There is something about this humble Potato dish that has made it one of the most loved dishes in the world. Some of the reasons could be its versatility, fair prices, or comforting qualities. In this article, we focus on how to make perfect pan deep-fried chips.
Several countries all over the world have adopted chips and turned them into their own. Here are a few ideas of how some countries have added a twist to the plain chips that we know.
1. Greek gyro Spit-roasted meat on pita bread with tomatoes, onions, tzatziki and French fries.
2. French steak frites. Entrecôte beef is served rare with thin and crispy fries and butter sauce.
3. Spanish Patatas Bravas. Cubed potatoes covered in mayonnaise and spicy tomato sauce.
4. Indian fish and chips. This awesome adaptation of a British classic uses fragrant southern-Asian spicing.
THE ORIGIN AND NAMING OF CHIPS
Chips are an adoption from the British English language, while they are commonly called French fries in North American English. Chips are also known as Finger chips in Indian English.
History traces the origin of French fries to either Belgium or France. There are traces of fish and chips stalls in both countries way before the First World War. The chips were deep-fried using butter or animal fat to produce a crisp and crunchy texture.
Deep-fried chips are commonly served hot at home, in restaurants and by street vendors. They can be eaten as a plain snack, for lunch or dinner. Most fast-food restaurants currently specialize in pairing chips and chicken on their menus.
Before deep-frying the potatoes, they are cut into even stripes. The potatoes can be peeled or left unpeeled. Professional standards of cooking the chips recommend they are soaked first in cold water to remove the surface starch and then thoroughly dry them. They are then fried in one or two stages. The two-bath technique is advisable because it produces better and crispy chips.
5 Tips for to Making PERFECT PAN DEEP-FRIED CHIPS
- Buy good quality potatoes that are fresh from the garden. these will give perfect results
- Clean and scrub your potatoes before peeling them to remove all the dirt. Place the peeled potatoes in a bowl of cold water.
- Dry the potatoes of any water; this can be done by patting them dry with a kitchen towel.
- Cut the potato stripes to a similar size of about one inch each, this will ensure that they cook evenly.
- The chips should be blanched for 15 minutes at about 80-90C in cold oil, before deep frying for the second time in hot oil at higher temperatures. This first cooking will make the inside soft.
Note that some Irish Potato farmers don’t recommend the potatoes to be first soaked in water because they believe the starch on the potatoes helps them to cook evenly.
Nice and tasty chips are therefore all about their crispy outside, a soft and juicy core in the middle and the amazing salty and savoury flavour. Let’s take a look and the ingredients that will get us the best Pan Deep-Fried Chips.
Ingredients for PERFECT PAN DEEP-FRIED CHIPS
A cast iron/ thick based skillet/pan
4 fresh large-sized Irish Potatoes
a cup of vegetable frying Oil
Step by step process of making Perfect Pan Fried Chips
Let us now learn how to perfectly deep-fry chips using a pan or skillet in the following steps below;
- Clean your potatoes thoroughly to remove the soil. Peel the potatoes and then cut them into French fry stripes of about 1 inch each. Evenly cut potato strips will cook the same time making the process smart.
- Position the fries into a cast iron skillet, making sure that they are in a single layer and not overlapping each other , and pour the vegetable cooking oil over them to almost cover them completely
- Place the cast iron skillet onto a medium- to low source of heat, and let the potatoes cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring them occasionally to prevent them from sticking together. Do not brown them. Remove from heat and finish up the remaining batches of chips. Drain the chips and let them cool down.
- Heat the oil over high temperature and deep fry the chips in bathes to brown the outside coating and make it nice and crispy on the outside.
- Take off the fries from the oil, and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Toss with salt and pepper, or any other desired seasonings, and serve immediately.
Are you Interested in other potato recipes, check out the Irish potato crisps recipe next