CHIPS vs FRIES

Gotta be sliced bread + ketchup or you end up with lots of cold dry bun.

butter crucial imo. ketchup optional.

Also wholemeal bread for health reasons.

lol

yeah most of the pics on GIS seemed to have ketchup but I've mainly seen them with butter

i think sliced bread, and there should be so much butter and ketchup that they melt from the heat of the chips and drip onto your plate.

This is making me hungry and but it's only 10 am and all I have is stupid oatmeal. :(

having considered the matter i think i must allow thick cut or steak FRIES to be an acceptable stand-in for CHIPS.

I think we can all agree that fried potatoes are a pretty goddamn good thing all around, whatever you call them. Hash browns, bratkartofflen, etc.

def

here is a man whose location on a particular side of the atlantic i couldn't possibly guess just by glancing at him and his chip butty:

http://www.croquetworld.com/images/croquetvideo5.jpg

lol

whose location on a particular side of the atlantic watford gap i couldn't possibly guess just by glancing at him and his chip butty

voted fries mainly because of the consistency thing matt mentioned

consistently unsatisfying.

truffle chip butty

chip butty looks pretty unsatisfying next to a

http://fattyfriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/primanti_42.jpg

also for reference

favorite french fry cut

chip butty looks pretty unsatisfying next to a

http://fattyfriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/primanti_42.jpg

― i think drake distracts (dayo), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 14:12 (5 minutes ago)

Dude it's just taken close-up. Looks kinda revolting if you ask me.

"Steak fries" make me think of the ones which are 2cm wide and only 2mm tall, which are a sad travesty of a chip, because to get the outside to look delicious and chip-like inevitably turns the inside into horrible overcooked powder

(and therefore all the steak fries you ever eat are horrible overcooked powder, because who wants to eat a sad white soggy-looking chip? so I don't even know if it is possible to cook a steak fry right)

i love really good fries, like the sort of bendy french styled ones. possibly even more than chips if the fries are REALLY REALLY GOOD. but i dunno, chips are v different, a good bag of chips if heartier and more wintry.

x-post make me think of the ones which are 2cm wide and only 2mm tall, which are a sad travesty of a chip, because to get the outside to look delicious and chip-like inevitably turns the inside into horrible overcooked powder

OVEN CHIPS

the continuum as i see it:

chips <<<<<<<<<<<<< fries << oven fries <<<<<<<<<<<<<< oven chips

of course i mean

chips >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fries >> oven fries >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> oven chips

Oven wedges are the worst of all possible potato configurations imo.

half a squashed chip stuck to your shoe is worse than any oven wedge.

when I order fries and get anything chip-esque I am seriously disappointed. I mean this is basically just a math problem: more overall surface area to be fried and salted = more deliciousness.

Fries

xp Nah it can't be all crispy surface, you might as well just eat crisps. Chips have a decent hearty feelgood fluffy potato centre.

I'm not a big fan of the enormous thick-cut chips some of yer poncier pubs are doing these days, the ones that are so big they're served in a Jenga tower.

my favorite fry is the one that's crisp on both ends but has the slightly soggy middle. you don't get that with chips, do you

oh no they really make me sad. if i'm getting fries i at least want them crispy.

10mm^2 is ideal cross sectional dimension of chip.

i actually like fries better cuz the best thing about chips/fries is the fried crunchiness - if i want potatoey softness i'll just have actual roast potatoes thanks

the burnt fries at the bottom of the pan <3

i actually kinda think the best examples of both are too different to be compared...

Yes it's apples and oranges. Or rather, potatoes and potatoes.

I really REALLY want to go to the chip shop at the end of the street and eat a big bag of chips. Proper chip shop chips are one of the best things in the world.

Fries. I hate chip shop chips, all soggy and mushy and greasy.

I think the divide here is between who want the 'hearty feelgood fluffy potato centre' and those who want it primarily crunchy - a proper double fried French 'frite'.

As an American francophile, it's not surprising that for me the normative version is the one we mostly have here and the first time I ate chips in England, I burned my palate on the fluffy potato center.

best chips imo:

fresh chips straight out of the fryer into the fish & chips wrapper, SO hot that you can hardly hold onto them and you tear a little hole in the top of the wrapped up parcel and eat them on a cold day <3

or

chips at the bottom of the bag of chips & gravy, soggy and full of gravy love <3

oh chips how I miss you

eating a chip is like cramming 5 fries into your mouth at the same time
fries
(but tbf i have never had chips that were anything but soggy and overwhelmingly greasy/heartburn inducing)

I don't find fries as comforting as chips

I really REALLY want to go to the chip shop at the end of the street and eat a big bag of chips. Proper chip shop chips are one of the best things in the world.

― ailsa, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:32 (1 hour ago)

just had fish and chips, thanks to this very thread, though i might well have got some anyway i guess

chips and fries can both be pretty great, given the choice will always order the former cuz fries can be those shitty reconstituted potato things

chips from crap chip shops can be pretty bad too

bad chips are definitely the worst...(shudder)

Potato product sandwich idea so disgusting. Put some rice on there while you're at it.

then wrap it in a tortilla to hold it together

Yeah.

Good chips >>> fries >>>>>>>>>>>>>> bad chips.

Chip butty is tremendous! Rice butty just wouldn't work rilly.

tremendously gross, maybe

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/TK7o-sn7YvI/AAAAAAAADWc/blmi0YMT6zw/s1600/chips.jpg

I was going to experiment with a ravioli butty but I'm glad I didn't.

