I loved chips when I was a kid.
I don't mean chip shop chips, which I loved quite a lot. I mean home-made chips, which I absolutely adored.
Home-made chips in the Sixties weren't any of your anemic, flaccid oven fries that come frozen in a bag nowadays.
Nope, these were proper chipped potatoes cut chunky or crinkled and deep-fried in a vat of golden boiling fat known as a chip pan.
The chip pan fat often contained the scraps from previous fryings and these scraps added to the overall tan and crunch of the chips' outer coat.
The perfect chip was a light russet tone and crispy on the outside and white and fluffy on the inside, A serving made a satisfying grating noise as it slid onto the plate from the pan sieve.
Chips could be seasoned according to taste and tradition. My favourite was lots of salt and vinegar. My Dad loved white pepper and salt and some folk liked Ketchup or Daddy's Sauce. Missus Moonbase ate mayonnaise with her chips, although these were fries bought at a vendor and not home-made.
Having not had a home-made chip since the Seventies my taste buds have succumbed to the lesser experience of the roasted oven chip, which is a poor sad substitute. I would probably have an out of body episode if I tasted real chips again!
Did you have home-made chips as a kid? If not chips at home, what potato food did you like?
It was a source of amusement, as a kid, I loved all the food my Mum made, except her chips, which I couldn't stand! We often joked about it.
ReplyDeleteWow! Not spammed Kev! So what was wrong with yer Mum's chips?
DeleteI know, incredible. Mum's chips just weren't chip shop chips and that's what I wanted!
ReplyDeleteI hope you got some Kev. With peas and gravy! Yum!
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