If you’re a UK reader, then you’ve no doubt ended up with leftover chips after ordering fish and chips. Maybe you overestimated the number of portions you needed, or found that the portions were unexpectedly large. Try as you might to chow down, eventually your stomach protests at the idea of any more carbs, and you have to give up.
Now, a lot of leftover takeaway lends itself easily to being eaten the next day. Curry can be reheated, and pizza tastes fine cold the next day. Chip shop chips are an exception. If you attempt eating them cold, you’ll find that they’ve turned into a horrible, claggy mess. Heat them up in the microwave, and all you’ve achieved is making a hot claggy mess. Is there any way to return these leftover chips to their formerly delicious crispy state?
Fortunately, all hope is not lost. Chip shop chips can be revived the next day, and some internet research revealed three suggested ways to do it. Using a rather large portion of leftover chips, I decided to try all three, and compare the results.
Method 1: Grill
Spread the chips evenly across a baking tray, then heat under a hot grill for a few minutes. I went with two minutes, which was adequate, but I’d recommend doing them for a bit longer.
Method 2: Pan fry
Since the chips are already full of oil, you can dry fry them in the pan – as they heat you will see the oil start to emerge and the chips will crisp up. Heat them for a couple of minutes, stirring them around a bit so that they heat evenly.
Method 3: Deep fry
Heat the oil to 190°C, put the chips in the basket, then dip in for around 30 seconds. This will refresh the chips back to their original state, but is of course the least healthy method since you’re soaking them in yet more oil.
Conclusions
While the deep frying method gives the best results, I usually go with pan frying as a lower effort and slightly healthier alternative. Ultimately, though, any of these methods will revive your soggy leftover chips just fine.
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