Sir, – I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s and I have come to realise that I am a member of one of the last generations to have tasted proper chips. Proper chips can only be cooked in lard and on a gas cooker where the heat can be instantly adjusted as the potatoes go through the various phases of “chipping”.
The modern method of cooking chips in vegetable oil produces chips totally lacking in flavour and texture, and the rubbish described as chips served up in restaurants and chip shops are invariably bland, dull and totally unappetising. As for frozen chips and oven-ready chips on sale in supermarkets, they are a million miles from a proper chip.
Does anyone know anywhere in Ireland where I can again experience the proper chips of my childhood? – Yours, etc,
GRAEME GUTHRIE,
Kilmeena,
Westport,
Co Mayo.