Triple-cooked chips are a type of chips developed by the English chef Heston Blumenthal. Blumenthal began work on the recipe in 1993, and eventually developed the three-stage cooking process. The chips are first simmered, then cooled and drained using a sous-vide technique or by freezing; deep fried at 130 °C (266 °F) and cooled again; and finally deep-fried again at 180 °C (356 °F). The result is what Blumenthal calls "chips with a glass-like crust and a soft, fluffy centre".[1]
The Sunday Times described triple-cooked chips as Blumenthal's most influential culinary innovation, which had given the chip "a whole new lease of life".[2]
History
Blumenthal said he was "obsessed with the idea of the perfect chip",[3] and described how, from 1992 onwards, he worked on a method for making "chips with a glass-like crust and a soft, fluffy centre".[1] He researched the starch content of different varieties of potato[3] and experimented with drying chips by microwaving, desiccating or even individually pinpricking them.[1] Eventually, Blumenthal developed the three-stage cooking process known as triple-cooked chips, which he identifies as "the first recipe I could call my own".[1]
First served at Blumenthal's restaurant the Fat Duck in 1995, triple-cooked chips have since become common in restaurants.[citation needed]
In 2014, the London Fire Brigade attributed an increase in chip pan fires to the increased popularity of "posh chips", including triple-cooked chips.[4]
Preparation
Blumenthal's technique
Previously, the traditional practice for cooking chips was a two-stage process, in which chipped potatoes were fried in oil first at a relatively low temperature to soften them and then at a higher temperature to crisp up the outside. Blumenthal's recipe involves simmering the potatoes first in water[5] for 20–30 minutes until they are almost falling apart and have developed many little cracks across the surface,[6] at which point they are drained and as much moisture as possible is expelled by placing them in either a freezer[7] or desiccator machine. This additional stage is designed to achieve three objectives. First, cooking the potatoes gently in water helps ensure they acquire a properly soft texture. Second, the cracks that develop in the chips provide places for oil to collect and harden during frying, making them crunchy.[8] Third, thoroughly drying out the chips drives off moisture that would otherwise keep the crust from becoming crisp. Blumenthal describes moisture as the "enemy" of crisp chips.[8]
The second of the three stages is frying the chips at 130 °C (266 °F)[7] for approximately 5 minutes, after which they are cooled once more in a freezer or sous-vide machine before the third and final stage: frying at 180 °C (356 °F)[7] for approximately 7 minutes until crunchy and golden. The second stage of low-temperature frying is as essential as the first, according to Blumenthal, as it makes "any starch left in the surface cells dissolve and combine to create a rigid outer layer that can withstand the higher temperature of the final frying".[8] This second stage is time-consuming, he acknowledges, but must not be omitted. "A single frying at a high temperature leads to a thin crust that can easily be rendered soggy by whatever moisture remains in the chip’s interior."[8]
Other chefs, such as Joël Robuchon, had previously[verification needed] used such a method of cooking chips in simmering water before subjecting them to a two-stage frying.[9]
Variations include using a refrigerator to cool the chips in between cooking times and the use of different temperatures, such as 140 °C (284 °F) for the first cooking and 200 °C (392 °F) for the second.[6] Triple-cooked chips cooked in duck fat is another variation. Various cultivars of potato are used, such as sebago,[6]Rooster and Maris Piper.[2]
Pommes soufflées – a variety of French fried potato. Slices of potato are fried twice, once at 150 °C (300 °F) and then again after cooling, at 190 °C (375 °F).[10]
