George crum potato chip inventor biography

George Crum (born George Speck, 1824–1914) was a renowned African American chef who worked at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York during the mid-1800s. According to culinary legend, Crum invented the potato chip during his work at the restaurant.

The Potato Chip Legend 

George Speck was born to parents Abraham Speck and Diana Tull on July 15, 1824. He grew up in upstate New York and, in the 1850s, was hired at Moon's Lake House, a high-end restaurant that catered to wealthy Manhattan families. A regular patron of the restaurant, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, frequently forgot Speck's given surname. This led him to ask waiters to relay various requests to “Crum,” thus giving Speck the name he is now known by. 

According to popular legend, the potato chip was invented when a picky customer (Vanderbilt himself, according to some reports) repeatedly sent back an order of french fries, complaining that they were too thick. Frustrated with the customer’s demands, Crum sought revenge by slicing a batch of potatoes paper-thin, frying them to a crisp, and seasoning them with lots of salt. Surprisingly, the customer loved them. Soon enough, Crum and Moon's Lake House became well-known for their special “Saratoga chips.” 

Disputing the Legend 

Many notable accounts have disputed the story of Crum's culinary innovation. Recipes for frying thin potato slices had already been published in cookbooks by the early 1800s. Additionally, several reports on Crum—including a 19

American cook, guide, and hunter

For the first conductor of the National Ballet of Canada, see George Crum (musician). For the avant garde musician, see George Crumb.

George Speck (also known as George Crum; July 15, 1824 – July 22, 1914) was an American chef.

Speck was born in Saratoga County, New York. He was a member of the Mohawk people. He worked as a hunter, guide and cook in the Adirondack Mountains, becoming noted for his culinary skills after being hired at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs. His specialties included wild meat, especially venison and duck. Speck later left Moon's and opened his own restaurant, Crum's, in nearby Malta. His establishment was popular among wealthy tourists and his reputation spread outside the Adirondacks.

Speck was known for serving thinly sliced fried potatoes at his restaurants, which subsequently became known as "Saratoga chips." The first published recipes for potato chips date from the early 19th century, decades before his career as a chef. However, after Speck's death various newspaper articles and local histories of Saratoga County began to claim him as the "inventor" of potato chips. This myth featured in national advertising campaigns in the 1970s. More detailed versions include claims that he invented potato chips by accident or to appease a difficult customer, often cited as Cornelius Vanderbilt; some accounts also claim that the true inventor was Speck's sister Catherine Wicks.

Early life

Speck was born on July 15, 1824 in Saratoga County in upstate New York. Speck is of African American heritage, he and his sister Catherine

George Crum was born as George Speck in 1822in Saratoga Lake, New York, the son of a Huron Native-American mother and an African-American father who worked as a jockey. He worked for a while as a mountain guide and trapper in the Adirondack Mountains in New York.

In 1853 he became the head chef at the Cary Moon’s Lake House in Lake Saratoga, New York and on one evening set out  preparing the evening dinner for the guests. He intended to make french fries but a guest complained that they were too thick. Annoyed, he prepared another batch and sliced the potatoes extremely thin. After deep frying them in oil he found them very thin and very crisp and after adding salt found that the guests loved them. George began preparing the potatoes this way and they would soon become known as potato chips.

In 1860 George decided to open his own restaurant on Malta Avenue in Saratoga Lake. He featured potato chips as appetizers on each table. The restaurant was very successful and operated for 30 years, closing in 1890. Unfortunately, he never patented the potato chip, nor sought to market them outside of his restaurant. A few years after he retired, however, potato chips were mass marketed by others and would eventually become a six billion dollar a year industry.

George Crum died in 1904 at the age of 92 and left behind the legacy of creating the greatest snack food of all time.

The fine details surrounding the invention of one of the United States' favorite snack foods are somewhat hazy. There are several different claims on how the potato chip was invented, but some evidence shows a man named George Crum, a cook and restaurateur was said to have come up with the idea for the tasty crisp.  

Born by the name of George Speck in 1824 in Saratoga Lake, New York, Crum was the son of an African American father and Native American mother, a member of the Huron tribe. He professionally adopted the name "Crum," as it was the name his father used in his career as a jockey. As a young man, Crum worked as a guide in the Adirondack Mountains and as an Indian trader. Eventually, he came to realize that he possessed exceptional talent in the culinary arts. 

In the summer of 1853, he was working as a chef at Saratoga Springs' elegant Moon Lake Lodge resort, where French-fried potatoes were a favorite on the menu. This preparation for potatoes, in which the tubers are cut lengthwise, lightly fried, and eaten with a fork, is said to have become popular in the 1700s. Thomas Jefferson, having enjoyed them in France during his service as an ambassador to that country, is known to have introduced them to local folks at home and liked to eat and serve them frequently. 

Legend says Crum became agitated when a customer sent his French-fried potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining that they were cut too thickly. Crum reacted by slicing the potatoes as thin as he possibly could, frying them in grease, and sending the crunchy brown chips back out on the guest's plate that way. 

The reaction was unexpected: The guest loved the crisps. In fact, other guests began asking for them as well, and soon Crum's "Saratoga Chips" became one of lodge's most popular treats. 

In 1860, Crum opened his own restaurant, "Crumbs House," near Saratoga Lake where he catered to an upscale clientele. Guests are said to have included