CHIPS. The big question.

Straight cut, cooked in beef dripping.

 

Eric Estrada was the better one. Loved it, ITV Saturday tea time. Steet Hawk and Air Wolf too!!!

 

Straight cut, cooked in a chip pan. Salt and mayonnaise

 

Bit like Brush's method start low temperature and then increase. but you do them in two stages
Stage 1
You 'blanche' 'em first...i.e. cook at a low temperature around 110C 'til they are cooked -softened- but soggy. You can either freeze 'em for later or go to ..
Stage 2
Remove from fryer turn it up to 190C and when temperature is reached you put 'em back in to brown and crisp. If you have a small fryer and the temperature drops too much when you have put 'em back in remove again until fryer is backup to 190C and repeat. Many restaurants that cook to order have small fryers so the twice cooked method is standard. Fish 'n chips shops only need to fry once since the fryers are very large so dropping a bucket of raw chips in to fry doesn't lower the temperature enough to make 'em go soggy. Three other things....
1Potato varieties are important. Old potatoes are best as they have less water content. Maris Piper are among the best but years ago before they came along the 'go to' potato for chippies were 'King Edwards' Cut potatoes into chips at least an hour.
2Before cooking and put in hot water as this removes starch and (some other chemical I can't remember the name of ) dry before putting in the fryer and you get crisper chips.
3Beef dripping is best as it a) maintains its higher frying temperature better than vegetable oil and b) does not convert to those harmful carcinogenic fats after a few uses like vegetable oil does and the higher temperatures mean the potato does not absorb as much fat.(tastes better too but does smell vile after a few uses even when it makes fish 'n chips taste great.
I have a 4 litre fryer exclusively used for for Fish n Chip Friday at out house with Beef dripping (top up packs kept in freezer) and a three litre one for normal frying with sunflower oil which needs changing regularly. I filter the beef dripping from time to time whilst it is still warm (it sets solid when cool) and top it up. It hardly ever needs changing and in fact 'improves' making Fish n Chips taste really authentic.
The reason I know all this is because when I was 10 and lived in Blackpool I was 'tutored' by a local chip shop owner who made great F&C after I asked why his were so good. MY late step mother had also worked in a F&C shop and used to make good home made ones from time to time.

 

From the chippy

In beef dripping

from a bag

*mike drop*

 

Absolutely.. No chippies in these here parts though...in spite of the fact legend has it that Fish & chips first came together in UK from an Italian(pretty sure that isn't true BTW), hence I go to extraordinary lengths e.g. (commercial packs of beef dripping stored in freezer (sourced from Netherlands since UK supplies -meat products- now banned post Brexit) The good news is there is a local seafood place that gets fantastic Icelandic Cod albeit frozen although all deep sea Cod and Haddock is frozen on factory ships anyway. Whilst I prefer Haddock which tends to keep its flavour longer than Cod you cannot get it here. Nevertheless, very Fresh Cod is damn good. We get split green peas from the Halal shop in kilo bags which make good mushy Peas . The only downer is we ran out of Sarsons as our UK friends that bring us some are stuck in UK so currently we have to resort to wine vinegar as a substitute for malt vinegar-
P.S My wife once asked me what my final meal would be if I was a condemned man... It would have to be F & C with Mushy peas bread and butter from Inghams in Filey!

 

A gap in the market for you maybe !

 

They are rare but some do them. Darn's in Summer Lane. A top crinkle cut chip!

 

heathens.

 

Tony's chippys not bad either, half the price too

 

Careful now. My Mam used to work there for many years

 

Whetherby whaler in Wakey are the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.

 

The best chips I’ve ever had were in Amsterdam, from a place called Chipsy King.

They only sold straight cut chips, nothing else. Except for about 8 different sauces. That had been thrice cooked. Crispy, fluffy potato... very nice.

They had a similar shop in york called king chip, but it closed the year before last...

 

She deserves a medal. And a title. The Queen of Crinkle Cut.

 

Used to go there when I was in college. If you just ordered fish, they also gave you a small amount of chips for free... I once asked why and the guy says, who wants fish without chips? Only people who can’t eat a portion or can’t afford a portion. So everyone likes a few chips scattered on! To be fair, it kept me going there for years, until I moved too far away.

 

That'll have been my Mam who served there for many years. Never likes to see people without dunt my Mam, bless her

 

Broadening it out,
Salt n vinegar plus/or gravy, curry sauce, tomato sauce, brown sauce ? ( refuse to accept mayo that's just wrong!) or any other (possibly weird) personal tastes?

 

All. Except curry sauce . It's wrong on every level known to man.

 

When at home, brown sauce on. Frum chippy, salt and vinegar - then if I take them home still put brown sauce on

 

Best chippy I have ever been to is the broomhead friery in s10 Sheffield, crookes. And I have tried a lot....

bloke opens for about 2 hours a day and that’s it, everything cooked in beef dripping. Unbelievably good.