home cooked chips

[homerbart]

I am pretty good at making my own chips - get the right potatoes and oil however they really become crispy and fluffy inside but by the time i get them to the eater they dont retain the crispiness. what am I doing wrong - ta in advance

[atsgran]

thought I'd let you know that I am hopeless at making chips, afraid I just buy frozen oven chips and fry them as they turn out better if you fry them than putting them in oven I think that anyway, hope you get an answer that will help

[Sachs]

Hi homer - What's the eater?

[homerbart]

hi sachs the eater is the person who eats the chips - ie the eater hahaha..

am afraid i dont like frozen chips - i think they are horrible - bye and thanks for your answers

[Sachs]

Doh! Sorry homer! I part cook them till they are semi soft, let them cool & when everything else is nearly ready, plunge them in the hot fat again till crispy! Works! xxx

[funnygirl]

I do mine like that too!

I cook them once and then let the oil get hot again and plunge the chips back in!!

[puddicat]

The secret to homemade chips is to choose the right spud, either maris piper or king edwards, peel and chip to size and the cover in cold water and leave a while till most of the starch is removed, then tea towel dry and plunge into a medium heat like 160/170 and just cook and not brown,till they are whiote and soft, let them rest meantime cook whatever you are having with them, if you are just having chips put the heat up to max, then plunge in for a couple of minutes,then pull out again while the thermostat gets backs to the max heat then plunge in a gain till you get the colouring u like, drain well and enjoy!!!!!

[Davester]

Do them the Heston Blum way chip em, then boil or steam them for 15 - 20 mins then fry

[puddicat]

no no no chef speakin you want chips you, dont wait around!!!

[Brooksy]

As Puddicat says, "floury" Edwards or Maris Pipers are best. Avoid "new" or salad potatoes. I`ve found 2 good ways to deep fry, both require the chips to be rinsed in cold water first (to remove excess starch) then drained & patted dry with a clean tea towel. Also, after frying, spread on kitchen paper towel to drain after shaking off excess oil.
Method 1: heat oil to 190c (v. hot) cook for 1 min. remove basket, then let oil cool to about 160c (med.hot), cook for 4-5min raise basket again. Raise oil temp back to 190c & cook for 1 to 2 mins until golden brown.
Method 2: Heat oil to about 120c (hot), cook for about 5 mins until tender without colouring,raise basket allow to drain. heat oil to 190c (v. hot) then give about 2 mins to become crisp & golden.
It is all too easy to take one`s eye off the ball & overcook chips, so don`t wander off to cook something else while they`re doing!

[heathfield]

At the end of the day I can't be bothered with all the hassle of making chips from fresh potato, so, like atsgran</B/ I use frozen oven chips, (Aunt Bessies), and deep fry them straight from frozen, half-a-dozen at a time. They only take a minute or two. Cooked chips I keep in the oven in a deep dish lined with a paper towel while seeing to the rest,

Mind you, most people will admit that they love chips from a chippy, and those are never crisp!

[heathfield]

Oops, needed to close the bold. Done it.

[peaweeherman]

'home cooked'

you fool where else are you going to cook them? The train station? Or maybe go get them cookend in the local park tioilets

[Brooksy]

Oh, I forgot to say serve the chips asap on warm to hot plates.If you haven`t got the oven on you can sprinkle water on the plates, pop them in the microwave & give them 2 or 3 X 40 secs, shuffling the plates a couple of times so they warm evenly.

[Rtaxron]

He Davester,

That's not Heston Blum way, I was doing them like that when he was still at school.

Its my way. : - )

[Kleiber]

What I do (much the same as a lot of the others), is dry my chips, then deep fry them for just a few minutes on a low heat. When they're just blanched, drain & dry off on kitchen paper. At this stage, you can freeze them once cooled - they freeze beautifully and will cook up great when you need them. If you want to use them straight away, heat your oil till it's really hot and then deep fry - they'll be lovely & crsip on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Much the same if you're using from frozen, too (defrost first). I also hate oven chips.