Goodbye Mr Chips

A great film and I enjoyed the remake with Martin Clunes too!

So how do you do your chips?  I detest oven chips with a vengeance and have had my fair fill of the frozen ones you get in most pubs; even so called gastropubs which should know better!

I always cook mine twice as I feel that gives the best balance of a lovely soft and mushy centre with a gorgeously crisp skin.  I know that the Hestonites (to be honest I'm one of those anyway) will advocate cooking them three or four times to achieve perfection but life's to short when you feel the need to crunch something smothered in salt and vinegar!

I always cut mine fairly chunky.  This purports to be for health reasons as the greater surface area means less fat and more potato but when the plates are piled as high as they are in this house I think that negates any claim to a healthy diet!  I just prefer chunky chips.

I fry them in a sort of wok type pan I have which is deep and wide enough for the job.  Into the pan goes a couple of bottles of vegetable oil and this is put on a very low heat.  The chips go in straight away as my first process is going to be more of a hot poach than a fry to gently cook them though for the softness I want in the middle.  Don't stir them too much in case they start to break up.  Just move them about now and again to make sure they don't stick together.

This is about as much of a bubble as I want for the first cook!

I cook them like this for as long as it takes to soften the chips right through; usually about 20 minutes.  At this stage I don't want any colour at all, though, hence the gentle heat.

Once soft they're out and drained and the heat is whacked up for the final frying.  The first stage can be done well in advance.  The secret is to have the heat up and the oil nice and hot and also not to overcrowd the pan so the chips have room to move about as you stir them round.  You've all seen chips being done at the chippy...it's exactly the same process at a fraction of the cost!  Keep the chips moving in the hot oil so they all cook evenly and don't stick together.  If you've been bold and whacked the heat up sufficiently they won't anyway.

Needless to say...don't leave the pan unattended at any time!

I like my chips well and truly crispy so go for much more colour than you would normally get from a chip shop.  This is all down to taste, though.  The chips will have been cooked through from the first frying so all you're doing now is crisping them up to exactly how you like them.

Once fried how you want them it's out into a colander lined with kitchen roll to drain.  At this point I add sea salt and vinegar so the salt sticks to the lovely hot chips.  I always add more anyway at the table but it's good to get some seasoning done at this stage.

Tonight it's onto plates with some fresh eggs and the ham from yesterday.  Delicious!

Don't forget to recycle your oil.  When cool I filter mine back into the original plastic bottles and re-use it time after time; until it becomes too dark and full flavoured.  You only lose a little each time so it's good economy.