The best chips are golden and crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. Triple cooking chips involves, you’ve guessed it, cooking them three times. This is done at different temperatures using a couple of different methods. All in order to achieve that holy grail of textures. They take a bit of effort but they’re totally worth it.

Potatoes that have a high starch content, whilst remaining a little dry, make for perfect chips. Floury varieties with some waxiness to them work best as they hold their shape and can get nicely crisped up on the edges whilst remaining soft in the centre. Varieties favoured by chefs include Maris Piper, Dutch Agria, Fontaine and Maris Bard potatoes.

There are a few key stages to the process. The first, after cutting them into chunky pieces, is rinsing them in order to remove as much starch as possible. For the next step, put the chips into a large pan of water for their first cooking, and simmer until just tender. Drain the chips on kitchen paper, but do this with a slotted spoon rather than emptying them into a colander as they might fall apart if you’re not careful with them. Some chefs now chill or quickly freeze the chips (as Heston does) until cold and dry. Then it’s time for the first deep fat fry, at a low-ish temperature to crisp the outside of the chips and essentially set the exterior without adding any colour. The chips should then be chilled or frozen again, before the second round of deep fat frying, at a higher temperature until deeply golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper before eating warm.

Follow our recipe for how to cook them at home

You can keep the chips in the fridge, after the second chilling, for up to three days, before deep-fat frying for a second time. You can also freeze the chips after the first deep fry, following the chilling process. Similarly, you can put the chips in a zip-lock bag in the freezer after the second chilling stage, where they’ll last for up to 2 months. To deep-fat fry them from frozen just shake off any excess ice and cook for a couple more minutes to ensure they’re cooked right through.

A flavourless oil with a high burning point is good, such as sunflower or groundnut oil. Beef dripping is also good if you want to give your chips a deeper flavour and colour. Some chefs use a mix of 70% vegetable oil and 30% rendered fat (lard or beef dripping) for the best of all worlds.

These superior chips are a tasty treat on their own, served simply with a dollop of mayonnaise or are a classic pairing with steak and fish. Try Shaun Rankin’s special 
butter-dressed lobster and triple-cooked chips dinner for two. Or serve traditional fish and chips, but take it to the next level with Wheat beer-battered fish and triple-cooked chips from Tony Fleming.