View Full Version : Homemade chips?
I'm doing moules frites tomorrow in honour of the Belgian grand prix and want to make proper homemade chips. I normally just make some oven-roasted potato wedges, but I fancy having a go at deep frying them.
I don't have a deep fat fryer or anything, so it'll just be a saucepan and some cooking oil.
Does anyone make homemade chips at all? Any hints/tips? I don't particularly want to burn the house down :p
never made them. But never leave a fat pan on heat on it's own.
Have you got a jam or other suitable cooking thermometer?
The idea is to cook the chips for about 5 minutes on a low heat they should not fizz. Until Tender, remove and allow to totally cool. Then whack the heat up and fry till golden.
Where did you get your mussles from? and do you get them pre cleaned?
I've cooked them once and the whole faffing about cleaning and soaking them. Is such hard work. Would; love to cook them again. but would want them pre cleaned.
Double cooking FTW. Cook once to actually cook the chips then again (at a really high temperature) to make them crispy.
Doing them in a saucepan is fine. After you've cut the potatoes soak them in cold water to remove the excess starch then dry and cook.
Then eat!
Streeteh
29-08-2009, 19:11
AcidHells' suggestion of using a jam thermometer is right on the money, makes the job a hell of a lot easier and ultimately safer.
Hmm, better go out and get myself a thermometer tomorrow then. There's a good cook shop in the town nearby. The twice cooked method sounds good to me.
I've been thinking of investing in a fryer, but only want a very small one as it'll be for small quantities like bhajias, samosas, tempura prawns etc. I've found a 1 litre one that will fit nicely in the cupboard at Lakeland Plastics so I'll probably order it next week. We don't eat any deep fried stuff really, but I do find myself avoiding recipes if things are deep fried simply because the safety aspect worries me.
AH2 - Morissons do a vac-pac of fresh live mussels, which I find much better than buying them in a net bag from the fish counter as you get a lot of dead ones that way. They're not cleaned, but I don't find it much of a faff really. I just rinse them and then cut off the beards. The annoying part for me is telling whether they're alive or not. They're really sleepy when you get them out of the fridge so you need to bring them up to room temperature or none of them will close. Then it takes some whacking to get some of them to shut. Little sods! Had mussels last week too actually, but only as a substitute because there weren't any clams or squid.
leowyatt
29-08-2009, 20:51
One method I've got in my head from somewhere is to par boil them for about 10 minutes then stick them in the fryer to brown them off :)
The two cook method is the one I've always done though, but don't cook chips that often.
I'm no expert on home made chips but when I was down at the Fat Duck at the start of the year, I got to say that triple cooked chips are the best. Now I have a fairly unforgiving 7 year old where food is concerned, if it's good he will tell me and if it's bad then he can be brutally honest.
So I have cooked the triple cooked chips a few times at home. Ground nut oil makes all the difference. Here is the recipe I use http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/beerbatteredcodwitht_91283.shtml
Mmm nice recipe Loki! Will have to give that one a try :)
I'll be making fries rather than chips because they don't have chunky British chips on the continent, so I think I'll give the boiling a miss this time because it'll be too much for them. However, I'll follow the preparation, 2nd & 3rd steps to the letter and see how they turn out. I have some groundnut oil from the Indian I cooked last week.
I've found a small deep fat fryer in Argos for £12 that get a reasonable review, so I'm off to get that later today. I'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing that the temperature is controlled.
Thanks for all the tips guys :)
Knipples
30-08-2009, 09:03
Make sure you dont forget to go and buy the oil on the way back :)
You can get a bottle of oil specifically for deep fat fryers which is designed to be reused, otherwise you need so much its an awful waste.
MMMMMmmmm grand prix and home-made moules frites...
I forgot to say that I had moules frites when I was in Paris a week or so ago. They were totally nomtastic. Even more so because I ordered them with roquefort sauce.
I've never bothered to buy a deep fat fryer, I think in the 7.5 years I've lived here it would have been used maybe twice but if you can get them for £12 I may as well get one and keep in the back of the cupboard for the very odd occasion I'd use it.
Stan_Lite
30-08-2009, 09:12
I don't have chips very often nowadays and haven't cooked them for ages but I always found the double fry method best. Remember to let them cool down in between fryings. Also, when I used to cook them, I would always use lard - chips taste so much better fried in lard.
I would always use lard
Spoken like a true Scotchman :) But yes, they do taste better when cooked in lard.
Stan_Lite
30-08-2009, 09:19
Spoken like a true Scotchman :) But yes, they do taste better when cooked in lard.
I never did get round to attempting to deep fry lard - must try that.
I forgot to say that I had moules frites when I was in Paris a week or so ago. They were totally nomtastic. Even more so because I ordered them with roquefort sauce.
I've never bothered to buy a deep fat fryer, I think in the 7.5 years I've lived here it would have been used maybe twice but if you can get them for £12 I may as well get one and keep in the back of the cupboard for the very odd occasion I'd use it.
