'proper' chips!! argh!

auntynet

If you're using an ordinary pan make sure you use a basket so that that the chips don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Drain the chips well, shaking off any excess water. I add my chips to the oil before the oil gets too hot (this allows the chips to cook through before they brown) and I keep the lid on the pan until I can see that the chips are soft. I then remove the lid and make sure the heat is on full so that they brown nicely.

If all else fails, you could always use Asda Smart Price frozen chips but fry them not oven cook (taste just like home made when fried) - I think they're the best chunky frozen chips on the market and at around 39p a bag, an absolute bargain.

And don't forget that if you only fry chips once in while, you can pass the oil through a fine seive and re-bottle it when its cooled down.

I may not be a chef but I am a decent cook and my men (hubby, son and step son) love my cooking.

Happy frying!!

heavenleigh

Thank you for your replies, do you use oil or lard for cooking? and is there a specific potato that fries best.
Also how small do you need to cut them to make sure they cook through without burning on the outside and being raw in the middle?
Told you i was a dummy lol.

Leigh xx

auntynet

Thickness is all about personal preference. Obviously thin chips will cook quicker than thick ones. I make thick ones and tend to keep the heat on medium until they soften - you can tell by looking at them cos they start to go a bit limp and will go mushy if you shake them too much - then turn up the heat just to brown and crisp them up. If you're not sure then start with chips about 1 cm thick. I always use bottled oil so that I can re-use it as I said earlier and its also so much healthier than lard.

If you really don't know how to cook then it may be worth investing in Delia's How to Cook book one cos she deals with the very basics. You can also get lots of advice on the net if you google the recipes your looking for.

But hey - don't worry if you don't get it right first time, its all about trial and error and personal preference and cooking should be fun and not a chore. :beer:

heavenleigh

auntynet wrote: »

Thickness is all about personal preference. Obviously thin chips will cook quicker than thick ones. I make thick ones and tend to keep the heat on medium until they soften - you can tell by looking at them cos they start to go a bit limp and will go mushy if you shake them too much - then turn up the heat just to brown and crisp them up. If you're not sure then start with chips about 1 cm thick. I always use bottled oil so that I can re-use it as I said earlier and its also so much healthier than lard.

If you really don't know how to cook then it may be worth investing in Delia's How to Cook book one cos she deals with the very basics. You can also get lots of advice on the net if you google the recipes your looking for.

But hey - don't worry if you don't get it right first time, its all about trial and error and personal preference and cooking should be fun and not a chore. :beer:

Thank you so much for your comments. I am a dab hand at cooking most things. I can russle up the most fantastic intricate recipes from scratch but for some unforsaken reason chips evade me.
My parents always used frozen so i think i'll blame them on my short commings :rotfl: .
One day i WILL master the humble chip :T

LEIGH XX

Gingernutmeg

Lots of people advise deep-frying chips twice - once to cook the potatoes and once to crisp them up ... I'm not sure of the 'mechanics' but it's described here.

Ivana_B_Rich

My Mum does the twice frying thing, her chips are fantastic.

Delia Smith says Desiree potatoes make the best chips, but I believe King Edwards and Maris Piper are also good.

hth

kickstart_3

I use oil . At the moment i am just using white pots from the supermarket , nothing special. Size wise , about the size you would get from the chippy, if that helps ? You might be letting your oil get too hot , then putting them in ? Or if you put them in before the oil gets too hot , you might be cooking them on too high a heat (hence raw in middle) I just turn my down a little bit from the highest heat .

peter1943

Hi Leigh

Good potatoes are the way to start, really firm and crisp to cut and chop.

Brand/VarietyFancy name really erelevant.

Once you have cut them make sure you rinse all the starch out, lots of
cold water until it's running clear.

The taste is totally dependent on size, thick cut a more potatoe taste down to mac the donalds "fries" which taste only of whatever oil they have used.


Try a few different lenghts, big fat ones against the skinny offcuts.

Leave them in the water until you are ready and then pat them dry, either in a tea towell or kitchen cloth otherwise you get the "explosion" when water comes into contact with boiling fat.

