h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

why doesn't everyone make those really nice straw chips instead of the massive things that you get in most pubs these days. are they insane to think that people actually prefer the big ones?

where are the best chips in london??

I prefer the massive things rather than the straw ones so they can stay that way as far as I am concerned. The are also lower in fat but then if I was worried about that I wouldn't be eating chips anyway!

I agree - I prefer the big ones too. They are proper chips and not 'straw chips' or 'french fries' or any other name for potatoes cut into shapes and fried. There may be many types of fried potato but there is only one type of chip!

If you want the best in any field, go to a specialist. You wouldn't expect a good pint in a grocer's, so why expect pubs and burger joints to make decent chips. VISIT A CHIPPY. Not a Chinese, or a pizza parlour, or a fried chicken place, but an honest-to-goodness chip shop.
To think that English people need to be told this simple truth.... what is the world coming to?

You have specialist chip shops?!?

Where is this heaven? How can I get there?!?

It's called Britain. How to get there depends on where you are but the busses are quite good. Check the guide. Avoid the bottom right and you should be okay.

What's wrong with the right bit?

How much would a bus from Australia cost?!?

The bottom right bit of Britain is made up of London, Kent and Surrey. They are all incredibily full with people already so you would be well advised to avoid them.

If for instance you went to Yorkshire (God's own county), you would find a chain of Chip Shops run by Harry Ramsden where the chips are excellent, the fried fish has superb batter and the mushy peas are. Now that is a specialist shop - it specialises in doing a good job for its customers.

Apparently not very much, because there's an awful lot of you over here (which is a good thing -- it all contributes to the great melting pot, etc.)

Chips have to be big. That way they can soak up the salt and vinegar properly. And you can also use them as props when trying to make a point, as they wobble nicely in time with a discussion. And you can share them around such that everyone gets a decent portion. And the larger surface volume means that they cool down to eating-temperature quicker (whereas the slim chips seem always to be cold).

Hoorah for big chips.

agreed, agreed - with one small caveat: big chips deserve the best condiments - salt and sauce (BROWN) has to be the way to go.

Dear Friends, let us not forget England's greatest culinary feat, the chip butty. Be it known as a barm, or a teacake, a muffin or a cob, this feast is known the length and breadth of our Blessed Isle. Let the butter and vinegar mingle into the bread, while the brown sauce dribbles seductively down your shirt.... Oh, bliss.........

The problem i have with potato chips these days is the low fat or baked or non fat potato chips. Whoever is making those chips is completely missing the point! Chips are meant to be unhealthy and oily delicious. So, my question is: why?
~Lisa

Are you the same person who just posted a why question on the TV adverts forum? Are you following me? HELP! POLICE! I'm being stalked!

Of course chips are unhealthy. So's breathing in the Western Hemisphere

Yes i am the same person.... Am i stalking you? Hmm... well...um...no! I just was happily going along my happy little way questioning the why's of everything because i always like to know why (it's very important, you know), and all of a sudden, i am ACCUSED of stalking? HMPH. I shall go on my merry way asking why's and occasionally what's and how's in places not frequented by accusers!
,
Lisa

Hmmm... this has to be a call for a new entry: "The worlds best chip shops"
First off, we'd have to point out what we mean by "chips".
Friends from the good ol' US of A might be somewhat confused to find that while the product we're referring to is still a potato based food, it is not only hot and very greasy but it still betrays the shape of its derivation, the potato, by being cut in very large chunks from it.
Not unlike what they might call "fries" (or even more mysteriously, "French fries") but containing significantly more potato, covered in significantly more oil and, while being significanltly worse for you, tasting significantly better.
Chips are traditionally sold in "bags" which actually turn out to be more like several sheets of paper usually with a single sheet of greaseproof paper (for the chips to stick to) and optionally a small cardboard tray. Newspaper used to be used but for hygeine reasons this has now been banned, although it can still be witnessed in editions of the Scottish comic strip "Oor Wullie." It could also be quite disconcerting tying to eat chips off of page 3 of the Sun.
Chip shops will usually offer salt and vinegar on your chips with optional "red" and "brown" sauces unless you are on the west coast of Scotland where "Salt and sauce?" seems to be the traditionall query. If you don't take any of these condiments you are often regarded as some sort of "health freak".
As for the best chip shops in the world, I'd have to recommend the one in Ayr that I always go to when I'm there but I can't remember the name. It's got this tiny little queuing area from which you can see into the enormous kitchen where they actually employ real oompah-loompahs to make your chips. Okay, they don't really, I was just checking you were still with me. Perversely, this place is busiest at tea-time on the hottest days of the year. For the genuine Scottich chip experience, they must be washed down with a swig from a glass bottle of Irn Bru.

Oh, no, my paranoia's gotten the better of me again. My cynical nature doesn't allow me to believe in coincidences. What a sad person I am. I throw myself on your mercy and beg forgiveness for ever doubting your pure intentions....... wait, I can hear footsteps...

I think there was a slight geographical error in there, TC. Salt and sauce is an east coast of Scotland favourite, rather than the west coast.

If for instance you went to Yorkshire (God's own county) - hail ye, Project Tyke Extraordinaire!

The best chips I've had recently were on the Greek island of Skiathos (s'true!), a couple of weeks ago. There, they cut them thin to medium - thicker than a French Frie but still not what you'd call chunky. They're served red hot, fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside and bright yellow which I put down to their probably having been fried in olive oil.

Ah, Souvlaki meatballs and chips, an ice cold beer, a cool breeze whispering in from a sapphire Aegian providing welcome relief from the mid-August nuclear assault from above.

It's not fair, I want to go back.

Oops! Got my coasts mixed up again. That's why I end up in Newcastle every time I try to get back from Edinburgh

Should the Roast Potato be mentioned here? It is, after all, a large chip in essence. Does anyone on h2g2 work in the place that makes the alleged ships for MacDonalds? At what point (if any) are potatoes involved? Non-chips from such places are nice, but they certainly aren't proper chips. Seeing as the only US term for chips is "French Fries" are we to assume that they don't do proper chips over there? Do they also lack the adjective "crispy" seeing as they don't use the word "crisp"?
Harry Ramsden's aren't really that good. They've forgotten their roots as a little bloke with a barrow on the streets of harrogate and are now as bad as any other big chain thing. Good chips come from small, warm shops with unhygienic sweatymen half-concealed behind clouds of steam.