Mmmm roquefort sauce sounds absolutely divine!! I re-discovered my love for roquefort when we went to France in June. I think we had it just about every day, melted inside half a pepper on the BBQ. MMmmm!
My thoughts were exactly the same on the fryer. It means I can try the likes of tempura prawns, onion bhajis and deep-fried mars bars (OK, maybe not the last one :p) without worrying about a chip pan fire :D
Stan_Lite
30-08-2009, 09:38
I adore Roquefort - one of my favourite cheeses. Unfortunately, I can't buy it just now while I'm trying to lose weight. If I open the pack, it won't go back in the fridge :o
Knipples
30-08-2009, 09:39
Um, the day you do the mars bars, can I come round to play please? :D
Stan_Lite
30-08-2009, 09:41
Um, the day you do the mars bars, can I come round to play please? :D
The thought of deep fried Mars bars sickens me (must be the Viking in me) but you're welcome to come round and play any time you feel like it ;)
Knipples
30-08-2009, 09:46
The thought of deep fried Mars bars sickens me (must be the Viking in me) but you're welcome to come round and play any time you feel like it ;)
Its just one of those things i've never tried, and part of me has always wanted to :o
I think you might have to fight Kelly for me though, if I did come round to play :p
It sickens me too, but you can still come round to play when I'm not making them :p
The thought of deep fried Mars bars sickens me
The actual taste of one sickened me more than the thought. I tried one when I was in Edinburgh a few years ago. Disgusting.
leowyatt
30-08-2009, 09:48
I love Mars Bars too much to even consider trying one :(
To be quite honest, i'd be more concerned using a £12 frier than a pan of oil.
Knipples
30-08-2009, 09:52
Why? Theyre perfectly safe, they have a lid and (in the one I haves case) a cut off switch if the thermostat gets too warm.
A pan of oil on a hob has nothing like that, and would just keep going and going.
I havent used it for a while but I would still trust it more than just a pan.
I'd just be concerned about the quality aspect of a frier than can be knocked out for £12 a go, including profit margin.
I'd much rather be in control of a pan myself than be relying on some electronics that was built in a dodgy factory in Korea for a couple of quid. Perhaps that's just me.
The only frier i've ever used was a £150 sort of job a couple of years ago. It was ok but it was pretty small, so you couldn't really cook much in it.
Like Knip says, it's got a thermostat and a cut off switch, which is much more than a lowly frying pan has. There's actually only 1 fryer on the Argos website which is over £100 and that's the Tefal Actifry... which was on Watchdog a few months ago for catching fire! Money and quality don't always go hand in hand.
Anyway, got all the ingredients now so I'll get cracking later on. Had a bit of a panic when neither Morissons or Tesco had any mussels, but Leon drove me to another (much bigger) Tesco which had plenty so all is well :D Just deciding whether to bother making any bread to go with it.
I found a Gordon Ramsay recipe (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3856/moules-frites-) which I'm going to use. Still deciding whether to use a 1 or 2 cook method as the chips are going to be more like fries.
Have a damp tea towel and fire extinguisher at the ready. ;)
Would have done anyway. I'm not about to go and leave a chip pan unattended, no matter how expensive it is!
Flibster
30-08-2009, 16:25
Heston's triple cooked chips for me.
They rock.
I've found a small deep fat fryer in Argos for £12 that get a reasonable review, so I'm off to get that later today. I'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing that the temperature is controlled.
Linky please. £12 I may just have to get that.
Pictures are once again mandatory Kate... :)
Knipples
30-08-2009, 16:34
/\ /\ /\ This! Yeah and ignore the Victor Meldrews trying to take the fun out of it, :p
My parents have been using a chip pan all my life and we've yet to have anything catch fire. :) Mind you, they've never been daft enough to leave it unattended either!
Linky please. £12 I may just have to get that.
Couldn't possibly. Far too dangerous :p
oh go on then (http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4227937/Trail/searchtext%3EFRYER.htm)
It's absolutely minute mind. Perfect for what I need it for though :)
What lostkat said, especially in the case of the Tefal ActiFry. While the adage 'you get what you pay for' is generally true, it does not equate to quality - in fact, it may equate to more parts that can go wrong. In the case of the Tefal, it was as simple as a fan failure.
My parents left their chip pan on overnight once. It didn't catch fire. How it didn't, I'll never know but boy were they lucky - they haven't had one since.
Couldn't possibly. Far too dangerous :p
oh go on then (http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4227937/Trail/searchtext%3EFRYER.htm)
It's absolutely minute mind. Perfect for what I need it for though :)
Thanks, that looks awesome if your only cooking for 1 or 2 people.
Knipples
30-08-2009, 17:22
*Raises her hand and offers to sample AH2's cooking* :p
*raises both hands*
That's what I thought too AH2 :)
My mum had a chip pan but she'd never ever leave it unattended. I always remember roughly how she cooked them...
