Smoked Potato Flake Crust

I have returned to my roots.  Well, at least to my smoker.  This weekend I was finally able to smoke potato flakes.  At one point in time I had smoked potato chips in lieu of potato flakes.  The potato flakes are far superior.  The flakes are neutral in flavor and are unseasoned and thus take on the clear flavor of the smoke rather than starting with the base flavor of potato chips and then adding smoke.  I smoked the flakes with hickory wood for an hour and they slowly absorbed the smoke.  I then used these smoked flakes to crust potatoes which we had slow cooked until they were tender.  We then breaded the potatoes with the potatoes and deep fried them.  The flakes became a delicate crisp crust which yielded to the silky potato interior.  The smoke was delicate and bacon like which complemented the confit potato.  We served this potato duet with a red wine and agave glazed beef cheek, succulent spinach and smoked paprika and lemon sour cream.