My boyfriend (who goes by the name of “B” around here) has a lot of strong points – he’s caring, supportive, encouraging, loving and always positive. He makes a mean pot of tea, he’s always puts the bins out so I don’t have to and he washes my car for me “just because”.
But, as with all people, he has his weaker points too. Some are debatable – for example, I would argue that his hair cut is questionable whereas he would argue that the Noel Gallagher/Grug-like bowl cut is the most stylish hair cut going round at the moment.
But one thing we both agree on his that his cooking is not one of his strong points. It’s not that his creations turn out particularly bad but more that he find’s cooking a chore that he doesn’t enjoy. And I feel the same way. If you’d spent more than five minutes watching him slooooooowly peel a carrot and then chop it, bit by bit. By bit. By bit.
Then you would know exactly what I mean!
But his one redeeming kitchen conquest, the one dish he does a damn fine job of, is hot chips. I passed off the first lot he made me as pure luck. The second lot was a coincidence. But by the third time, I was impressed. They were GOOD. Really good.
Hot chips are a weakness of mine. Every time I walk past a kid in the street eating a bucket of hot chips I desperately want to go past and quickly steal one off the top. Just one, that’s all I need to get my fix. I wonder if the kid would think it’s kinda funny, or just weird and a little scary. I’m leaning towards the latter, which is why I’ve not done it yet. But if I walked past a kid in the street eating THESE hot chips… Then I’d definitely have to reconsider.
Baked chips – or fries, whatever you want to call them, are something that seem so straight forward – you chop up some potatoes, season them and throw them in a hot oven with a little oil. But after experiencing a few recently not quite up to B’s standard, and even making my own batch which I’m sad to say didn’t quite cut the ketchup (see what I did there? ;) I had to get B to walk me through his process.
So, without further ado – let me introduce you to the best homemade chip’s you’ll ever try!
B has kindly written out the recipe to share below, but he’s also kindly offered a few tips as to how to get the best possible, golden crispy chips (imagine a lot of hand waving and gesturing here please :)
- Make sure you use a potato that will hold it’s shape while roasting and go nice and golden – I usually go with bintje or ducth creams
- Leave the chips cooking and don’t turn them until at least half way through the cooking time – this means the bottom will crisp up nicely and makes them easier to turn (I always check and try to turn them way too early – hello soggy, stuck-to-the-pan chips!)
- Use enough oil – this helps with the no-sticking, and also the golden crispy outer
- Don’t peel the potatoes! This one’s critical according to B as it adds extra texture, flavour and nutrients (and saves time and effort if you’re feeling a little lazy)
- Chips are best enjoyed with some homemade tomato sauce and a nice cold beer!
The best homemade chips
2015-04-16 18:39:57
Serves 1
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Ingredients
- 1 large potato per person
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for the tray
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 C || 390 F
- Wash and scrub the potatoes, but leave unpeeled. Cut them in half lengthways, and then slice into 1-1.5cm chips.
- Lightly oil the tray, and then add the potatoes. Drizzle with the oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix the oil and seasonings to evenly coat the chips.
- Add the tray to the oven and bake around an hour, turning the potatoes after the 40 minute mark. The total cooking time will depend on your oven and how browned and crispy you like the chips.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- One potato makes one serving, so double/triple/quadruple the amounts as required
to her core https://tohercore.com/
For the best results, we now only cook our chips in our heavy Bessemer oven pan – the chips turn out even crispier and more golden with soft, perfectly cooked centres.
These baked chips look AMAZING. I can seriously see why you called them the best ever – I definitely need to test out the recipe.
They are delicious Thalia – definitely give them a go I have no doubt you’ll love them too :)
I love that the guys have that one thing they can do really well in the kitchen, and that it pleases us to no end even if it’s just one thing. ;-) Mine makes a mean omelet. But these baked chips look so good and simple. Low and slow looks like the trick here, and I know my husband would love me for making these.
Hehe, so true Katie! B gets so excited about cooking chips for dinner too which is lovely to see, anything he isnt used to is a bit of a chore and not fun at all for him so its nice to see him like cooking even if it’s just chips :)
I love home cooked chips. You can seriously bake them up to perfection without a need of any deep fryer!!
B looks like he has done a seriously good job on these. But I have to say I have my chips with mayo!! :D
Haha, chips and mayo is such an odd thing to me! I remember going to a “chippie” in Scotland and there were about 20 different toppings for chips – ketchup, mayo, melted cheese, gravy, vinegar and salt, curry sauce etc! Not sure if it’s the same done in England or if the extreme sauce selection is a Scottish thing!?
this is so simple yet so delicious!! yumm my favorite thing ever :)
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Thanks Anna – homemade fries are the best! :)