TL;DR (Quick-Answer Box)
- What it is: Small red new potatoes boiled, pickled overnight in malt vinegar, cold-smoked, smashed + deep-fried until super-crisp, served with a luscious homemade aioli.
- Why you’ll love it: If you love salt + vinegar chips, malty french fries or crispy potatoes, you’ll adore these. They deliver an incredible explosion of tangy, smoky, and salty flavors with a shatteringly crisp texture.
- How to make it: Whisk the oil into an egg-anchovy base to make the aioli. Boil + prick potatoes, soak in malt vinegar, cold smoke, smash them lightly, and deep-fry until golden.
Jump To
Let’s cut to the chase, people: These smoked pickled potatoes are crazy love. They’re the kind of food that you taste just once and can’t get out of your mind. The kind of side dish that makes you hoard some in the kitchen before guests arrive so that every time you “forget” something and have to go back in, they’re patiently waiting for you. The kind of thing that, for just a brief moment, makes you seriously consider eating off guests’ plates when you’re cleaning up.
Yes, these crunchy globettes of smoky tartness are that kind of food.
Why, you ask? They’re just spuds. Potatoes. Batatas. Earth apples. Right? Not quite, my friend. These suckers go through a gauntlet of cooking techniques that render them impossibly irresistible.
Yes, as the title says, they’re pickled. And smoked. But best of all they’re then smashed and…wait for it…wait for it…deep-fried. Yes, deep-fried. All those nooks and crannies get crusty. And the skins, which slip off a bit, become shatteringly crisp and seemingly shellacked. So as you eat these, you first get the crunch, then the earthy smokiness, and just as you’re reaching for another one, a vinegary tickle in the back of your throat. And, of course, the aioli (in which you do not taste the anchovies—really) is the gilding on the lily. Or in this case, on the potatoes.
I can’t take credit for the idea. I first had smoked pickled potatoes when I took my assistant, Annie, to dinner at Community Table in Washington, Connecticut, as a thank you (and as a getaway from playing mommy and wife for a few hours). Community Table is a modern but warm Scandinavian-inflected restaurant on Route 202, where the old Le Bon Coin, the town’s only French restaurant, used to be. In the 17 years that The One and I have been eating all over western Connecticut and hoping for a great meal (and being mightily, mightily disappointed), we were elated when we found CT—what we locals call Community Table. (Get it? CT, Connecticut, Community Table? Clever.)
After our first meal at the restaurant, cooked by head chef Joel Viehland, we rushed back to see if it was a fluke. Thankfully, it wasn’t. Ever since, Joel has continued to best himself.
But it was these smoked pickled potatoes that prompted me for the first time to ask Joel how to make one of his dishes. I simply had to cook them at home.
I’m going to stop here because all I’m doing is getting in the way of you and your future illicit affair with these potatoes. Go and buy potatoes, haul out the smoker (or fashion a jury-rigged one as mentioned in the instructions and in the Testers Choice review), and see for yourself if I am not, indeed, a soothsayer.
Chow,
My interview on NPR about these taters
What can I serve these smoked pickled potatoes with?
Once you’ve made these exquisite smoked pickled potatoes, you’ll find all kinds of ways to serve them. So far—and by “so far,” I really mean the past week or so, as they’re that new to me—I’ve served them alongside Swedish meatballs, salmon, and steak. And they’re going in my rotation as a superior substitute for french fries, potato salad, and chips.
The great thing is you can double the recipe and keep the unfried potatoes in the fridge, and then just pop them in the oil when you’re ready for them.
If refrigerating is your plan, just make sure to smoke the potatoes a little longer—up to 1 1/2 hours or so more—as insurance against the smoke flavor mellowing out with time. A spritz or two of vinegar over the fried potatoes just before serving wouldn’t hurt, either.
More seductive potato recipes
Write a review
If you make these pickled potatoes, or any potato dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Featured Review
My goodness, David, I come back to these potatoes all the time. They haunt my and my children’s dreams. Incredible!
