Chips!

[PrincessChick]

So, as we won't / can't go out for valentines day I've asked dp surreptitiously what his favourite 3 course meal would be. The answer: calamari, decent steak and chunky gastro style triple fried type chips and sticky toffee pudding with banana ice cream. Good steak I can do; sticky toffee pud I can do with my eyes shut. Banana ice cream I'm willing to have a go at. Calamari: not happening as I don't like and I just think it will be a faff (or am I wrong?)!Can anyone recommend an idiot proof recipe or recommend a ready made brand I can tart up somehow (M&S / Waitrose)? My main concern is having a pan of boiling oil and getting distracted. DD is v demanding at the moment so I just need something easy! I don't mind giving it a go but I've looked at a recipe and it looks like cook / freeze / fry / freeze / fry over several hours...

[PrincessChick]

Part of my message disappeared it's the chip recipe I'm looking for, not calamari!

[nilbyname]

Ooh no idea!

Just give him a blowjob and buy oven chips?

[PrincessChick]

ha! Well, if all else fails...!

[notnowImreading]

Youngs frozen calamari is surprisingly nice. It just goes in the oven. Nice with alioli from a jar. I'm all for easy, especially for starters, especially if you don't actually like it yourself.

[Reduction]

Send DH to the chip shop while you do the rest

[BigW]

You can buy really nice frozen chips in the supermarket. I can't remember who makes them, but they're expensive. About £4 for a small bag I think.

[PrincessChick]

Ok, so maybe calamari isn't that hard and a jar of alioli you say...thanks for that notnow It's the beef dripping / goose far type chips rather than chippy chips I'm after. Saying that I could always send him to the chippy. Options. I like options!

[nickymanchester]

To do it properly you really do need a temperature probe - they cost about 12 quid.

Cut potatoes into 2cm thick chips

Heat water in a saucepan to just under boiling and make a brine by adding 15g salt, 10g sugar and a pinch of baking soda per litre of water that you're using.

Put the chips in the saucepan and cook at just under boiling - 90C - for about 25 mins.

Remove from the saucepan and place on a wire rack not touching so that they can cool and dry off - you can speed this up by putting them in the fridge.

Meanwhile, heat up the oil to 130C - this is where the temp. probe comes in handy. You want to use quite a lot of oil so that the temperature doesn't go down too much when you put the chips in.

Deep fry the chips for 8 minutes and then remove and put back on the wire rack to cool and dry.

When cool put them in the freezer and from then on you can treat them just like frozen chips.

When you're ready to make the chips, heat the oil to 190C and deep fry the chips for 3 minutes.



An alternative to this that you might want to try is to buy something like McCain oven chips but deep fry them instead of doing them in the oven. This does actually produce some quite good results as well - certainly much better doing them in the oven

[PrincessChick]

Thanks Nicky. Does it need to be a fancy digital probe or could I use the thermometer that came with our turkey for Xmas?

[nickymanchester]

As long as you can safely use it with the oil - ie you're not getting your fingers too close to the hot oil - then I don't see any reason why you can't use it

[ceeveebee]

I'd just buy posh chips from m&s tbh!

[PrincessChick]

No, I don't think I could get it in and out without burning myself. Hmm. I think it may be the cheat route this time.

[Snowdown]

I just oven bake chipped king Edwards in lard - they are crunchy and delicious - better than M&S or Waitrose.