Celebrating Heritage British Food & Cooking
The humble chip butty is basically a buttered white bread sandwich of chunky chips usually with tomato or brown sauce.
Chip butties are a culinary landmark in the North West of England having originated there in the mid-1800s.
Iceland, that’s the leading UK food retailer, not the country, has stated that “The Chip Butty is one of the greatest culinary inventions in UK history”. I wouldn’t go that far, but they are good.
One part of the UK actually reveres the chip butty, singing the club song about it before football matches. Sheffield United based at Bramall Lane, play in one of the oldest grounds in the world still used for football.
Sung to the theme of Annies song by John Denver from 1974:
“You fill up my senses
Like a gallon of Magnet
Like a packet of Woodbines
Like a good pinch of snuff
Like a night out in Sheffield
Like a greasy chip butty
Like Sheffield United
Come fill me again“
Try another of the UK’s unusual speciality recipes in Grandads Cookbook from this selection.
Making a chip butty is not really cooking but like any sandwich, it’s assembling.
Believe it or not, the recipe shown is from a UK university scientist who surveyed 2000 Brits to come up with the “perfect” example. You can decide for yourselves!
Chip Butty
Ingredients
- 100 g Frozen oven chips
- 2 slices White bread
- 10 g Butter
- 10 g Tomato ketchup
- Salt to taste
Conversions
Instructions
- Cook thick-cut oven chips at 200C for 22 minutes
- Thinly butter two slices of medium sliced white bread
- While the chips are freshly cooked, place at least 12 on one slice of buttered bread so that their weight is three quarters that of the bread plus ketchup
- Squeeze as much ketchup as you like but add more chips to compensate so it doesn’t get too cold
- Place the second slice of bread on top of the still steaming hot chips
- Allow to cool for at least 30 seconds before enjoying. If it is too hot to hold, it is too hot to eat!
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
