the grease on your fingers.
01:59They're cooked in pools of boiling fat,
02:02covered in fake and artificial flavourings.
02:06That can't be a good thing.
02:08And also, when you open a pack of chips,
02:10I can't, I can't stop until they're all gone.
02:14Ever the optimist, Michael's given himself only three days
02:17to make a selection of health food injections,
02:19this time for Matakana's Bloom Family Festival.
02:22How can I make a healthy chip?
02:24They're cooked in goddamn pools of fat!
02:26The chips!
02:28So, in the name of research, Michael puts his taste spuds to work.
02:32He wants to try a cross-section of Kiwi classics,
02:35and he doesn't have to go far to get them.
02:38Classic salt, salt and vinegar, Kiwi Icon, rations.
02:44Start with these.
02:46Got the kettles.
02:50The thing I love about these is their crispability.
02:54Most awesome crunch.
02:56Ingredients, potatoes, sunflower oil, salt.
02:59It's as natural as they come.
03:01Next, the classic salt and vinegar.
03:05Slightly different cut.
03:07These are using what they call the ripple cut,
03:09so slight ripples down it.
03:11So, in essence, you can get more flavour into a ripple cut
03:13than what you can a straight cut,
03:15but the downside is there's more surface.
03:17More surfaces being deep fried, more exposure to oil,
03:20probably higher in fat than your normal straight cut chip.
03:24They do taste good, though.
03:26Finally, hard currency in any school playground,
03:28the cheesy, bacon-y ration.
03:30I used to love these when I was a kid.
03:34It's corn, but not as we know it.
03:36It's been puffed, it's been blown.
03:39If you look on the back of these,
03:41you've got cheese and bacon flavours,
03:43you've got Enhancers 621, which is MSG,
03:46and you've got milk powders, you've got preservatives.
03:48They look good, they taste good.
03:50Are they good for you? Probably not.
03:52They taste fantastic.
03:54Goddamn rations.
03:59After tasting all those chips,
04:01I find there's two things that they have in common,
04:03crunch and flavour.
04:05Without those, they're not chips.
04:08So my challenge is to make a chip
04:10that retains its nutritional qualities
04:13while still being full of flavour and crunchy.
04:17Sounds like Michael has his work cut out.
04:19Probably crinkle cut.
04:21So to get help with his chip challenge,
04:23he's come to the place where they make the chips
04:25from the ground up.
04:27I want to make a chip out of anything.
04:29I want to make a beetroot chip,
04:31I want to make a parsnip chip,
04:32I want to make a kumara chip,
04:34a carrot chip, a celery chip.
04:36If I can chip it, I'll chip it.
04:38Well, let's see what an expert thinks.
04:40Michael's meeting Bill Coburn
04:42to see how to make the perfect chip.
04:44I'm excited. I've never been this excited about chips.
04:47Well, Michael, you'll be excited to know
04:49how the spuds are peeled.
04:50They will drop into that hopper, then they'll peel.
04:52Woo-hoo!
04:54It's like having Christmases every 30 seconds.
04:57Here they come.
04:59Woo-hoo!
05:00After a quick spot check,
05:01the spuds and Michael continue on their merry way.
05:04Go long, go long, go long, go up, go long.
05:09Go.
05:10Next stop, the slicer.
05:12Don't put your fingers in there, you'll chop them off.
05:14The potato's dropping in.
05:15That's it, slice.
05:16Slice. Just focus there.
05:17Chips are known for being salty,
05:19but at this stage of the process,
05:21it's the sugar that's the problem.
05:23We're going through a hot wash,
05:24so we'll blanch any sugar residues out,
05:27because you don't want brown chips.
05:29What is brown chips? Sugar.
05:31What if I was to use some, say, root vegetables,
05:33like some beetroot, carrots,
05:35or, say, kumara through here?
05:38Um, that would go brown, I think.
05:41Why?
05:42If it's high sugars and you can't blanch it out,
05:45you've got a brown chip.
05:46So it's a disappointing no
05:48to making chips out of root vegetables.
05:50At least Michael can ditch the deep fryer
05:52and bake them instead, right?
05:54Would you consider, like, baking these chips in an oven?
05:57Yeah, but that's what everybody's drawn to,
05:59is that taste.
06:00The combination of the potato and the fish.
06:02So it's a no to baking too, then.
06:06Once the chips have been deep-fried in oil,
06:08they continue down the line to the sorting room...
06:11Oh, that'll go out.
06:12The sorting machine will take that out.
