Does anyone still use a deep fat fryer?

I haven't used a deep fat fryer/chip pan since I accidentally left it on the head and burned the kitchen down It's oven chips for us since then, not so tasty but safer! My DD uses an air fryer, she likes it.

Spot on Vegasmags

I do wedges in the oven sometimes too, but they're nothing like proper chips done in my chip pan.
I don't think proper chips absorb a lot of fat anyway, because they're cooked quickly.

I still have my trusty old chip pan - how can you be a proper Northern mum without one? I only use it when the DC come home, but what a treat those chips are. My foodie DD claims that my chips are better than Heston's, but you always think your mum's cooking is best, don't you

I mostly do wedges in the oven, cut from our home grown potatoes.

Microwave chips are sacrilegious! Yuk. If I feel lazy, I go down or send someone to the fabulous chippy near my house to buy a large pack of hand cut chips.

I never use a deep fat fryer. I like homemade chips, but I do them in the oven. I had one when the children were small, but hated cleaning the thing.

We looked after two children for a couple of days and when their mother collected them the first thing they said to her was that I had made chips 'out of potatoes'. I hadn't realised that they were so amazed that chips could be made that way. They must be used to them coming out of a plastic bag from the freezer.

soontobe, yes. they are very good. We use slightly more oil than the amount in the measure but the results are excellent. It wouldn't make enough chips for a large family but there are enough for us and our two small GC.

I`ve never had a deep fat fryer, just a humble chip pan. One of the reasons is that we don`t like the taste of food cooked in oil, we prefer our chips and other stuff fried in beef dripping, but hate the mess at cleaning out and changing time.

Thanks for all the posts.
I plan now to get a new fryer. I will take a bit of time looking into all the different sorts recommended on here.

into chips not in the chips

Do the chips still taste like chips in an actifry?
My knowledge of domestic science is weak, but I would have thought that part of what turns the potatoes in the chips is quite a lot of oil.

Yes Suzied. It is a bit more than a teaspoon of oil but still very much healthier than using a chip pan. The chips are very good. I would never eat frozen chips again.

We used it this evening and had some prize winning sausages from a local butcher. Lovely!

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tuscan_fries_61356
I don't have a fryer, just use a saucepan on the very rare occasion, as I also hate the smell in the house.
Last week I had a go at this Nigella recipe, supposed to be better than Heston's thrice cooked chips. The fries start in cold oil and are cooked on the hob. They were nice and crisp, but hardly worth the time spent watching the pan!

Don't the Actifry take about 45 minutes to cook the chips?

Yeah Janea. That will be because most people have the thermostatically controlled ones these days. (I'm not wading through all that)

Ariadne our old expellaire fan does a good job. And then there's the kitchen door.

Are they the ones that only use a teaspoon if oil? Not sure how they work. I threw my deep fat frier out when I had 4 teenagers and I used to come home from work with the kitchen almost ablaze on a couple of occasions.

We use an actifry. They are quite expensive to buy but we have used ours a lot. We just use a small amount of olive oil or rapeseed oil so the chips are not too unhealthy. King Edwards or Maris Piper make lovely chips.

How do you afford the calories to be able to eat chips cooked at home?? I had a clip pan back in the 60s when I was first married, and can remember the all pervasive smell ( which is another factor!)

I fry nothing, apart from am omelette occasionally - I honestly don't think it is a healthy cooking process.

And I leave chips for an occasional treat when we are out.

But I do bake.....(give most of it away...) you can't win, really. "it's immoral, it's illegal or it makes you fat".

Don't worry Jingl
Quote: "Chip/fat pan fires have fallen by over three quarters in ten years to 2,600."

from the Government Statistics, p 28 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/36467/FSGB_2011_to_12.pdf

It makes less mess than frying bacon in an open pan, Soontobe.
But you'd better hurry up and get one before the Health and Safety experts get them banned

It does have a lid but it tells you not to use it while frying.. I don't empty the oil every time either just let it go cold put the lid on and store in the cupboard.. change the oil after half a dozen uses.. don't those McCain chips work out really expensive using 2 packets each?

DH gives ours a periodic clean. In the shed.

Don't do it! Lakeland should be ashamed of themselves.

Causes

Does it make a mess so long as it is not overfilled, janeainsworth? And how long do the chips take to fry?