Last week’s homemade ketchup has to be paired with this week’s hand-cut chips. Chips are one of my favourite things to make from scratch and I would judge all chefs by the types of chips they can make. Contemporary cuisine is all very well with its foam and water-baths but if you cannot make a chip by hand then you are worthless to me.
Chips have taken an unfair hammering in the West due to fast-food reliance on them. They have, in my opinion, ruined a food stuff that is wholesome and healthy. I can feel your wincing and possibly asking the question: how can chips be healthy? There is in fact less fat in a chip than in a roast potato. So the next time you go all Jamie Oliver on your guests with some roast potatoes, garlic, rosemary, only the best olive oil, and garnished with some choice leaves from your garden, think of the ubiquitous chip, sad and solitary in western cuisine, that you could have elevated to divine heights.
I am certainly not advocating chips to be eaten daily, but the calorie content of a portion of chips or a baked potato is so negligible that it is not worth thinking about. I would be more concerned with where the potato was soured and the type of oil you cooked it in. To make chips, you do need a deep fat fryer (the words make my skin crawl – it should be absolutely renamed).
Deep fat frying will not burn your house down and kill you. My grandmother used to boil fat in a pot: that will burn your house down. I like a rooster which is a few months old to make chips. Blanch your chips at 140 degrees until you can insert a cocktail stick into one of them.
At this stage you can choose to refrigerate your chips until later or continue to cook them. Turn your fryer up to 175 degrees and fry your chips until golden brown. Remove and season immediately with fine sea salt and serve with some homemade tomato ketchup.
