Fundamentally a simple meal, but we always prefer “real” chips (that is homemade) and some meaty King Oyster mushrooms.
At the moment we’re favouring the round chips from Tom Kerridges Proper Pub Food book. Whilst time consuming, they’re actually quite simple – it’s just a case of being prepared:
- You need to cut your round chips from the potato using an apple corer – this is probably the most fiddly part as the corer tends to slip and the chips also tend to get stuck .
- Boil the chips in water for about 5 minutes and then leave out to dry on a wire rack. I leave a tea towel under the rack and then re-use the rack for drying after the first fry.
- Heat some oil up to 140°C – I don’t have a deep fat fryer, so I use a deep saucepan with a jam thermometer to ensure the temperature. Fry the chips for about 10 minutes until the bubbles stop. It’s best if using a pan as I do to fry in small batches, as this way your oil temperature won’t vary greatly.
- Remove the chips and leave out on the rack to dry/drain.
- When ready to serve up, heat the oil up to 180°C and re-fry the chips for 2-3minutes. Remove and dry in kitchen paper, then toss with some nice sea salt flakes.
For the sirloin, my preferred method is seasoning the steak with salt and pepper on either side about 10 minutes before serving. Heat some oil up in the pan until very hot then chuck in a couple of black garlic cloves to flavour the oil. With a sirloin, first seal the fat and then cook on one side for 2 minutes. Turn over, melt a knob of butter in the pan and baste the steaks. And that’s it done, asides from resting for a couple of minutes.
Tomatoes just cook on silicon mat for a couple of minutes in a medium oven. For the King Oyster mushrooms, slice generously, and then fry in oil for a couple of minutes each side until lightly coloured.