Leigh Reese
Smoked Pickled Potatoes with Aioli
Equipment
- Wood chips, chunks, pellets, or bisquettes for your smoker or smoker box
- Pellet smoker tube if your grill doesn't have a smoking box
- Deep-fry or candy thermometer
Ingredients
For the anchovy aioli
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- pinch of kosher salt
- 6 anchovy fillets, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
For the smoked pickled potatoes
- 2 pounds small red new potatoes, 1 to 1 1/2 inches (25 to 36 mm) in diameter, scrubbed
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 4 cups malt vinegar
- peanut oil, for frying
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Make the anchovy aioli
- Sprinkle the 3 garlic cloves with a pinch of kosher salt, and using the flat side of your knife's blade, rub the salt back and forth into the garlic to make a paste.
- Scrape the garlic and 6 anchovy fillets into a medium bowl and add the 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and 2 large egg yolks. Give the mixture a good whisking until everything is well combined.
- Slowly drizzle a few drops of the 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil into the bowl while whisking vigorously. (Think Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia.) Continue this drop-by-drop drizzling and whisking pas de deux until the mixture is thick and homogenous. You can now add the rest of the oil in a very thin thread, all the while whisking energetically until the aioli is lusciously smooth and light yellow. Season with salt. (The aioli can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Pickle, smoke, and fry the potatoes
- Toss the 2 pounds small red new potatoes in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Add the 1 tablespoon kosher salt, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook gently until tender, 10 to 12 minutes or longer if your potatoes are larger.
- Meanwhile, fill a large bowl halfway with ice and water. When the potatoes are done, drain them and then plop them into the ice water. Let them chill until cooled completely.
- Drain the potatoes again and prick each potato with a toothpick or thin metal skewer numerous times—a couple dozen pricks per potato doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
- Pour the 4 cups malt vinegar into a medium nonreactive bowl and slip in the potatoes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the potatoes hang out on the counter in their pickling bath overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Following the manufacturer's instructions, set up your smoker, smoker box, charcoal grill, or gas grill for cold smoking using wood sawdust, chips, chunks, pellets, or bisquettes.
☞ TESTER TIP:
if you don't have a smoker or smoke a box, consider an inexpensive pellet smoker tube. Voilà, instant cold smoker. - Smoke the potatoes, making sure to keep the temperature under 100°F (38°C), for 1 hour. Since the potatoes are already cooked, you’re just trying to give them that great smoke flavor. Keep an eye on the heat, because if it goes higher, you’ll dry out the potatoes. Remove the spuds from the smoker and blot any moisture from their skins. You can refrigerate the potatoes for several hours or you can immediately move on to the best part of this recipe, which is the frying.
- Pour enough peanut oil into a heavy pot so that it reaches a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil to 375°F (190°C) using a deep-fry or candy or instant-read thermometer to monitor the temperature. While the oil is heating, place the potatoes on a flat work surface and smash them with the palm of your hand just until they crack—you don't want to completely flatten the potatoes, but you do want to use enough pressure to burst the skins and create nooks and crevices.
- Fry the potatoes in batches, making sure the heat never dips below 350°F (180°C), until the potatoes are golden brown and any loose skins that have pulled away from the potato are marvelously burnished and translucent, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to paper towels to drain and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve the spuds pronto alongside plenty of the aioli.
An LC Original
View More Original RecipesExplore More with AI
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Did you know only 68% of the recipes we test make it onto the site? This recipe survived our rigorous blind testing process by multiple home cooks. It earned the Leite’s Culinaria stamp of approval—and the testers’ reviews below prove it.
When you see this recipe, you may think, like me, that there’s a lot going on here. You may even wonder, “Can this REALLY work?” Let me just say…ABSOLUTELY!
I used mini red potatoes called Enchanted Rose. I boiled them until they were JUST fork-tender, which took about 25 minutes. Then I put them in an ice bath. After about 8 minutes, I drained the potatoes, and I punctured each one deeply with a toothpick between 20 and 25 times. I put the potatoes in a medium bowl and poured over about 30 ounces malt vinegar—for me it was enough to cover them by an inch–and refrigerated them overnight.
