Chips!!!

But, not enough to warrant missing out on an occasional treat.

I used my traditional chip pan for years and years, probably on a weekly basis, when I had a houseful of children and before I knew I was obviously ruining their health. Never had to call the fire brigade out once.

We used to have chip-pan chips weekly too. despite me having ADHD & being generally accident-prone, no chip-pan fires.

Mainly people coming home from the pub back in the day & fancying some chips & going to sleep while the chip pan was on , I think. Not to say that some caution isn't needed...

pregpaws3

Hope you’ve got a good fire blanket, many domestic fires are caused by chip pans

our local fire brigade used to give a regular public
demonstration of a chip pan fire. Very dramatic and it's a lot easier than you might think :-(

I will say again - i never managed to start one.

I’d never heard of a chip pan in real life until I was in my 20’s, we didn’t have one, I think I only had chips rarely from the chip shop.

I'm assuming Glenfinnan has bought an electric deep fat fryer which is much safer than the stove top saucepan type. The temperature of the fat is thermostatically controlled. I've had a few over the years when I had resident children, never ever came close to a fat fire, never ever a burnt offering.
I like Maris Piper potatoes for chips (which I do in the oven these days) but they are getting harder to find.

Where do you live Rosie? Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose sell them round here.

Make your own ftom real potatoes much nicer as youhave aderpfat fryer...why buy fozen?

I still cook my own chips in deep oil. I twice cook them and they are delicious, knocking spots off oven chips. We don’t have them often but really enjoy them when we do. A habit I acquired in Tge Netherlands is to have them with mayonnaise. It is a good job they are an occasional treat.

I have a memory as a very young child, of our kitchen being black. Seems it was a chip pan fire. I've had a real fear of chip pans ever since. DH bought an electric one a few years ago but that still terrified me when the chips went in. I think he only used it a couple of times. Too much fuss cleaning it and the smell lingered.

I cook them occasionally, but I use my wok and it’s only real potatoes for me. Absolutely delicious.

Agree with pregpaws3 - My advice to Glenfynnon is to tell the DH that if he's anything close to 'elderly' he should be nowhere near a deep fat fryer and neither should she. I once knew someone who thought he was invincible and despite being relegated to an outside balcony by his wife to make his beloved chips that way, still managed to cause a fire by just taking his eye off the ball for a second. Why encourage danger? We had a thread only last week about age-proofing our houses - I think deep fat fryers are definitely on the list of what's not appropriate any longer.

kittylester

Where do you live Rosie? Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose sell them round here.

London, and yes I can still find them but not guaranteed and not always the quality they used to be. Maris Peer, the new potato variety even harder. When I googled it this came up

Maris Piper and Maris Peer potatoes can be hard to find because farmers are actively moving away from growing them. These varieties are "agronomically challenging"—making them prone to weather extremes, diseases, and lower profit margins. Additionally, recent severe flooding has significantly reduced yields and driven up prices.

That maybe accounts for the fact that I get a high percentage of small ones.

I'm with kittylester, you have to be seriously careless to set a chip-pan alight, and the main culprits were drinkers falling asleep with the pan over the flame.

Lard
Beef Dripping
🤢🤮