attie
Sous Chef
I don’t know for sure what variety you blokes use but we have a choice of Sebagos or Sebagos.
# 1 rule for us is never use washed potatoes, why?, because after they wash the potatoes they keep them in cold storage to stop them from going green. Potatoes kept in cold storage make sugar and potatoes with to much sugar in them simply do not make good chips, they go brown on the second cook while still raw in the centre. How do you tell if your potatoes have sugar, easy, get a diabetic test strip, slice the potato and test it.
Do we peel the spud? Who cares, it’s up to you. If you are making potato cakes [scallops] don’t peel them, the skin stops them from warping as much as peeled ones do.
Lets slice the spud, how many times do you see some wizbang on TV struggling cutting slice by slice from the side of the spud that wants to roll over on to its flat side? Bugger that, lop the end off, stand the spud on its end, slice down at the required thickness, rotate and slice down again, this produces the perfect shaped chip. Now, think about this, have you ever noticed that when people eat chips they work their way in from the outside of the heap and always eat the small crunchy ones first? So if you are not very good at slicing the spuds, don’t worry, they will probably enjoy them more.
Don’t forget to soak them in water for at least 10 minutes to leach the starch out. Dry them if you wish, but it makes for more interesting movements by the cook if you hit the hot oil with them with a little water still present.
So lets start cooking, if you have a steam press you have the best of both worlds, Steam them until they are ready to almost fall apart and then gently handle them in to the hot oil. Alternatively, boil them to the same extreme but it’s just not quiet the same because you boil the flavour out. Double cook in oil, that’s the go, first cook until 2/3 cook, cool and finish.
Now if you double cook in oil you will notice that the chips will shrink, not only do they diminish in size but sometimes they form little cups on the sides of the chips. How do we solve this problem? Easy, after soaking the chips in water place them in a drainer [I use the wash up trough at work] pour a medium batter of just flour and water over them and let them drain well, but not to long, say for 5 minutes until the excess has gone and then start cooking and then presto, the batter holds the chip in it’s original shape without the shrinkage thus making them super fluffy inside and the chips go out the door the same size that they went in to the cooker, this makes a big difference when cooking bulk quantities.
Here’s a pic of a precook of battered chips for a Friday night at work, note that I make rectangular chips and note that there is no shrinkage whatsoever, they will still be this shape after the final cook -- and the batter makes them "oh! my" crunchy.
Enjoy
# 1 rule for us is never use washed potatoes, why?, because after they wash the potatoes they keep them in cold storage to stop them from going green. Potatoes kept in cold storage make sugar and potatoes with to much sugar in them simply do not make good chips, they go brown on the second cook while still raw in the centre. How do you tell if your potatoes have sugar, easy, get a diabetic test strip, slice the potato and test it.
Do we peel the spud? Who cares, it’s up to you. If you are making potato cakes [scallops] don’t peel them, the skin stops them from warping as much as peeled ones do.
Lets slice the spud, how many times do you see some wizbang on TV struggling cutting slice by slice from the side of the spud that wants to roll over on to its flat side? Bugger that, lop the end off, stand the spud on its end, slice down at the required thickness, rotate and slice down again, this produces the perfect shaped chip. Now, think about this, have you ever noticed that when people eat chips they work their way in from the outside of the heap and always eat the small crunchy ones first? So if you are not very good at slicing the spuds, don’t worry, they will probably enjoy them more.
Don’t forget to soak them in water for at least 10 minutes to leach the starch out. Dry them if you wish, but it makes for more interesting movements by the cook if you hit the hot oil with them with a little water still present.
So lets start cooking, if you have a steam press you have the best of both worlds, Steam them until they are ready to almost fall apart and then gently handle them in to the hot oil. Alternatively, boil them to the same extreme but it’s just not quiet the same because you boil the flavour out. Double cook in oil, that’s the go, first cook until 2/3 cook, cool and finish.
Now if you double cook in oil you will notice that the chips will shrink, not only do they diminish in size but sometimes they form little cups on the sides of the chips. How do we solve this problem? Easy, after soaking the chips in water place them in a drainer [I use the wash up trough at work] pour a medium batter of just flour and water over them and let them drain well, but not to long, say for 5 minutes until the excess has gone and then start cooking and then presto, the batter holds the chip in it’s original shape without the shrinkage thus making them super fluffy inside and the chips go out the door the same size that they went in to the cooker, this makes a big difference when cooking bulk quantities.
Here’s a pic of a precook of battered chips for a Friday night at work, note that I make rectangular chips and note that there is no shrinkage whatsoever, they will still be this shape after the final cook -- and the batter makes them "oh! my" crunchy.
Enjoy