06:13...the flavouring station...
06:16...into the bag...
06:17Look at it. It's still warm.
06:19Yeah, nice.
06:20Not many people get to do this, I tell you.
06:22...then finally into Michael's mouth.
06:24Those are incredible.
06:25Good Highland potato chips.
06:26That's a pretty big ask for me,
06:28to make chips as crispy and as flavoursome
06:31out of my little food truck.
06:32I need to do something that they can't do here.
06:34The worrying part is, you know,
06:35what he said about the burning because of the sugars.
06:39I've got to now go back to my truck
06:41and reproduce something that is quirky,
06:43that is different, that's flavoursome,
06:45that's not burnt.
06:47And above all, has that crisp.
06:49Gourmet chef Michael van der Elzen
06:51is challenging the chip crispability.
06:54And he's taking his healthy take on chips
06:56to serve to the famished families at the Bloom Festival.
06:59But before he does,
07:00he's hitting the kitchen to make his chips
07:03and shake up the potato.
07:04First up, cucumber.
07:06Carrot.
07:07Beetroot.
07:08Finally, parsnip.
07:10Without a potato in sight,
07:12this chip cowboy takes to his guns.
07:14This is ridiculously sharp.
07:16Well, it's a man to learn, actually.
07:18Hello, big little chippies.
07:20After slicing his way through the veggies,
07:22Michael brings out, not a deep fryer,
07:24but a dehydrator.
07:26Bill said that I can't make chips out of root vegetables
07:29because they'll go brown and then burn when I cook them.
07:32But who said I need to cook them?
07:34I'll use this thing because it doesn't cook them,
07:36it dries them out.
07:39You can buy it at any appliance store around 100 bucks.
07:43So the plan is...
07:44Wake up in the morning,
07:46beautiful, crispy chips.
07:52After eight hours of watching chips dry,
07:55Michael's had plenty of time to come up with some more ideas.
07:58So this morning,
07:59he's going to try his chips on some chips off the old block
08:02at a kid's birthday party.
08:04I think the kids are going to be my greatest critics
08:06because they're going to be harsh.
08:07They're going to be real.
08:08They're not going to hold anything back.
08:09They're going to go,
08:10these chips taste great,
08:11or, yuck, these chips are horrible.
08:13Bring it on.
08:19Yee-haw!
08:21It's chip time.
08:22First chip on the chopping block is the classic potato crisp.
08:26But Sheriff Vanda Elzen isn't doing it the conventional
08:29or the convectional way.
08:31Because I've got my cowboy outfit on,
08:33I've got to be a cowboy chef and use a microwave.
08:36Let's do it.
08:38The beauty about using a mandolino
08:40is it will make every single slice exactly the same,
08:43so when they cook,
08:44they will all cook at exactly the same time.
08:46Every cowboy chef should have one.
08:50Spun sliced,
08:51Michael slaps them onto baking paper.
08:53A little touch of salt,
08:54a little touch of white pepper.
08:57More baking paper on top,
08:59then into the microwave on high for seven minutes.
09:02The colour's fantastic.
09:06I am surprised how good these are.
09:08Well, let's get this party started
09:10and see what these tiny taste testers
09:12think of Michael's microwave chips.
09:14These savvy savages could eat Michael alive.
09:17I can!
09:19How are we?
09:20Who wants to try my chips first?
09:22Me, me, me, me.
09:23Here you go, dude.
09:24Dig in.
09:25Let me know what you think.
09:26Be harsh.
09:28Ooh, they have a crunch.
09:32Ah, it's awesome.
09:33OK, so do you find these chips crispy enough?
09:36Yeah.
09:37Can you taste the potatoes?
09:38Yeah.
09:39Are they salty enough?
09:41Some of the chips he could put some more salt on.
09:45Well, it's a yes to crunch,
09:47but a no to flavour for Michael's microwave chips.
09:50Could be worse.
09:51They could have been brown or green.
09:52Hey, next up, I want to make some kale chips.
09:55Beautiful.
09:56Kale is low in calories and full of goodness,
09:59full of nutrients, antioxidants.
10:01After a dash of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt,
10:03Michael pops them in the oven.
10:05175 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes.
10:07Outrageous.
10:08It's hard enough getting your kids to eat greens
10:10as is, let alone eat a chip.
10:12Ten minutes later, they're done.
10:14That's fantastic.
10:15I really want to see what their reaction is
10:17when I put a bowl of these in front of them.
