Proper home-cooked chips (fries)

Animal fats are one of the most traditional food items there are. They nourished the health of generations across the globe, until industry got in the way and modern vegetable oils replaced them in the early part of the twentieth century. Which, we now understand, is where a lot started going wrong for human health.

Industrially produced vegetable fats, like margarine, vegetable shortening and soy and corn oils began replacing traditional cooking fats like lard, tallow and ghee. What followed were several decades of these unnatural, industrially produced fats being hailed as health giving, championed for their perceived health benefits.

Traditional animal fats fell out of favour, with many (tallow and lard) being actively discouraged.

Most people with an interest in contemporary nutrition are now aware of the negative health impact of highly processed, inflammatory oils. Writers like Sally Fallon-Morell (founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation - a worldwide organization educating on and promoting traditional foods) have been defending traditional fats and warning of the negative impact of industrially produced fats and oils for many years. And modern nutrition is finally catching up.

You can find my home-remdered lard recipe here. This recipe will also make tallow - which uses the same process only beef leaf fat.

Lard and tallow have a high smoke point and are both excellent in savoury dishes like roast potatoes or meats. They also add depth to soups and stews as a cooking oil and make rich, flaky pastry. Tallow is especially good for deep-fat frying.

Tallow has a milder flavour and I use each for different recipes. We are also lucky to be able to occasionally get high quality, grass-fed and also organic beef leaf fat locally. Do ask around - and use your local farmers as much as you can.

We also buy Ossa Organic Grass-Fed Tallow.

You can reuse beef tallow for frying multiple times! Simply strain and store it properly (sealed in the fridge), and it can be reused about 3-4 times.

The trick to using a small amount of oil each time is using a narrow based saucepan, so you can cook in a small but deep enough area. Long enough for the chips/fries is wide enough. You don’t need to fill a deep-fat fryer! The narrow base of a wok also works well.

As well as being much better for you, your kitchen will also smell WAY better using this type of natural oil vs. highly processed veg oils as well.

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes

1/2-1 cup beef tallow (I use around 140g per batch or 1/2 a jar of this tallow)

Seasoning to taste

Instructions:

Peet potatoes if desired.

Cut potatoes into chips/fries. We like to use a fun wavy knife for wavy chips.

Pat dry before frying (to reduce spitting).

Add tallow to a pan (see note above) and place on a medium-high heat. You need a narrow enough pan or wok base to allow for enough depth of the tallow.

Allow tallow to melt and increase in temperature.

Test by placing one chip into the oil (using long metal tongs). If it starts to bubble quickly, it’s ready.

Place a layer of potatoes into the oil. You can layer them up as high as the oil. You will be making the chips in a number of batches.

When browned to your liking, remove using long metal tongs and drain on a large plate topped with either paper towel or a clean kitchen tea towel.

The chips/fries will take about 3-5 minutes per batch, but this will depend on how many layers you add and how hot your hob is. Keep a close eye throughout. And keep kids well away from the stove while you are cooking. As always, never place a hot pan on the front rung. Always use the back.

When done, if the earlier chips have cooled, you can place them all in a baking tray to warm through for a few minutes before serving.

Season as desired.

Enjoy!