We are digging our potatoes. There are over a hundred different ways to cook potatoes, all of which are delicious. The first day of harvest, we simply boiled the potatoes and seasoned with butter and salt. The next day, we pan-fried the potatoes in garlic and duck fat. Tonight, we fried potatoes.

The reason I own a French-style mandolin is so I can fry potatoes. These potatoes are not traditional French-fried or chips, but gaufrettes — or “waffle” potato chips. If you thinly slice a potato and cook in hot oil (360 degrees F), it will brown, but the chip will never be truly crispy. Instead, thinly slice the potato with the waffle-cut attachment on the mandolin (by turning the potato 90 degrees for each slice), and, voila, the potato slice is speckled with tiny holes. These holes enable the hot fat to thoroughly cook the chip and the result is heaven: thin, forever crispy, salty, and potato-y. Waffle chips always ruffle a bit while cooking, which means they are an adorable vehicle for an appetizer — just top each gaufrette with a shrimp and a dab of aioli.

The Japanese-style mandolins do not offer the waffle cutter, since their cuisine coats vegetables in tempura batter. Only the European-style mandolins offer waffle edges.

I’d show you a picture of my gaufrettes, but I ate all of them.