10:19Michael presents the birthday girl with a gift,
10:21a bowl of crunchy greens.
10:23They don't look like chips.
10:24They don't look like chips?
10:25No.
10:26They're crispy like chips.
10:30They're good.
10:31They're good for you.
10:34It's an unlikely bullseye for the kale cowboy
10:36as the kids clean him out.
10:38Oh, my God, they're all gone.
10:40I love them.
10:41I really like the kale chips the best.
10:45It put me off, I thought the chips were green,
10:47but not too long.
10:51I hope the kids aren't setting me up
10:53because from what I saw today,
10:55those kale chips are going through to game day.
10:58Michael's green chips get the green light,
11:00but will the dehydrated veggie chips follow suit?
11:03Just looks fantastic.
11:05All those colours going on.
11:07Will the kids enjoy them?
11:08Here you go.
11:09Try a parsnip.
11:10What would you like?
11:11Here you go.
11:12These are the best vegetable chips I've ever had.
11:15Can I have another one?
11:16Awesome.
11:17Absolutely.
11:18So the kids love kale and vegetables?
11:22They're gross.
11:23Gross?
11:24Yeah.
11:25In what way?
11:26The taste.
11:28Do these need seasoning?
11:30A little bit of salt?
11:31A little bit of salt.
11:33They were a bit too flavourless.
11:35No thanks.
11:36If these kids want flavour,
11:37then Michael's next chip is sure to pack a wallop.
11:41Rations.
11:42I've never made rations before,
11:44but damn, food truck's going to try it.
11:47The kids are going to love them.
11:48But surprise, surprise,
11:49this cowboy isn't cooking his classic corn snack by the book.
11:53So I've brought some breakfast cereal rice bubbles.
11:55Just plain rice bubbles.
11:56No flavourings, no nothing.
11:58Healthier than puffed corn by a long shot.
12:00No disrespect, Corn Flake the Clown,
12:02rice bubbles contain nothing artificial
12:04and a bunch of good stuff.
12:05That's going to be my base.
12:06That's going to be my crisp.
12:08To the ricies, Michael adds baking powder
12:10and for colour, ground turmeric.
12:13Just to give the inside just a little bit of that orange colour
12:15that we recognise.
12:16To bind this loose rice bubble mixture,
12:18Michael adds some whisked egg white.
12:21Then finally a little bit of grated parmesan.
12:25So I'm going to have to kind of press this a little bit
12:27to say that they form a classic shape.
12:30I'm just hoping when it cooks, they don't fall apart.
12:33Into the oven for 15 minutes,
12:34then Michael works on the coating.
12:36I want to make my flavouring the natural way.
12:38No preservatives, no artificial flavourings.
12:41And when you bite into it, I want it to explode.
12:43To make his coating, Michael adds smoked paprika.
12:46This is going to give us our bacon-y, smoky flavour.
12:49To a touch of dried parmesan cheese,
12:52freeze-dried red capsicum,
12:54thyme,
12:55garlic,
12:56rosemary,
12:57white pepper,
12:58salt
12:59and a bit more colourful turmeric.
13:03That's an explosion of flavour there.
13:05I'm excited. I think that's great.
13:06I think that's a winner.
13:08Michael coats his rice puffs in the flavouring
13:10and they're done.
13:12Those are awesome.
13:16Let the flavour showdown begin.
13:19Again, birthday girl,
13:20take that lollipop out of your mouth
13:22and give one of these a whirl.
13:24Dig in.
13:32Did you make these in the food truck?
13:34I made them in the food truck.
13:35Are they healthy?
13:36All natural.
13:40I don't believe you.
13:42Let's call that one a draw.
13:44Michael gets out of Dodge and tries some other kids.
13:47Have a try of these.
13:52Hear that crunch?
13:53Good crunch.
13:55When you see them biting into it,
13:56it's like, man, they're going to lose a tooth.
13:59Too hard?
14:00No, not too hard.
14:01But they loved it.
14:02They were golden nuggets of crispy, flavoursome goodness.
14:08And they need a little bit more salt.
14:10I think the biggest criticism of today
14:12was probably the seasoning.
14:14There wasn't enough flavour on the outside.
14:16The kids wanted more salt.
14:17I need to figure out a way of getting more flavour,
14:20more seasoning onto the outside of those crisps
14:22without having to add more salt
14:24because that's not what I want to do.
14:27So I've got a lot to do.
14:30Chef Michael van der Elzen
14:31is on a crusade to change the common kiwi chippy.
14:34After some honest feedback...
