Advertisement
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.
Hi all, please see this major site announcement: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427594/boards-ie-2026

Did you know most chips are not made in Ireland?

2

Comments

  • #32
    IAMAMORON
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,078 ✭✭✭IAMAMORON


    I haven't had a McDonalds since Christmas and I just started craving their mancky skinny soggy powdery chips. Phuck it anyways.


  • #33
    Gregor Samsa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,139 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    screamer wrote: »
    Yes I’ve known this for a long time. You can buy a kg of chips cheaper than you can buy a kg of potatoes so it makes sense when you think about it.

    Hence the term "cheap as chips".

    Top tip: Glue the chips together to form an inexpensive potato, then boil it.


  • #34
    Thelonious Monk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,513 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Personally i think the potatoes we mostly grow in Ireland are disgusting. Stringy and mushy. The lovely waxy ones you get on the continent are way better.


  • #35
    paul71
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,430 ✭✭✭paul71


    Harry Palmr wrote: »
    Ireland imported 70000 tonnes of potatoes in 2017, that's your actual spuds not potato based product like chips and crisps. Ireland is in thrall to milk and beef, nothing else else much matters now. It's why "market farming" for veg is practically dead.

    Which tells a story, if there was more money to be made from the cheaper potatoes then farmers would grow them. There isn't so they don't, btw beef is loss making as stand alone, but as its a by product of diary thats why its done.


  • #36
    JohnnyFlash
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,055 ✭✭✭JohnnyFlash


    harr wrote: »
    My local Italian chipper makes his own chips from scratch but I have no idea where he sources his spuds .. cooks them in lard as well ..

    Where is that? Extremely unusual occurrence these days.


  • Advertisement
  • #37
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    JohnnyFlash wrote: »
    Where is that? Extremely unusual occurrence these days.

    Ye, I'll wager it's not one of those sh!tty ITICA ones for sure.


  • #38
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,295 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    kenmm wrote: »
    Ye, I'll wager it's not one of those sh!tty ITICA ones for sure.

    The ITICA ones all seem to use the same cheap industrial catering stuff.


  • #39
    Gaspode
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,069 ✭✭✭Gaspode


    EmmetSpiceland wrote: »
    So, you’ve known all this time and didn’t say anything? I guess that makes you a...spec-tater.

    Come on folks, that pun deserves a lot more likes. Well done that man!


  • #40
    Water John
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,994 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Thelonious Monk wrote: »
    Personally i think the potatoes we mostly grow in Ireland are disgusting. Stringy and mushy. The lovely waxy ones you get on the continent are way better.

    If you want a quality potato, wait until later in the year for Golden Wonders. Don't use it to make chips. The waxy ones are really for making chips, usually Maris Piper.


  • #41
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,589 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Even Intel are going to TSMC in Taiwan to make chips.

    TSMC are planning a 4nm process, and Samsung are considering jumping to 3nm
    That's ever thinner than McDonalds chips :eek:


  • Advertisement
  • #42
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    Water John wrote: »
    If you want a quality potato, wait until later in the year for Golden Wonders. Don't use it to make chips. The waxy ones are really for making chips, usually Maris Piper.

    Or the Cypriot ones in early season.


  • #43
    Water John
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,994 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Golden Wonder would be a late maincrop and not very high yielding. That's why they cost a bit more. Didn't know they were imported?


  • #44
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,266 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Gregor Samsa wrote: »
    Hence the term "cheap as chips".

    Top tip: Glue the chips together to form an inexpensive potato, then boil it.

    Cheap as reconstituted potato starch.


  • #45
    Water John
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,994 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    The best potato option I ever had was in Wellington. A boiled in its jacket potato, smashed on a griddle/hotplate and butter/butteroil added.
    A city that hadn't really any takeaway chippers. Lots of good places to eat casually and very good quality. We're over dependent on them.


  • #46
    purplepanda
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,179 ✭✭✭purplepanda


    Maris Pipers are the best for chips, I have done extensive testing & have been designated the family's chip cooking expert after years of research. :D


  • #47
    timthumbni
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,845 ✭✭✭timthumbni


    harr wrote: »
    My local Italian chipper makes his own chips from scratch but I have no idea where he sources his spuds .. cooks them in lard as well ..

    Why are some of youse going on about Italian chip shops? Is that a big thing in the republic?


  • #48
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    timthumbni wrote: »
    Why are some of youse going on about Italian chip shops? Is that a big thing in the republic?

    There was mass migration of Italians to the UK and Ireland in the early parts of the 20th century and after WW2.

    Out of work, a lot of them opened cafes, ice cream parlours and chip shops.

    For some reason, the ones in Ireland have (mainly) evolved into some lazy, cheap (as chips!) 2nd rate chain of chippers (ITICA) that sell frozen food, pre battered (and I suspect frozen) fish and take little pride in serving decent food.

    This is not my experience in other parts of the British Isles, where fresh fish is normally served cooked to order (freshly battered) and often with freshly cut chips (although frozen chips are popping up as well).

    I never eat from an Irish chipper, I have yet to find a decent one - its often one of the first things I do if visiting Scotland or NI.


  • #49
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,295 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    I suspect the ITICA ones buy wholesale and stock from the same sources

    They all seem to use the cheapest industrial sized tubs of tomato sauce and mayo and the food is interchangeable

    The likes of the burgers chicken burgers fish etc all seem to be same in any of those chippers. All frozen.