I cannot stress this strongly enough, I attend fire training regularly and one of the most common causes of house fires is water added to fat, it's frightening, ask your local guys for a demo, your first time reaction will be - that can't happen just because of that, a teaspoon of water into that little pan.

Go see.

However, having said that you must have your fat boiling hot, whisps of smoke, whatever the size of your pan do not put more than a third of oil into it.

A basket is handy so long as you can lower it and it's contents into the fat and watch what goes on, do not ever, ever just dunk the whole lot in, like all cooking, gently does it.

Another tip, if you are not sure of the oil temperature then take one of your chips and dunk it, it should start to sizzle straight away, big time sizzle - too hot, gentle sizzle then ease away with either the basket or a few at a time.

Rotate, shake, dance and keep em moving, give em room. They are a bit like humans, don't like overcrowding.

But like your worst enemy, don't ever turn your back on them.

Ease out the odd one, taste it, you can tell yourself if it's what you want, chippies taste, potatoe taste or straw taste.

Basic secrets,

Good firm potatoes

Rinsed and dried off

Try different thicknesses

One third of your pan brought to smoking fat rule

Do not, do not put them into the pan all at once, the water in the chips will cause the oil to bubble and boil over, ease them in and listen.

You can make soggy chips but that's achieved by putting too many into cold fat!

Not surely your problem?


Drain them thoroughly, you've seen the chippie man, clunk, clunk against the side of the fryer and then he shoots them onto a draining tray.

You could also try a dedicated chip pan, thick based which does'nt respond too much with temperature change and fill that will butchers lard, heat and re-heat for a dozen times or so providing you have some to keep it 'tween cooking.

That helps too, to keep conditions the same.


Peter

sianb84

chips can be made without frying.

Chip the potatoes and then you par boil for 4 minutes (although i never bother). I then spray a dish with fry light but you could just coat the bottom with oil. Put the chips in and i then sray again with fry light so just make sure they are coated in oil - you don't need much just enough to coat the potato. Then bung in the over for 35 minutes - ish.

peter1943

Hi Leigh

Good potatoes are the way to start, really firm and crisp to cut and chop.

Brand/VarietyFancy name really erelevant.

Once you have cut them make sure you rinse all the starch out, lots of
cold water until it's running clear.

The taste is totally dependent on size, thick cut a more potatoe taste down to mac the donalds "fries" which taste only of whatever oil they have used.


Try a few different lenghts, big fat ones against the skinny offcuts.

Leave them in the water until you are ready and then pat them dry, either in a tea towell or kitchen cloth otherwise you get the "explosion" when water comes into contact with boiling fat.

I cannot stress this strongly enough, I attend fire training regularly and one of the most common causes of house fires is water added to fat, it's frightening, ask your local guys for a demo, your first time reaction will be - that can't happen just because of that, a teaspoon of water into that little pan.

Go see.

However, having said that you must have your fat boiling hot, whisps of smoke, whatever the size of your pan do not put more than a third of oil into it.

A basket is handy so long as you can lower it and it's contents into the fat and watch what goes on, do not ever, ever just dunk the whole lot in, like all cooking, gently does it.

Another tip, if you are not sure of the oil temperature then take one of your chips and dunk it, it should start to sizzle straight away, big time sizzle - too hot, gentle sizzle then ease away with either the basket or a few at a time.

Rotate, shake, dance and keep em moving, give em room. They are a bit like humans, don't like overcrowding.

But like your worst enemy, don't ever turn your back on them.

Ease out the odd one, taste it, you can tell yourself if it's what you want, chippies taste, potatoe taste or straw taste.

Basic secrets,

Good firm potatoes

Rinsed and dried off

Try different thicknesses

One third of your pan brought to smoking fat rule

Do not, do not put them into the pan all at once, the water in the chips will cause the oil to bubble and boil over, ease them in and listen.

You can make soggy chips but that's achieved by putting too many into cold fat!

Not surely your problem?


Drain them thoroughly, you've seen the chippie man, clunk, clunk against the side of the fryer and then he shoots them onto a draining tray.

You could also try a dedicated chip pan, thick based which does'nt respond too much with temperature change and fill that will butchers lard, heat and re-heat for a dozen times or so providing you have somewhere to keep it 'tween cooking.

That helps too, to keep conditions the same.


Peter