In my house, the long haired general Mrs Ozziedog has decreed virtually the same as Mrs Malc. We have a deep fat fryer that is almost allowed out of the loft when we get the Chrimbo trimmings down but it’s moved to right next to the hatch as the trimmings come down . It’s now ready for the food fest on Boxing Day , cold cuts of every description with mountains of home made chips but just that once a year. That’s when the deep fat fryer is allowed out and into the kitchen. Everybody in the family that’s available makes a bee line for ours on Boxing Day for Ozziedog chips and cold cuts, home made ickle bunions, home made ickle pegs, beetroot etc etc. Cold sliced roast beef, roast turkey, cooked ham, roast pork etc etc etc, sometimes I’ve even been known to corn a silverside which is ace ace ace. Gala pie as opposed to galah pie, coleslaw, chutneys of all descriptions, different salts different peppers and various vinegars all combine with a variety of breads and spreads but mostly butter and a zillion dips and sauces from all over the known universe . Spuds are being peeled and chipped from about ten or half past and soaked in water for at least an hour, cooking starts once there’s a houseful of about fifteen or twenty peeps. The first few pans of chips are cooked until light brown all over and chucked into a huge pirex dish in the over to brown up a bit. When we have six or eight panfulls of chips all browning up we put a large tray on the creaking table and the feast/fights begin. I’ll keep cooking perhaps another half a dozen panfulls and keep chucking them in the oven and topping up as the pirex bowl empties. No one knows exactly how many chips or panfulls are done but nobody ever goes hungry and I’ll keep cooking until everyone has surrendered then I’ll have a panfull myself with whatever’s left. Chips need to be peeled and chipped well in advance, chips must have at least an hours Bath in water, and chips need to be golden all over with a few darker brown streaks to be any good. Our fryer needs to be on flat out the whole time as they’re much better cooked quicker more so than stewing, the pan needs to be so hot that as you immerse the chips, it all bubbles up and threatens to over flow, so you just lift them halfway out for a second or two after the initial blanch then plunge them straight back in perhaps two or three times. The oil has to be crisp and dry as it’s the best available right now and we’ve tried most oils. Browning in the oven helps dry the chips off too. Ozziedog,,,,,,,, Bon appetite Malc