The next morning, I created a cold smoking chamber from a cardboard box and a wire cooling rack set in a rimmed cookie sheet. I simply connected it to my bullet smoker with tubing. Too much heat while smoking will dry out the potatoes, so you really need the cold smoke with as little heat as possible. I pulled the pickled potatoes directly from the refrigerator and put them in the smoking chamber, which was already filled with smoke. I smoked them with a mixture of peach and applewood for exactly 1 hour. The potatoes took the smoke VERY well. I refrigerated them for nearly 5 hours, and when I removed them, the smoke taste was still very strong.
Next, you want to smash each potato between your palms. Don’t be afraid to apply a little pressure so as to expose a bit of the potato beneath the skin. I fried the potatoes in 3 batches—don’t overload your oil because you want the potatoes to crisp up quickly and nicely. Each batch took a little more than 7 minutes at 375ºF, which means I completed the frying in just over 20 minutes.
I made the simple aioli sauce with a fruity extra-virgin olive oil, a pinch of white pepper, and, finally, the anchovy fillets smashed to a fine paste with the blade of my knife.
At first glance, this recipe may seem daunting, but trust me, it’s really VERY simple. By boiling and pickling the potatoes the evening before, smoking the next day and then frying the potatoes and taking 5 minutes to prepare the aioli, you will end up with a WONDERFUL, FLAVORFUL dish that has a little bit of everything. I was taken by the fact that I could taste the smoke, the malt vinegar, the aioli sauce, AND the fried potato.
Want to save this?
I'll email this to you, so you can come back to it later. Booyah!
This recipe is awesome, I make this when I go camping over a wood fire and I think that gives it an extra kick, very tasty recipe.
Thanks, Andy! I’m so delighted you and yours love these as much as we do.
Have you considered just adding liquid smoke to the pickling brine? That what I do for eggs and it tastes great!
William, never crossed my mind. I’ll have to try it this summer!
David, can I store your version of pickled potatoes for an indefinite period (after preserving), then smoke and fry as and when required? Seems a pity to undertake in small batches when pickled potatoes can be preserved. Just wondering what your thoughts are and any suggestions on what wood or chips I could use in Australia? Our main wood is eucalyptus, jarrah and pine.
Maureen, the pickling is just to add flavor, not to preserve them, so I wouldn’t hold them indefinitely. I think they would take on too much of a sour flavor. These potatoes have just a hint of vinegar. As far as wood, I wouldn’t use pine. Pine is a soft wood that causes a lot of soot and smoke and can be dangerous to your health. I’m not sure about the other two, as I have never used them. Can you ask a local restaurant what they use to smoke meats?
I certainly will, many thanks for your input. I will try the homemade smoking box and will visit a wood yard to seek alternative wood chips. Digging up the spuds next week……stay tuned.
Best oh luck, Maureen. Perhaps this can help you. Going to a wood yard for food use sounds ominous!
Going to use ironbark as it is readily available and will source apple wood. Wood yards or garden centres in Oz sell wood chips. Thanks for the link David, it is very helpful.
Does this really indicate to soak potatoes in 100% malt vinegar rather than a more dilute pickling brine?? 948 ml, really? Thx
Tom, it does indeed! 100% malt vinegar, which is milder than other kinds of vinegar. Also, the skin prevents then from becoming pickle bombs.
Maureen – any of the conifers (needle type leaves) are a no-no generally for smoking. Same thing for any treated woods or construction lumber. Try a sporting goods or major retailer for BBQ wood chips. Fruit woods are great, hickory and mesquite are pretty strong, pecan would probably be okay. Sugar Maple would likely work too. Light smoke is better than heavy smoke – you don’t want it billowing out in great clouds.
As mentioned above – cool items take smoke better – any item over 140F internal tends to not take smoke. So out of the fridge and smoke gently at low or no heat should do the trick.