OK, somewhere along the line I got the idea that potato chips in the UK referred to sliced fried potatoes (. Someone I know recently returned from the UK, and she said, “Nope, they’re just like (American) *French fries.” I was under the impression that what we (Americans) call “French” fries were called “julienne” fries in the UK.
So, the questions:
In the UK, if you say “chips” does that typically refer to the julienne style potatoes?
If so, are fried sliced potatoes common, and do they have a special name? (Not thin, like potato “crisps”–just plain ole sliced potatoes deep-fried, the perfect kind for laying flat in a samwidge.)
*Except that she added, “And I don’t know what they do, but they taste a LOT better!”
Generally, ‘fries’ is reserved for thin chips (eg McDonalds ones), although they still get called chips as well. Fried sliced potatoes, as opposed to fully chopped ones, I guess are simply ‘fried potatoes’. I’ve never heard anybody refer to any of them as julienne. Of course, they’re not really true chips unless they’re cooked in beef dripping
My limited experienced with sliced, fried potatoes in the UK is that they’re called chips, they’re bigger than our french fries (about 3/8" by 3/4", compared to 1/4" by 1/4"), and thus have a higher ratio of cooked potatoey goodness to deep-fried, oil-saturated potatoe. So, better. Not crunchy. And, when eaten by the fistful, very filling.
“Julienne” means “slice into matchstick-sized pieces”; people do make julienned potatoes, but this is rarely served as “French fries.” I believe that while the typical “chip” is like a typical American French fry, “chips” also includes wedge fries, sliced fried potatoes, etc.
My wife thinks it is not only the beef dripping, but the actual potatoes taste better, no matter how they are cooked. Don’t know if it is a different variety of potato, different soil, or both, but she swears they taste better.
You haven’t mentioned scallops, which are thick slices of potato that are battered and deep fried. You get them at chippies (fish and chip shops). Yum. They make great scallop butties (sandwiches made with buttered bread and some scallops).
“Fish and chips” from the local “chippy” was the standard fast food here before the big franchises turned up. British chips are way chunkier than fries and are frequently quite soggy, though soggy is not a requirement. Served with salt, vinegar and ketchup (not mayonaise like those Belgian perverts). Some people will tell you that you can’t get proper chips south of (say) Birmingham.
Chips are also recognisably of potatic origin, whereas fries seem to be formed from cellulose, possibly using waste from the paper industry.
Sounds like a potato cake to me. Don’t know if there was a need to add Australian terms to the confusion, but can’t stand seeing all you poor people out there thinking they’re scallops when they are clearly potato cakes
Just to do add to the potatic confusion, in Australia “chips” means either:
– potatoes sliced lengthways, deep-fried (fries in the US, chips in the US); or
– potatoes thinly sliced, deep-fried and coated in seasoning (chips in the US, crisps in the UK).
We actually use the term “fries” in Australia, but that’s only because our “chips” tend to have a thicker cut, and “fries” are like you get in McDonald’s (though I ask for “chips” at McDonald’s just to be obtuse). So generally “chips”, but “fries” are a specific type, and are considered very American. Most small take away businesses will sell you the thicker “chips”. They’re nicer anyway.
Oh BTW Cazzle, I wasn’t even sure what a potato cake was until recently. They are scallops in every single take away joint this side of the Murray. And always have been
Right, Chips here are chopped up potatoes, invariably cooked in oil of some description. You can also buy from supermarkets ‘Oven Chips’ which cook in the oven, same thing as above, and ‘Micro chips’, microwavable versions of above, but they’re really skeery.
Chips from a Fish and Chip shop vary between the North and the South (i’m unsure where the cut off point is) in that northern chips (good) are cooked as Gorillaman says in beef dripping (fat), whereas southern chips (pale imitators) are cooked in vegetable oil/fat.
Chips in the USA are known as crisps over here. You want proper chips? Go to the Red Lamp chippy in Morley, West Yorkshire. £1.80. You won’t be sorry for long. Best i’ve ever eaten, and i’ve eaten far and wide.
Hope that clears that up for you. Nobody but Chefs would have a clue what you meant if you went into a chippy and said ‘are they Julienne’.
I think potato cakes would be re-formed from cooked, mashed potato; what RickQ describes as ‘scallops’ (a term I’ve not encountered in connection with potatoes before) sound more like battered slices of whole potato.
Interestingly, here in the U.S. there’s a mall fast food chain that sell what sound like British “chips.” It’s called “Great Steak” and it calls 'em fries but they’re larger than regular fries and generally have the skins still on them (instead of peeled off). They have a great potato flavor that regular fries don’t. Makes me wonder if they haven’t consciously emulated British “chips.”
Great timing for this thread! My cousin is visiting us from England right now.
Yesterday, we went out to breakfast and he asked me what homefries were. I explained them and he said, “oh, you mean chips?”. I told him that I thought chips in England had a coating of batter on them (similar to our fries) and he told me “No, chips are fried potatoes, there is no coating”.
He ordered homefries and told me they are pretty much the same thing as chips in England.
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