chips

nannypiano I do exactly the same, works a treat

Nanny piano that is both genius and bonkers, I salute you and wish you lived next to me, though Ruth next door is pretty wacky too!

I love real, home-cooked chips but only have them when eating out these days (and even then I'm not sure how home-cooked they are). I have an air-fryer - not the Actifry which stirs things, but one with a basket. Oven chips taste great from it.

Glad I'm not your neighbour smell wouldmake me hanker for chips or climb over your hedge good idea though!

We much prefer sweet potato chips these days. Either oven ones or home cut and sprayed with oil, dusted with seasoning then roasted in the oven. Have them every couple of months and OH orders them when we eat out. (then I pinch his)

I love sweet potato chips and do make my own [ordinary] potato chips from time to time in the oven but they're never as nice or 'chippy' as Aunt Bessies.

I find oven chips to be lazy gits, lounging about in the heat, then on the plate with no taste at all. The Victoria Beckham of chips........devoid of anything lush but look good (ish) on the packet.

We don't have them that often, but when we do, it's always McCain Crispy French Fries (from the freezer obviously)...!!

Try peeling and chunking sweet potatoes, coat with oil and cajun spice. Baking tray, hot oven. 20-30 mins. Yum.

I still remember peeling potatoes for the "real" chips my mum used to make in a deep frying pan with a wire basket in it and an aluminium lid. Nowadays I only ever cook oven chips, usually frozen ones (Auntie Bessie's or M&S).

BUT... I've recently found a ridiculously cheap product that not only makes chips crispier but also keeps the baking tray cleaner and eliminates any need to oil it to stop them from sticking. What is it? Just a simple a mesh sheet that you line the tray with - from Poundland! I now have several of them. Highly recommended.

I cook a jacket spud in microwave. Let it cool a bit the cut into wedges. Spray with oil and salt then roast in the oven. They'll crisp up lovely ?

I've always used oven chips since being on my own and prefer the 'homestyle' ones - don't like the matchstick or crinkle type. DGS has his difficulties with texture and smell of fruit and veg, including potatoes, but loves square chips (potato waffles)

We chucked out our chip pan ages ago - read about health risk of continually reheating the oil. Now we have McCain's oven chips and I LOVE them. Especially as my husband cooks them (with fish cakes and peas) for me every Saturday - my night off from cooking!

Marie, I am also a fan of the mesh baking trays. Ingenious!! Good for oven chips and pizza. Cooks the underneath perfectly and no need to turn chips because the heat circulates perfectly.

nannypiano - brilliant solution !

I agree with everyone who has praised Nannypiano. I do chips in the deep-fat fryer about once a month, but the smell is the problem, despite opening the window, shutting the door, switching the extractor fan on full pelt long before I start, and lighting a night light under a bowl of scented water afterwards.

Will definitely drag the fryer out into the garden next time we barbecue.

And I need to change the fat. Thanks for reminding me!

By strange coincidence nannypiano my friend just admitted on Tuesday that she ran an extension outside for her griddle pan so she could cook bacon without the smell lingering throughout the house. You are not alone! I'm sure your deep fat fryer is safer on the patio anyway!

I use the method described by meandashy, although I pre-cook a batch of jacket potatoes when the oven is on and freeze them. Thaw, or microwave them for 5 minutes, then slice and coat with oil, sprinkle with salt and cook in the oven on a baking tray. They are a quick alternative for roasties too, depending what shape you cut them into. Being pre-cooked they only take 15 minutes. My friend uses this method with McCain's frozen jackets.

I'm not laughing Nannypiano, not only do I cook my chips out on the patio, I also cook a chicken in my rotisserie oven alongside. The neighbour dogs go crazy, we get to eat yummy chicken and chips and the house dosent stink.

We have a problem with the smell of fried food from our neighbours either side.

In the summer i can not have any windows open at the back of the house if they start cooking as the smell wafts into our bedrooms upstairs and the lounge and kitchen downstairs.

Sometimes it smells really appetizing and other times its gross!!

I think it depends on when they have changed the oil in the cooking utensil.

We rarely fry food as
1.it doesnt agree with us.
2. we hate the lingering smell
3. we are always trying to watch our weight, not sucessfully i might aid as there are plenty of food items that fatten but dont smell!!!

add not aid!!!

I love chips. The nicest oven chips I find are McCains crinkle cut chips, they are really crispy unlike the straight ones and only have potatoes and oil in the ingredients. I have come across a strange recipe for chips by Nigella Lawson which I am going to try, : slice potatoes with skin on, pat in tea towel, put in COLD oil to cover chips, bring to the boil, turn to medium for 15 mins, add garlic in skins, sprig rosemary, cook for 5 more mins. When I was young living at home we had a crinkle cutter for chips, didnt know anyone else who had this, my friends still remember our crinkle cut chips cooked in a deep fat fryer. mmmh delicious.

My DMiL made the best crinkle cut chips in her fryer with basket. I tried a couple of times to emulate without success. Now I cut unpeeled potatoes grown by us, toss them in whatever oil appeals at the time with sea salt, ground black pepper and smoked paprika and cook in a hot oven until they are crispy. Yummy but still not a patch on DMiL's.

On the subject of oven chips, I lurve Albert Bartlett.... his chips that is, never met him in person (just in case his wife is a GN-er.) But if he's anything like his chips, he's gorgeous . They are the nearest thing to homemade IMO.

Yes, we have chips 1-2 times weekly.

Scrub, cut, soak potatoes in water, carefully dry, rub with oil, salt, bake at 200, 30 minutes.