Cut the chips, then wrap them up in a tea-towel for a while, I think this was to draw the moisture out.
Cook for a few minutes then increase the heat, dry them off again and then cook again until they're crispy and golden.
Isn't it strange how things stick in ones memory.
Proper chips though, not fries :)
Well I did them the way Gordon suggested and only cooked them once. They were quite thin so I don't think they needed to be done twice. A good tip he gave (similar to Feek's) is to drain them, put in a tea towel and wang it around your head in the garden to get all the water out. Works a treat :D If I was doing proper chips, I'd do them twice like everyone's suggested :)
Anyway, the verdict was 'MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM'. It was absolutely bloody lovely!
I made some bread & homemade mayo to go with it. Leon asked for mayo cos it's all continental innit, so I decided I'd have a go at my own because we'd had some in La Rochelle with our fruits de mer and it was stunning. Much nicer than Hellmanns. My first batch failed (think it was because I was doing such a small amount and trying to make it in a blender). Tried again using a hand whisk and it was perfecto :)
Anyway, pics:
Frites frying away. Cracking little fryer by the way!!
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites01.jpg
Draining the mussels before I finished off the sauce with some creme fraiche and parsley
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites02.jpg
Garlic & rosemary bread
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites03.jpg
Chips keeping warm in t'oven
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites04.jpg
The finished grub. YUM!!!
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites05.jpg
Strange angle of finished grub.
http://www.lostkat.co.uk/moulesfrites07.jpg
Knipples
30-08-2009, 22:22
Wow! Looks amazing, I wanna come to your house for tea now! :D
Too late, teatime was about an hour ago :p
Knipples
30-08-2009, 22:29
Tomorrow then? ;)
I might actually make some bread tomorrow, you've inspired me, is that recipe anywhere?
It's ingrained in my skull because I make it so often :p
1/2 tsp yeast
300g strong white bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
170ml warm water
Mix ingredients together to form a dough and knead for 10 mins until smooth & elastic (I let the breadmaker do this for me as I'm lazy). Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 mins. Roll into a rectangle (30x20ish) and place on an oiled baking tray. Poke dents in it with your fingers.
Slice a couple of cloves of garlic and poke them into the bread. Poke some sprigs of rosemary into it and then season with salt & pepper. Drizzle with some olive oil then cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 1/2 hr.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at GM6 for 20-25 mins. Tear into chunks and eat whilst warm :D
*drools* Never had moules frites and so want to try it..
SidewinderINC
31-08-2009, 09:36
That looks delicious!
One of my favourite and easiest meals to cook is Thai Green Mussel curry.
Need 3kg of fresh mussels to serve 3 people though.
That looks good! Might need to try that at some point!
I don't own a fryer but make homemade chips in the oven. After cutting them into chip shapes I par boil them in a pan for 5 minutes. Then I dip them in olive oil and put them in a baking tray and stick them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Yeah I normally parboil and put them in the oven with some chilli flakes on them. Wanted to be authentic with this one though :)
Sidey - 1 kg per person?? Jesus christ!!!! :D
SidewinderINC
31-08-2009, 17:24
Sidey - 1 kg per person?? Jesus christ!!!! :D
Yeah, I don't do mussels by halves :p
Got the recipe online, but inspired by this place
http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/
LOVE Belgos!!! Mmmmmmmmmmm!
:D
Kate - will you marry me? Leon is far too spoilt with good food!!!
BB x
Mmmmmmoules. Everytime I go home I always have them at least once! :)
OMG, Belgos looks fantastic :D I'm saddened that Poirot, Jean Claude Van Damme & TinTin all come above chocolate in the "Top 10 Belgian Things". That's WRONG!
MeiMei - Yes, of course I will. Only if you cook me a cheesecake though :p
I've not been to Belgo for aaaaaaages! I shall be in London town in the not too distant future for work so that's dinner one night sorted :D
They don't have them oop Narth :(
Then you must come to Londinium!
MeiMei - Yes, of course I will. Only if you cook me a cheesecake though :p
That's a done deal then :D
I've not been to Belgo for aaaaaaages! I shall be in London town in the not too distant future for work so that's dinner one night sorted :D
Let me know and I'll meet you there lol.
BB x
SidewinderINC
01-09-2009, 18:27
Let me know and I'll meet you there lol.
BB x
Make it a table for at least 3 :p
Knipples
01-09-2009, 18:34
That restaurant sounds fab! :D
SidewinderINC
01-09-2009, 18:38
My friend Dan is at Belgo Noord right now :( he's off to see Harptallica at one of the camden venues, so that's dinner and beers sorted.
However we did spend over £100 on 3 of us in under an hour there last time.
Make it a table for at least 3 :p
:D
I had a chicken in mushroom and white wine sauce and frites last time I was there, was on the beat the clock menu... so slickly and creamy but SOOOOOO goooood! :D
BB x
Let me know and I'll meet you there lol.
I'd already planned to drop you a line when I know when I'll be in London town :)
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