Hello all! I went and bought a bunch of cod and potatoes to make fish and chips as a surprise for my husband. He gave me an alarmed look when I said I intended to fry them as I have deep-fried things all my life, in an open pan of hot oil. I got rushed out immediately to buy a proper fryer.

We have plenty of fish, the proper sort of potatoes (according to him), we're making a beer batter because he likes it, and we're using good fresh peanut oil to cook in (I won't use soya, rapeseed, or corn oils to deep fry, and the fryer manual says not to use shortening or lard without some very stupid extra precautions).

My main question is this. Since I have only one fryer, in which order should I make the fish and the chips? Should the fish hold warm while we fry the chips, or can we hold the chips warm while we fry the fish? What do you do at home?

Part do the chips, do the fish, hold it warm in the oven, finish the chips.

Don't forget the mushy peas.

good chips should be around 5/8" square in section.....

All went well thanks, took Mr. Weeze's advice, and I let him cut the chips We're stuffed lol!

what is his idea of a 'proper fryer' and how did it differ, in your opinion, to the use of an open pan of hot oil? The only 'special' thing we had as kids was a pan that had a close-fitting basket for removal of fried food when done. Much later, we got a fancier fryer that had a proper lid, with built-in filters, and such. Chips never tasted as good with the new device . I love home made chips (we also used to use lard )

lidded deep fat fryers tend to steam them.

One with a basket, thermostat, lid, and ready light. He said the old-fashioned pan was a fire hazard and he disliked them. We didn't leave the lid on all the way during frying though for just the reason steveq said.

Clearly your DH is an aficianado....

The local fire service here is trying to "stamp out" the conventional chip pan fire - responsible for nearly 3000 serious fires a year.

Damn! Now I have a hankering for a fish supper!

The results (removed too-big photo): https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...58122468_o.jpg Homemade tartar sauce there; I hate the sweet gooey crap so I made a spicy, rich version with fresh lemon juice, sour cornichons, a few pickled jalapenos, shallots, and parsley

Well done that lady

The chips look amazing! What kind of spuds did you get?

Around here, it's pretty much russets and that's about it at the moment. During the summer, there's the Maine spuds, which are a bit more white and less firm or the expensive red spuds.

One thing I miss is the battered sausages.

Some sort of rock-hard, medium-sized, smooth-skinned white potato that DH says is the kind the chip shops use, not a russet but a boiling potato type of thing. I got that kind totally by accident; the market was out of the gold kind he likes to get! He did mention battered sausages as the next thing he wants to make. I have a feeling the purchase of the fryer was of the same ilk as the age-old "buy the wife a power drill for Christmas" stunt.

Can I come round your house for dinner?

You can actually do a bunch of chips and part fry then freeze them. Double cooking is meant to be nicer anyway, can't say I've ever noticed the difference though.