When the chips are down...

This morning I sat with my head on the steering wheel of my car at 645am in the pitch dark and pouring rain. I'd hardly slept last night because the wind was howling around the roof of our flat. Rowing this early is as close to hell as you can get. It's cold. It's wet and everyone's grumpy. An hour later and everyone's smiling, buoyed by exercise. We're all happy to be returning home. Now I'm back into my pyjamas with a hot water bottle. On a day like today comfort food is the only option and what better than a bowl of chips?

This week's National Chip Week and I decided to give chips a go as I don't think I have ever made them from scratch before. I still had a big jar of duck fat left over from that roast duck last month so I gave it a go....

* Please be really careful with deep frying anything. Obviously only for adults and don't leave the pan!

Triple cooked Cornish duck fat chips......

2 medium potatoes

enough duck fat to half fill a pan

Cornish Sea Salt

Scoop the fat into a saucepan and put over a very low heat to melt slowly.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut into chip shapes. Pop into a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and place on a clean tea towel to cool. Once all the fat has melted increase the heat until it starts to bubble. Add a little bit of potato to test. If it sizzles carefully add the chips. Fry for about 5 minutes until they are light brown. Carefully scoop out and drain again. Turn up the heat again. After about a minute carefully lower the chips in again. Keep a really close eye on them and when they turn a rich brown, take them out.

This only took about a minute for me. Turn the heat off. I wouldn't move the pan until it's cooled quite a lot.

Sprinkle with Cornish Sea Salt and serve with garlic mayonnaise. These are crispy and delicious and are everything chips should be.