14:36They're gross.
14:37He's got double homework.
14:39They were a bit too flavourless.
14:41This afternoon, he's serving healthy homemade chips
14:44at the Bloom Festival.
14:45So it's an early start to make a mountain of munchies.
14:49The microwave chips worked really well,
14:50but I can't do them in bulk.
14:52So I want to go back to the basics,
14:54use my oven,
14:55I just want to slice my potatoes,
14:57spray them with a little bit of oil,
14:58bake them in the oven.
15:00Beautiful.
15:01And then I want to load flavour onto my chips
15:03without preservatives and without MSG.
15:06Okay, first up,
15:07probably the most classic is salt and vinegar.
15:10But I need to get my vinegar in a powdered form
15:13so it doesn't make my chip all wet and moist.
15:16What I'm going to attempt to do
15:17is make my salt vinegary, basically.
15:21This one's real tricky.
15:23You add vinegar to salt.
15:25Salt is now saturated in the vinegar.
15:27Then, using the cowboy's favourite appliance...
15:30One minute, high power.
15:32It has re-dried the salt.
15:35It's just bang!
15:37Salt, vinegar, chips, that's it.
15:40Next up, my favourite seasoning, chicken.
15:43Michael's roasted some thinly sliced chicken breast for an hour.
15:47Then he grinds the desiccated chicken to a powder.
15:50In goes pounded thyme, rosemary, garlic,
15:53a touch of salt and white pepper.
15:55Mix all that up.
15:59That is damn good.
16:01I am extremely, extremely happy with that.
16:04And really quite proud of that, actually.
16:06Thank you, Michael.
16:08Chuffed with his chicken chip,
16:09Michael plunges himself into the next part of his menu.
16:12It's mad that I didn't think of this before.
16:14Dips!
16:15I want to make three healthy, nutritious dips.
16:18Food trick style.
16:22So, Michael dices some tomato, parsley,
16:26throws in some lentils, slow-roasted garlic.
16:29It all gets a whizz, some seasoning,
16:32and a slug of olive oil.
16:34Simple vegetable dip.
16:36This just has summer written all over it.
16:38Next dip, hummus.
16:40I want to make my hummus better and more nutritious
16:43than what you buy in the supermarket.
16:45To achieve this, sunflower and pumpkin seeds get a roasting,
16:48walnuts go in, and of course, chickpeas.
16:51Plus a favourite food truck zing.
16:53So what I've done is I've taken a lemon,
16:55sliced it in half, roasted it with a little bit of sugar,
16:58and put it into my blender.
17:00After a quick blend and the usual touch of salt, pepper and olive oil,
17:03it's done.
17:04I think we have a dip the food truck can be proud of.
17:06And if that wasn't enough dippy goodness,
17:09Michael's final dip involves a whole cauliflower,
17:11boiled then roasted.
17:13It goes into the blender with two soft-boiled eggs.
17:15Next up, some smoked oil.
17:18This is a natural smoked extract.
17:20It's fantastic stuff.
17:22Then it's a final blast with vegetable stock,
17:25sunflower oil and seasoning.
17:27So this is my smoked cauliflower dip.
17:29Really smooth, flavoursome dip.
17:31I need to have the food truck full of chips.
17:34Chip day.
17:38Packed full of crispy, nutritious chips,
17:41Michael and the food truck head north.
17:43This balloon festival is going to be a fantastic place for me to sell my chips.
17:46You know, it's a family festival.
17:48Mums, dads, kids.
17:50They're expecting 10,000 people.
17:53I hope I've brought enough chips.
17:56It's going to be huge.
17:58Chips, chips, chips, chips, chips, chips, chips, chips.
18:07There's not many people here.
18:09The truck's set up.
18:10I've got loads of chips ready to go.
18:13I've got my potato crisps at $2.
18:16I've got my cheesy rice pasta at $2.
18:18And I've got my vegetable chips with my three dips, $4.
18:21Cheap as chips.
18:23But Michael's guessing that won't be a problem.
18:25I have 300 to 400 portions of chips.
18:27That means that everyone out there needs to come up to the food truck
18:30and buy one packet of chips with me.
18:32Will that happen?
18:34Probably not.
18:36The balloon festival is an alternative family event.
18:39So even if it was pumping,
18:41selling chips at a festival like this might be a tall order.
18:45We don't normally let the kids eat a lot of potato chips.
18:47If we're lucky or done something really good, we'll get a pack.
18:51Michael has a food truck, a cheeky grin, healthy chips,
18:54delectable dips, but no customers.
