The science behind the perfect hot chip has long been a topic of debate in the takeaway and restaurant kitchens of Australia. If done well, the crisp outer shell does the job of protecting the soft, piping-hot pillow of potato within. Perfect execution is something of an art. So, when you call a customer’s number up at the counter and they open the grease-slicked box to reveal a sodden heap of mess, they can’t be blamed for throwing them to the hungry seagulls at their feet. The question we’re all asking; why are soggy chips still so prevalent today?
Research tells us there’s no simple answer, rather a combination of factors that contribute to a chip’s unfavourable mushiness. Every stage of the chip-making process, from heating up the oil to packaging and delivery, plays a vital role in getting the best out of your potatoes.
1. Rinsing
Let’s start at the being. While there is much evidence to suggest rinsing cut chips before frying them rids the outer layer of excess starch, there’s just as much suggestion not drying them properly has an adverse reaction. Any amount of water on the surface of a chip when in contact with hot oil, cools it immediately. What this means for your chip is that cooking time multiplies, which leads to an increase of oil intake. Too much oil turns the inside of a chip to a greasy mush, making it a lot harder for it to maintain its pleasurable crunch.
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2. Storage
You’ve got a bag of ready-cut chips sitting in the reach-in refrigerator of your commercial kitchen. The fridge is at a typical two degrees Celsius and the chips are cut and drained and sitting in a storage tray. Nothing appears to be going wrong. However, if uncooked, ready-to-go chips that are stored below 4.5 degrees Celsius, can sometimes result in the starch breaking down into sugar. Sugar acts as a caramelising agent, so when a chip hits the fryer, the sugar melts and the potatoes turn a dark, unwelcoming brown colour before they expel the excess moisture within.
3. Oil temperature
When a basket of chips descends into a pool of blistering oil, the instant shock and change in temperature immediately forms a crust around the surface area of the chip, sealing whatever moisture that didn’t escape inside. If the oil isn’t hot enough, this sealing process takes longer. Meanwhile, the moisture that’s meant to stay in the body of the chip is excreted, making what is supposed to be a crispy outer layer, damp and steeped. At the same time, the weakened shell is porous and allows for oil to seep into the contents within, turning it into mashed potato. All too often, chefs are using unrefined oils or those with a low smoke point, which opens up all sorts of unwelcome doors in failing to regulate moisture extraction.
On the other hand, if you’re plating up and serving what looks like golden-brown chips only to have them sent back five minutes later, chances are your oil is too hot. Tom Miller, Chef at well-known fine dining restaurant Cottage Point Inn told Superior Food Services, “there’s a very narrow gap between too hot and too cold.” A cook has “a 30-degree window that’s ideal for frying and it doesn’t take much to exceed this window.” While the rule of thumb states the hotter the oil, the less oil absorption, you mightn’t be giving the potato the chance to cook. Remember, if you’ve stored your chips in the fridge, they’ll naturally be cooler than room temperature, so you’ll need to compensate for the bigger gap by slightly increasing the oil temperature.
4. Low starch potatoes
Are your chips coming out of the fryer limp and brown? Probably one of the most important factors when choosing a type of potato for your hot chips is its starch and water content. High starch potatoes tend to be a lot dryer with less water content, making them the perfect spud for frying. Low starch potatoes have a higher water content, and while they’re great for boiling, the oil in a fryer must work a lot harder to expel the moisture within, when making hot chips. On top of this, what crispiness you can salvage very quickly leaves the chip once the oil has been drained. After they sit for a couple of minutes, the excess steam under the surface leaves the draining basket, enveloping the crunchy shells in a layer of moisture.
5. Packaging
When food delivery apps like UberEATS, Deliveroo and Foodora came on the scene a few years ago, fast food outlets were struck with a challenge. While orders were generally being delivered on time (under the promised 30 minutes), it was the first time fast food chains like McDonald’s had to worry about the effect delivery time had on the quality of the food. After all, the essence of fast food is that it’s fast. But in this instance, hot chips are boxed and then paper bagged with steaming burgers and nuggets and transported to a doorstep. In the time it takes for the food to reach the customer’s door, the lack of ventilation combined with the heat of the food itself, steams the chips, causing them to go limp and moisture ridden.
Packaging can transform perfectly crunchy chips into floppy stems. When chips come out of the fryer, they’re usually drained to get rid of excess oil and most often, transported directly into paper bags or cardboard boxes. When these bags are sealed with little ventilation, the heap of chips are left to steam in whatever moisture makes it out of them. As Skift Table points out, “fast delivery will help, but hot fries will steam themselves in a bag, every time.” Water molecules start to break down the crispy outer layer, dampening the shell. So perhaps it’s not so much a heat problem, rather a packaging problem.
Conclusion
What seems to be the essence of where it all goes wrong, lies within the method and speed of which you expel the water from the potato. Achieve the perfect temperature, the right potato, suitable packaging and proper rinsing and storage methods and you’re on the way to a delicious, crunchy chip.