    And often a lazy, couldn’t give a damn attitude


  • #50
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    Beechwoodspark wrote: »
    I suspect the ITICA ones buy wholesale and stock from the same sources

    They all seem to use the cheapest industrial sized tubs of tomato sauce and mayo and the food is interchangeable

    The likes of the burgers chicken burgers etc all seem to be same in any of those chippers.

    For sure - but you can get economies of scale and make the food a bit better - its not like there aren't enough fresh fish companies in Dublin alone (for example, other fish companies exist in other parts of the country I am sure!).

    There is no (ahem) appetite to change this as the tills are ringing and the people that eat that muck are obviously happy to do so.

    For anyone that had a 'Fish supper' in Belfast, Scotland or probably north England, the difference is night and day!


  • #51
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    Fu(k, now I am hungry - I could go a fish and chips for breakfast now :pac:


  • Advertisement
  • #52
    Boredstiff666
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭Boredstiff666


    Irish potatoes are always too small.


  • #53
    timthumbni
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,845 ✭✭✭timthumbni


    kenmm wrote: »
    For sure - but you can get economies of scale and make the food a bit better - its not like there aren't enough fresh fish companies in Dublin alone (for example, other fish companies exist in other parts of the country I am sure!).

    There is no (ahem) appetite to change this as the tills are ringing and the people that eat that muck are obviously happy to do so.

    For anyone that had a 'Fish supper' in Belfast, Scotland or probably north England, the difference is night and day!

    I will take your word for it but I find it hard to believe that chip shops here in Northern Ireland could be that different to the ones in the republic. Setting aside the Italian ones surely most chip shops are Irish owned and still fry their food in the same type of oil. Although obviously not good for you there’s nothing as nice as a greasy fish supper.


  • #54
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    timthumbni wrote: »
    I will take your word for it but I find it hard to believe that chip shops here in Northern Ireland could be that different to the ones in the republic. Setting aside the Italian ones surely most chip shops are Irish owned and still fry their food in the same type of oil. Although obviously not good for you there’s nothing as nice as a greasy fish supper.

    Last chip shop I went to in the north was the Bethany (they have a couple I think).

    Fish was taken from the fridge (whiting or cod was the choice), battered right there and fried.
    Chips were fresh and I think cut in shop (can't remember).

    Last Dublin one I had, the fish was sitting on some fridge, half cooked and pre battered (I suspect they buy them this way). Batter was soggy and fish was "gloopy", did'nt flake away. Chips filled a hole, but definitely frozen.


    This experiment has been repeated many (many!) times, usually with the same results.

    The only decent bit of fish I had in the south was in places that were not "standard" chip shops - like market stalls of the fish markets in Howth.

    But we are getting far from the frozen potato talk!


  • #55
    jester77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,264 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    Bintje are one of the better potatoes for chips.


  • #56
    Greyfox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,280 ✭✭✭Greyfox


    kenmm wrote: »
    For some reason, the ones in Ireland have (mainly) evolved into some lazy, cheap (as chips!) 2nd rate chain of chippers (ITICA) that sell frozen food, pre battered (and I suspect frozen) fish and take little pride in serving decent food.

    The fact is Chipper chips and battered sausages taste amazing in the Republic. When you get a craving for junk food telling yourself the quality of food is low is usually not enough to keep you away. I eat junk food once or twice a month and when I do what my taste buds say is all that matters to me.


  • #57
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    Greyfox wrote: »
    The fact is Chipper chips and battered sausages taste amazing in the Republic. When you get a craving for junk food telling yourself the quality of food is low is usually not enough to keep you away. I eat junk food once or twice a month and when I do what my taste buds say is all that matters to me.

    Battered sausage is a different beast!

    But they taste even more amazing elsewhere :D All the sausage and fresh crispy batter (and a pint of curry sauce). We should demand better!


  • #58
    Doctors room ghost
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,874 ✭✭✭Doctors room ghost


    I’d murder a flourey spud and butter now.


  • #59
    Markcheese
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,240 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    Water John wrote: »
    The best potato option I ever had was in Wellington. A boiled in its jacket potato, smashed on a griddle/hotplate and butter/butteroil added.
    A city that hadn't really any takeaway chippers. Lots of good places to eat casually and very good quality. We're over dependent on them.

    That's my current go to,
    Boiled in the skins,a little oil on the hot George foreman ,than squish them down and walk away for 5 mins ,

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



  • #60
    kenmm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭kenmm


    Markcheese wrote: »
    That's my current go to,
    Boiled in the skins,a little oil on the hot George foreman ,than squish them down and walk away for 5 mins ,

    Need to try this - is this a common option in Wellington?

    What about toppings? Cheese? Or just plain buttery goodness?


  • Advertisement
  • #61
    Gregor Samsa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,139 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    My local chipper is run by two guys from Nepal. It’s a counter in the back of a petrol station shop. They cut their own chips and serve the biggest portions I’ve ever seen from a chipper. Each order is cooked individually, so you wait a bit, and they give you a small sample in a bowl to test before they package it up and you pay. They make their own homemade beer batter for the fish too. They also serve various Nepalese curries and other dishes. Only problem is they close a bit early on account of being in a service station shop.

    There’s two Italian chippers in the town too (both confusingly operate under the same name). One serves up muck that tastes like Tesco Value chips and indeterminate frozen fish over-cooked in a deep fat fryer. The other one does a decent job being a traditional Italian chipper, but is nowhere near as good or has the attention to detail as the Nepalese guys.


Advertisement
Advertisement