I think I've only actually ever had one chip butty (maybe 2) but iirc it was AMAZING. Then again in my mind all that carb on carb action could only yield positive results. SO DELICIOUS.

i never order delivery as i can't find any that's any good...

Oh katsu curry sauce of course. that makes a lot of sense. I actually think it'd be quite edible despite my earlier ew comment tbh. I like that generic Keens powder inna tub stuff when you make curried saussies with it. Oldstyle Aussie 70s comfort dinner innit.

Chinese takeaways here are quite their own thing. Standards are fried rice, sweet n sour pork, beef n black bean, mixed veg/tofu. All sitting soggily in bain maries. You'd never get chips or whatnot tho, those belong in burger/fish n chip takeaways.

my drunk food used to be fish+peas+curry sauce. I'm not sure how it started, but it was yummy.

steak sized chips are decent when cooked right. But love fries for the fact i can ram half a dozen in my mouth at a time.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=well+street+hackney&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.418852,71.191406&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Well+St,+Hackney,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.544507,-0.046649&spn=0.008754,0.017381&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.544591,-0.046589&panoid=l10AkZraPg3Wsx5WmG_WkQ&cbp=12,87.77,,1,5.74

is that one good?

Chinese takeaways here are quite their own thing. Standards are fried rice, sweet n sour pork, beef n black bean, mixed veg/tofu. All sitting soggily in bain maries.

plz foreigners don't listen to the filthy lies being spread across ilx by mongxicans today

Ha! I speak purely of shitty chinee takeaways, I know there's better stuff around!

chinee takeaways

That be racist.daguerrotype

xp Ronan, I think Gourmet San delivers and it's one of the best Chinese restaurants in all London. IT IS EVEN ON BETHNAL GREEN ROAD. You may not have ventured there because it is Szechuan and hellaciously spicy, but you could have an amazing not-too-overspiced dinner from there by ordering half a dozen lamb skewers, rice and chilli green beans.

i actually am mad keen to check out gourmet san....just for whatev reason have never done so, i've never booked and it's always busy. i think i knew they delivered as my flatmate had a menu lying around, then i seem to have completely forgotten this.

is that one good?

the link wasn't a recommendation, let's put it that way. check out those houseplants in the window. the inside is the grimmest thing you've ever seen, like stepping into communist poland. there's one counter and five plastic chairs against the wall. two or three sullen people sit in them, clutching carrier bags. they may have been there for years. everything is indescribably dingy. a television can be heard faintly from the back. one of the fluourescent lights has gone out.

Yeah, Tracer, I can't imagine you frequenting that establishment.

The key to getting a table at Gourmet San via the walk-up method is to go at 7pm.

check out those houseplants in the window. the inside is the grimmest thing you've ever seen, like stepping into communist poland. there's one counter and five plastic chairs against the wall. two or three sullen people sit in them, clutching carrier bags. they may have been there for years. everything is indescribably dingy. a television can be heard faintly from the back. one of the fluourescent lights has gone out.

in every small-town Chinese takeaway ever thread coming up

must give that a go. i do have a soft spot for noodle king just a few doors up, not in any way going to challenge gourmet san for authenticity, but when i've been broke or jobless it is unbelievably cheap, 3.50 or so for a gigantic plate of rice or noodles.

x-post the chinese on globe road is the worst i've ever been to.

Noodle King is OK for what it is, but I made an ordering error there once by going off the noodles/rice grid for some seriously knuckly and flavourless 'hot and spicy' spare ribs.

'Houseplants' must be plastic to qualify for pride of place in such takeaways, which are not GANGSTA unless there is plexiglass between you and your server.

the singapore fried rice is the best thing in noodle king probably. the ribs do vary...they can be good but i know what you mean, gaping jaws of fat, shudder.

Speaking of authenticity and Chinese restaurants, even out here in the wilderness of Not London there are restaurants who put all the trad Anglo-Chinese takeaway fare at the front and then the main section of the menu trumpets its ~authenticity~

I have no idea how authentic these menus really are but there is usually some pretty interesting stuff in them

but if you order a chicken/duck dish from the "authentic" section, it's usually been diced with a cleaver while on the bone, leaving chunks and shards of bone in most of the slices, which are pretty hard to identify through the marinade and almost impossible to remove from the meat with chopsticks. So my question is, what is the proper way to eat these? Is there a nicer way than repeatedly picking bits of bone out of your mouth?

But back to fried potatoes, the best kind are called beach fries and you douse them in malt vinegar and they look like this http://blog.streaminggourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/P1000133.jpg.

they look great.

yeah they look similar to the ones i had at Coney island

but if you order a chicken/duck dish from the "authentic" section, it's usually been diced with a cleaver while on the bone, leaving chunks and shards of bone in most of the slices, which are pretty hard to identify through the marinade and almost impossible to remove from the meat with chopsticks. So my question is, what is the proper way to eat these? Is there a nicer way than repeatedly picking bits of bone out of your mouth?

― dimension hatris (a passing spacecadet), Monday, April 18, 2011 8:31 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

put the whole chunk in your mouth and spit the bones out on the table as you go (honest to god)

Chinese takeaway chips are usually pretty excellent as well

cosign - my local Chinese takeaway does Salt&Pepper chips which are srsly good; seasoned to within an inch of their thick cut lives and covered in chopped red chilis.

Thanks dayo! Think I'll give the spitting a miss, but at least I know I'm not missing a trick.

those beach fries look mighty good, with a little cajun seasoning.