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Original poster

Do you still use a pan filled with oil to fry chips?

169 replies

BatFaceOwl · 01/05/2023 12:52

Or maybe you've got one of those deep fat fryers that would sit on the side filled with rancid old oil (although I'm remembering my grandmas here and maybe they wasn't the norm with them!)

Anyway, with the rise in popularity of air fryers I wondered if anyone still did stuff the 'old fashioned' way?

I've never cooked chips in anything other than the oven or an airfryer

OP posts:
drpet49 · 01/05/2023 13:17

PinkPlantCase · 01/05/2023 13:01

We’ve never done this. We just cook the chips in the oven.

This. My parents never did either.

Swellinyewing · 01/05/2023 13:20

NO air fryer will EVER replicate proper deep fried chips.

ActDottie · 01/05/2023 13:21

We don’t have chips at home, only when we go out, definitely do not own a deep fat fryer!!

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General food
BunnyFun · 01/05/2023 13:22

What temperature do you cook your frozen oven chips at in an air fryer?

RedTulipsSpring · 01/05/2023 13:23

No, but then I never have and we never did as kids.

Needmorelego · 01/05/2023 13:23

@WallabyWay that's why my husband had to cook my fish fingers and chips because I was too scared to do it.
I was scared of the deep fat fryer too as a child - but still gutted when my mum decided oven chips were healthier.

ChirpyChirpyCheepCheepBeep · 01/05/2023 13:26

I have a deep fat fryer and I love it.

Proper chips on a Saturday night. Amazing fresh falafel. Churros (just flour and water). Samosas when I can be bothered. Fried fish.

I wouldn’t be without it!

ChirpyChirpyCheepCheepBeep · 01/05/2023 13:27

A proper deep standalone one I should add…

W0tnow · 01/05/2023 13:31

ComputerInitiateJump · 01/05/2023 13:09

We used to have a chip pan filled with lard. It just sat on the hob. I'm not sure how often the lard was changed. The chips were anazing. I used to help by cutting them using a crinkle cutter. Mum used to chuck sausages in with the chips too. God knows how I'm still alive.

Lard is very stable with multiple uses. It’s the shit these days in restaurants that get nasty after multiple heating and cooling. I never knowingly eat deep fried stuff anymore.

caringcarer · 01/05/2023 13:31

We very rarely have chips but if we do it's oven chips. My MiL is over 80 and still uses the old chip pan on the stove. DH guzzles down her greasy chips when we visit too. I say queasy tummy after travelling so don't have them, she is ok with this because she knows I get travel sick.

tailinthejam · 01/05/2023 13:31

No. We've had oven fries for 35 year, probably. At one point I had a deep fat fryer, but it was such a pain in the neck to clean out it was chucked out decades ago.

CurlewKate · 01/05/2023 13:36

I have a deep fat fryer too. I don't use it very often, but when I do. The results are amazing! Chips, felafel, tempura and doughnuts are our favourite things. I probably don't change the oil as often as I should-but we're all still alive!

TheYearOfSmallThings · 01/05/2023 13:37

I never make chips - if we want them I buy them from the chip shop, where you get a football sized bag for £2.50.

I've had chips from airfryers and they are not good, ever. I would much rather have no chips.

When I was a child most homes around had a deep fat fryer - they did get gross but the chips were decent. My Asian friends still have them because nothing else is as handy and relatively safe for certain dishes.

CurlewKate · 01/05/2023 13:37

@caringcarer "DH guzzles down her greasy chips when we visit too."

Why are they greasy? What a shame-doesn't she have the oil hot enough?

2bazookas · 01/05/2023 13:38

Haven't had a pan of oil for around 40 years.

I hand cut chips from raw potatoes, spread them in a roasting tin, drizzle a TBPS of oil and shake them around to cover, then oven roast in hot oven.

gogohmm · 01/05/2023 13:38

No, we fetch them from the lovely people 3 minutes away who fry them on oil (aka chip shop)

TheKobayashiMaru · 01/05/2023 13:39

No, oven cooked

CarryMeToIreland · 01/05/2023 13:43

We have a Tefal deep fat fryer but when the oil is cool it drains into the storage tank underneath through a filter meaning you can wash (dishwasher) all the parts (except the element) so there is no lingering deep fry smell. It is honestly a game changer. It goes back into the cupboard after use.

No oven chip comes remotely close to deep fried chips. Tried them all. No chip shop remotely near me and I don't want chip shop chips, I want fries with my pulled pork sandwich.

Chewbecca · 01/05/2023 13:50

My mum used to occasionally make chips in a chip pan on the hob, they would bloody delicious.

I've never owned a chip pan, a deep fat fryer or an air fryer. We occasionally have oven chips but it is a quick, easy meal, not a treat meal. Chip shop chips are where I go if I want good chips and they're cheap and easy enough not to consider needing a new appliance.

rwalker · 01/05/2023 13:52

They taste amazing wish I was brave enough to have a proper chip pan

still terrified of them after watching my mum battle to put ours out when it caught fire when were were kids

SirenSays · 01/05/2023 13:55

I wouldn't want a deep fryer as storage would be a pain and the fire risk makes me nervous. My DH does them in a pan sometimes, they're delicious and so much better than oven chips.

Everyone raves about airfryer chips but I don't see why. They just taste like slightly crispy oven chips to me.

RuthTopp · 01/05/2023 13:55

Never had one and my parents didn't either. I think my mum fried chips in small batches in the frying pan.
Mmmm , could eat some deep fried chips right now.

TheChosenTwo · 01/05/2023 13:57

We have a proper deep fat fryer, it gets cleaned out properly between uses (maybe once a month) and lives in the utility back in its box out of the way!
we hate oven chips and never eat them, they taste wrong.
Before buying it we made chips in a pan with a basket but the fryer is better.

LangClegsInSpace · 01/05/2023 14:03

Yes I have a chip pan and no it doesn't sit there with rancid oil in it.

I had been vaguely thinking of getting an air fryer but so many here are saying the chips are not as good so I'll stick with what I know.

We were taught at school back in the 80's how to deep fry safely - a whole class full of 11 y/o making scotch eggs with big pans of hot fat on the stoves! I don't suppose they do that any more.

I think I might have chips tonight now.

LaMarschallin · 01/05/2023 14:06

Occasionally to do triple-cooked chips.
Heston Blumenthal seems to have popularised these now, but my mother always did double-cooked chips (or "chips", as we called them) by cooking them at a lower temperature initially, then finishing them off just before eating in much hotter oil.
I use a deep-fat fryer for various things: croquettas, bhajis, pakoras etc
Don't use it often for health reasons, but if I'm cooking something a bit faffy (especially the tc chips or croquettas), it's nice to end up with the best flavour and texture possible.