18:56So he heads out to find some.
18:58That's pretty stiff competition, I must say.
19:00You should come over later on.
19:02Yeah, I will do that.
19:03Buy some chips.
19:04Not sure Jamaican a sale there, Michael.
19:07Resigned to a quiet afternoon of snack shame,
19:10Michael returns to the food truck.
19:12But wait on.
19:14That's outrageous.
19:16Looked up and there's a sea of people.
19:18Fantastic.
19:20It's a miracle for Michael and his truckload of chips.
19:22OK, food truck is open.
19:24We have a queue, which is fantastic.
19:27And the sun's out.
19:28Does it get any better?
19:29It does not.
19:30OK.
19:31What am I selling?
19:32Chips, Michael, and lots of them.
19:34Here you go, dude.
19:35He's off to a cracking start.
19:37It's a crunch.
19:38It's a good crunch.
19:39It's got to be the crunch.
19:42The natural vinegar and sea salt ones are really beautiful.
19:46Everything's going really well.
19:47Potato chips are going well.
19:48Right, some vinegar for you, ma'am.
19:50But are they too chicken to try his natural chicken?
19:53Of course not.
19:54Two lots of your chicken.
19:56Perfect.
19:57Chicken chips.
19:59Nice chicken.
20:00No MSG.
20:01Try it.
20:02Chicken.
20:03Yum.
20:04Even Michael's ration replacement is rushing out the door.
20:06We have one of the cheesy rice puffs.
20:08OK.
20:09Cheesy rice puffs are so good.
20:10Cheesy rice puffs?
20:11Absolutely.
20:12With these sorts of sales, it might be a record-breaking day
20:15for the food truck.
20:16Well, something's breaking anyway.
20:19She really did just lose her tooth.
20:21Maybe the ricies were a bit too crunchy.
20:24Too crunchy and not enough taste.
20:26I had high expectations, but I didn't quite meet it.
20:29It's hard being a one-man munchie machine.
20:32A big thing with snacks is how they're seasoned
20:34and how they're served.
20:35It's killing me.
20:36It's killing me.
20:37Who would have thought making chips is so bloody hard work?
20:40How long have you been waiting, do you think?
20:42Almost an hour.
20:43Serious?
20:44Almost long enough to have made it yourself.
20:46I shouldn't laugh, really.
20:48This is the one time I could have had all my chips bagged up,
20:50ready to go.
20:51Chicken chips, salt and vinegar chips, there you go,
20:53thank you very much.
20:54I underestimated the amount of people
20:56that were going to come through the truck.
21:04Well, for those who did wait, it seemed to be worth it,
21:07especially the undisputed success story of the day.
21:10Veggie chips are going so, so well.
21:13Veggie chips are going so, so well.
21:15Vegetable chips.
21:16Vegetable chips?
21:17Oh, yeah, look at those, look at those, look at those.
21:19Here's your veggies.
21:21You like it?
21:22I knew your kids would like cucumber.
21:24And let's not forget every kid's favourite,
21:26the right out of left field crispy kale.
21:29I like this green stuff, kale, but I ate it all.
21:32And his three dips went down a treat as well.
21:35That's really amazing.
21:37It looks really healthy, but it actually tastes really nice,
21:40which is great for the kids, isn't it?
21:42Yeah.
21:43The veggie chips and dips were a hit.
21:45I think it was a combination of the vegetable chips
21:47and the three dips.
21:48You know, it was a fantastic value for money.
21:50You realise you are getting the last.
21:52Fantastic, well, that's good to know.
21:53I haven't told these people behind you yet.
21:55I ran out of veggie chips, I ran out of everything.
21:57We were swarmed and I just kept on banging out chips
22:01until we sold out.
22:02It was fantastic.
22:03And that's it, I'm throwing the towel.
22:05I've had enough.
22:09Next week, wake up with the food truck
22:11as Michael cooks up big brickies and smoothies.
22:14I want to make a smoothie that will make their wives worry.
22:16I want to make it pink.
22:18He's hoping his cutting-edge recipes
22:20will fit in at the Puhui Axeman Carnival,
22:22but is putting blood on the menu with black pudding muesli bars.
22:26When they bite into them, they'll actually be blurred.
22:28A bridge too far for Kiwis?
22:30I know you want breakfast, come on.
22:32Haven't sold one muesli bar yet, not one.
22:34I've got a lot of muesli bars to sell.
22:36Find out next week on the food truck.
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