Eating Tales

On Wednesday whilst I did the DIY Mark took over in the kitchen! He served up a delicious meal of crispy belly pork, chunky chips, red cabbage and carrots. I’ll let him take it from here!…………

As we have just moved into our new house, I did the typical bloke thing and went to B&Q to buy all the things a typical “Man needs”, the spirit level, drill, all the attachments (you can never have too many attachments for a drill), plenty of paint and some wall plugs and screws to match. Annabel has done a sterling job of making use of them all, as everyone in my family seems to think I am about as useful at DIY as Pete Docherty is at being sober. So I was banished to the kitchen to prepare a feast for the hungry workers.

I have always had a passion for chunky chips. So much so that I even asked the chef at a local restaurant, just how did he get his chunky chips so crunchy…. He lied as all I was left with after using his recipe, was raw starch, drenched in cooking oil. But I was now determined to find out how you make chunky chips, crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. People beware, if you want the chunky chips with a crispy outer shell and a soft fluffy centre, you need to put some effort in. So here comes the recipe:

What you will need

1 large potato per person (I’m still experimenting with the best variety, but please do post if you have an insight.)

About 4 litres of vegetable oil (you can use less if you are using a pan, fill one third full)

A deep fat fryer and a large pan.

A colander

Two baking trays

Some kitchen roll

Method

Firstly peel the potatoes and then wash to remove any excess dirt.

Cut the chips so that they are about three quarters of an inch thick. Try to ensure that they are of similar thickness, so that they will cook evenly.

Place the chips into a ban of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil the chips for about 8 minutes

Meanwhile just as the chips are finishing boiling, fill your sink with ice cold water (please clean the sink first.)

Drain the chips with the colander and put immediately into the iced cold water

Heat the oil using your deep fat fryer or pan (you will need a thermometer if using a pan) to 160 degrees.

Place the enough chips into the frying basket so that they only cover the bottom of the basket, or if using a pan, the base of the pan.

Fry for 3-4 minutes. The chips will not be golden brown but that’s ok. Remove and place on a baking tray lined with kitchen roll.

Complete this until all the chips have been done once.

Repeat the process again. (This is the secret).

Turn the oil up to 190 degrees, and then fry a batch of the chips for about 3-4 minutes again. This will turn the chips golden brown, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Repeat with the remainder of the chips.

Season with salt, but no vinegar as this will make them soggy.

They key to getting the crispiness is the boiling, iced cold water and three times frying. It takes some time, but believe me your DIY professionals will love them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Tags: chips, chunky, chunky-chips, chunky-chips-recipe, crispy-chips, crspy, recipe, Recipes

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 11:42 pm and is filed under English, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.