OT - Chips

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Wouldn't try that. You need a diesel to run on chip oil.

[Richard Savage]

Mother-in-law had a built-in deep fat fryer, possibly Domino (which I think is made by Neff?). It's long gone and I never saw her use it. Not for health reasons, if her current method of roasting spuds is anything to go by - she uses and re-uses lard for spud roasting!!!

Richard

[Huge]

This thread made me cook proper fried chips for dinner tonight. (Fried in the wok.)

They were brill. I'd forgotten how s**te oven chips are.

[raden]

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Have you checked his drawers?

[raden]

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Well they will all make chips, but some are better than others

horses for courses, as they say

[Mary Fisher]

Daily.

And the cupboards - which is where he keeps his clothes. I mean, he's a man, you wouldn't expect him to put away his own laundered togs would you?

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Where have I heard that before?

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I knew that the one and only time I tried them. As are the standard 'canteen' chips that come out of a plastic sack ready to fry.

For good chips you need good potatoes and good hot oil or fat - depending on preference. Fat will give the most taste.

[nightjar]

What you cook them in affects the flavour. How you cook them affects the crispness. Chips should be twice fried for the best results. About 6-7 minutes at 170C, followed by about 3 minutes at 190C, depending on how brown you want them. The lower start temperature avoids sealing the surface, which, by trapping moisture inside, produces soggy chips.

Colin Bignell

[Mary Fisher]

"nightjar .uk.com>"

I don't know of any oil which doesn't reach 190 - some might nat be GOOD at that heat but they'll all reach it.

Mary

[raden]

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Just run that concept past me one more time ...

[Mary Fisher]

See what I mean ...

Mary

[Derek *]

Yesterday I found myself out buying Sunday Dinner and the store had no potatoes.The car was running a bit sick so I didn't want to to go on anywhere else so I took home a pack of frozen Mc Cains French Fries, (Like Mac D's chips) they cooked very well in about 1 minute in an electric fryer, (deemed to be cooked when the first few chips started to float) and were surprisingly good.

I've heard it said success with chips also depends on how long the potatoes have been stored. Something to do with the starch changing over time. My research so far has been inconclusive except in so far as to note that chips made with new potatoes, when the first large new potatoes come available, aren't much cop.

DG

[to]

going back many years before the "Nanny State", our chippy used lard to fry the chips and fish in.

Never tasted better.

They too used the two fry technique. One to cook them, the other to brown and crisp.

toad, still a svelte 10st 7lb. Never did me any harm.

[David J Rainey]

Hmm. Another instance where Fresh != Best.

I worked in a Pizza shop when I was a student, and the best Pizzas were those that had had about 24 hours to 'prove' in the fridge. You'd take them out and remove the tin seperator and, mmmm, the smell was like uncorking a good bottle of wine. If we had a mad rush on and we needed to make a second dough on the same shift, the resulting pizza tasted like cardboard in comparison.

But we never, ever, froze them. Evil incarnate.

[Andrew McKay]

They also served up in regular newspaper rather than the cleanroom paper as they do now. Somehow I managed to survive, despite being a great lover of chips from the chippy!

Andrew

[N. Thornton]

recipe for a heart attack. Trouble is people dont care.... until they get seriuosly ill, then they wonder what in blue hell they were thinking, but its too late.

Its perfectly poss to make good chips without those risks.

NT

[Owain]

"to@d" wrote | toad, still a svelte 10st 7lb.

10st 7lb isn't svelte if you're only 4' 6"!

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think like everything, in moderation, it won't do you any harm. But not something to have every day.

I've not found roast potatoes any good in oil. Chips can be, though. Personally, I have either boiled potatoes in their jackets, or baked. Less work. ;-)

Chips or roast only once in a while.

[Mary Fisher]

I've made almost all our own bread for 40 years and people come and love the smell of baking. I believe they pump it into supermarket doorways to entice people. But I hate it, I think it's the smell of spoiled alcohol which does it.

When I make a batch of bread I always make some pizza bases and freeze them. Bread of all kind is just as good as fresh if properly thawed.

The chip question is another matter. The F&C wholesalers sell chip whitener, which is a sulphite I believe, to prevent the cut potatoes 'discolouring'. The colour wouldn't matter and wouldn't be seen but 'purity' - even that achieved by chemical additives - is the mantra.

It also means that the chips can be left lying around, uncooked, from one day to the next.

When I worked in a Chinese restaurant I couldn't understand why the chips stayed white from day to day. When I bought something from the F&C wholesalers and was given a catalogue I understood.

I've never eaten commercial fish and chips since - the whitener isn't the only undesirable nasty.

Mary