Here we are talking about chips, as in deep-fried double or even triple-cooked thick-cut British-style potato chips. French fries are thin-cut continental-style chips. Neither am I talking about potato crisps – again outside the UK – known as potato chips. Confusing I know.
Chips are a British institution with Brits working their way through half a billion meals containing homemade chips each year.
This recipe by Jamie Oliver makes the best chips ever!
Double or Triple Cooking?
The secret of good chips is to cook them twice at two different temperatures, so you will need at least a deep pan and a thermometer for this recipe.
Some chefs even recommend triple cooking by parboiling and then double frying.
There seem to be different schools of thought about which temperatures to use for double cooking. Some alternatives I have found are in the table below:
| Source | Par Boil First | Ist Deep Fry | Interval | 2nd Deep Fry |
| The Hairy Bikers | No | 130℃ for 10 mins | Up to a few hours | 190℃ for 4-5 mins |
| Sainsburys Magazine | No | 140℃ for 8 mins | Up to a few hours | 180℃ for 3-4 mins |
| Jamie Oliver | No | 140℃ for 8 mins | Up to a few hours | 180℃ for 3-4 mins |
| The Spruce Eats | Yes for 3 mins | 160℃ for 3 mins | When ready | 190℃ for 5-8 mins |
Personally, I use the 140℃/180℃ method which seems to work well for a small batch in my deep fryer.
A Deep Fryer is Best
For best results, instead of an oil-filled pan, I use a countertop deep fryer like this one from Amazon.
The most important benefit of deep oil fryers is the ability to control the oil temperature accurately. This takes away all the guesswork and gives consistent results.
Best Chips Ever
Equipment
- Deep Fat Fryer
Ingredients
- 800 g potato Maris Piper
- Cooking Oil Any rape seed oil
Instructions
- Three obvious things are important on your journey to perfection – your choice of potato, your choice of oil and your choice of salt. For me, the Maris Piper potato wins every time, and you want to use nice large ones.
- On oil, sunflower and sunseed are very efficient, and many people swear by using groundnut oil. But, if you’re after flavour, cooking chips in beef tallow (rendered beef fat you can get from your butcher) gives you better flavour and colour – the choice is yours.
- Finally, on salt, being an Essex boy, in my house it has to be Maldon sea salt.
- So down to business: chop 800g of Maris Piper potatoes into finger-sized chips, leaving the skin on – don’t be too exact.
- Chip shops have massive industrial fryers, which you can’t recreate at home, so you need to use a large sturdy pan on a medium to high heat (unless you own a deep-fat fryer, of course). Your oil should be 8cm deep, but never fill your pan more than half full. If you don’t have a thermometer, use a raw chip, and as it starts to float and fry the temperature should be about 140°C, which is perfect for blanching.
- Use a large metal sieve to gently lower the chips into the pan for around 8 minutes, or until soft but not coloured, then remove to a tray to cool.
- Turn the heat up under the oil and return one blanched chip to the oil as a guide again. Once it’s floating and golden the temperature should be about 180°C, which is perfect for frying and will give you chips with those all-important crispy outsides and fluffy middles.
- At this stage you may want to cook your chips in 2-portion batches, so you don’t decrease the temperature of the oil too much or overcrowd the pan. Fry the chips until beautifully golden, then remove to a bowl lined with kitchen paper, shake around a bit, season with sea salt and serve right away.
You may also like one of my other recipes …
Grandads Cookbook may reference or include sections of text and images reproduced courtesy of:
- Original recipe by Jamie Oliver.