Triple Cooked Chips
How can you have a fat steak without chips? Well I struggle to, so here is my recipe carefully cultivated over many years and many potatoes. It really is worth the slight extra hassle…
Step 1 - Prepare the spuds
Peel the potatoes and cut into chips around 2 cm cross section
Top tip: I get the best results with Maris Piper potatoes which are widely available. Red potatoes can work well but don’t get as crispy
Step 2 - Cook them once
Put the chips into a large pan of boiling salted water - there should be plenty of space
Top tip: I sometimes add a tablespoon of glucose and a teaspoon or bicarbonate of soda to the water to help mimic the chemistry of the spud itself - this can enhance the potato flavourTake them off the heat just as the first of the chips is starting to fall apart and drain in a colander
The aim now is to cool the chips down completely so starch begins to crystallise on the surface (a white powdery coating). This helps generate a crispy coating
I have been known to be over the top cooling mine…
Step 3 - Cook them twice
Heat your deep fat fryer to 130C
Fry the cooled chips until they look dry and haven’t taken on too much colour (approx 10 min)
Again leave the chips to cool down
Top tip: at this stage you can put the chips in a sealed bag in the freezer until you need them, carrying out step 3 straight from the freezer. An effortless way to impress people with no apparent effort. For this reason I always do an extra batch for the freezer!
Step 4 - Cook them thrice
Heat the deep fat fryer to 190C and return the chips to the hot oil
The chips will quickly brown and crisp up. Remove when to your liking (approx 4 min)
Serve immediately with plenty of salt and quite probably a steak
Ingredients
Good, large potatoes - roughly one per serving
Vegetable oil for the deep fat fryer
I trained as a chemist, and now I don't work in a laboratory anymore, I apply that knowledge to my cooking. I do love my gadgets, experimenting and using an understanding of the principles of chemistry to make the very best food. I seem to cook more and more as a hobby now I don't wear a lab coat, and still dream of retiring to run a small restaurant somewhere quiet.
My confidence really came when I taught myself to cook Italian and found I was pretty good at making pasta. I was married to a vegetarian then and it was the one cuisine where I didn't miss meat. I'm big on meat usually and passionate about great ingredients and doing things from scratch yourself. I did a butchery course last year and intend to learn all the skills needed to butcher and make use of a whole pig nose to tail.
Eating out is also a passion, and I particularly like to go for things I don't think I could do at home easily or better! Mind you, I do love a pie.