Heston Blumenthal's triple cooked chips
One of the chef's first recipes, demonstrating his passion for perfection.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Maris Piper potatoes
Instructions
- Sliced the potatoes into 2cm thick chips. Don't be too fussy about this; uneven things are charming. Rinse the potatoes well under running water to remove excess starch from the surface (this will stop them clinging together in the fat).
- Plunge the chips into salted boiling water and reduce the heat to a simmer. This will ensure the middle is cooked thoroughly before they turn into mush. This is important to take it as far as you dare. Remove from the water when a knife point slides in easily - this will take about 20 minutes.
- Drain the chips well and put in a single layer on a tray or on a wire rack. Put into the freezer for 30 minutes to completely dry them out.
- Bring a plain oil (e.g. rapeseed) to 130°C - use a probe or sugar thermometer to achieve this. Drop the chips in and fry until they turn a very pale yellow and as Heston says, "have a dry appearance". It's an odd description but you'll know it when you see it. Don't let them turn brown. This will take 10 minutes.
- Drain again, bake on the tray and back in the freezer to dry out.
- Bring the oil up to 180°C. Chips back in, now let's get them coloured. Keep them in there until you get a nice dark brown on the edges. This will take 6 - 10 minutes depending on the starch content of your potatoes. When done drain thoroughly and chuck on Maldon sea salt - they can take quite a bit.