Gammon, Egg and Chips

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan for frying chips
• •Large frying pan or griddle pan for the gammon and eggs
• •Wire rack or kitchen paper for draining
• •Kitchen scissors

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut and soak the chips

   Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips about the width of your little finger. Not skinny frites, not fat wedges, somewhere honest in between. Drop them into a bowl of cold water and leave them for ten minutes or so. This rinses off the surface starch and is the difference between chips that crisp and chips that don't. Drain them and dry them properly on a clean tea towel. Pat them. Be thorough. Wet chips spit in hot oil and never go properly golden.

   Maris Piper is the potato for this. Floury enough to go fluffy inside, with enough structure to hold a crisp edge. King Edwards work too. Waxy potatoes won't give you what you need here.
2. 2

   First fry the chips

   Pour oil into a deep, heavy pan to a depth of about eight centimetres. Heat it over a medium flame until a chip dropped in sizzles gently and rises to the surface, not violently, not lazily, just a steady, purposeful fizz. Fry the chips in two batches for six or seven minutes until they're cooked through but still pale and soft. Lift them out onto a wire rack or a plate lined with kitchen paper. They'll look unfinished. That's right. They need to rest before the second fry.

   If you have a thermometer, the oil wants to be around 130C for this first fry. If you don't have a thermometer, the chip test is all you need. Trust what you see.
3. 3

   Prepare the gammon

   While the chips rest, snip through the fat around the edge of each gammon steak in three or four places with kitchen scissors. This stops them curling in the pan, which they will, stubbornly, if you don't. If the steaks are particularly salty (give one a small sniff, your nose will tell you), soak them in cold water for twenty minutes and pat dry. Most good butcher's gammon won't need this, but supermarket cuts sometimes do.

4. 4

   Cook the gammon

   Get a large frying pan or griddle pan properly hot. No oil needed. The gammon carries enough fat of its own. Lay the steaks in and cook for four to five minutes on the first side. You'll hear it. A confident sizzle that settles into a steady hiss. When the underside has gone golden brown and the fat at the edges is turning translucent and starting to crisp, turn them over. Another three to four minutes on the second side. The meat should feel firm but not rigid when you press it with the back of a spoon. Move them to a warm plate and let them rest while you finish everything else.

5. 5

   Second fry the chips

   Bring the oil back up to a higher heat. You want it hotter now: a chip dropped in should sizzle immediately and aggressively. Fry the chips in batches again, this time for two to three minutes, until they're deep gold and properly crisp. You'll see the colour change. Lift them onto a tray lined with kitchen paper, season with salt while they're still glistening, and keep them somewhere warm. An oven at its lowest, door ajar, does the job.

   Around 190C for this second fry if you're using a thermometer. The double frying is what gives you a chip that crunches under your teeth and goes soft and floury in the middle. It cannot be done in a single pass.
6. 6

   Cook the peas

   Bring a small pan of water to the boil. Drop in the peas and cook for two minutes, no more. Drain them, return them to the pan with the butter and a torn mint leaf if you have one. Stir until the butter melts and coats the peas. Season with salt and a grind of pepper. Frozen peas are a fine thing. No apology necessary. They go from freezer to table in three minutes and taste like they've tried harder than they have.

7. 7

   Fry the eggs

   In the same pan you cooked the gammon in, with all those rendered, salty juices still in the bottom, add a small knob of butter. Let it foam. Crack in the eggs, one at a time, gently. The whites should set quickly on contact, the edges going lacy and golden in the butter and gammon fat. Spoon a little of the hot fat over the top of the whites to set them, but leave the yolks alone. They want to be runny. Completely, gloriously runny. When the whites are set and the yolks are still soft and trembling, they're done.

   Cracking the egg into a small cup first and then sliding it into the pan gives you more control. A broken yolk here is a small heartbreak.
8. 8

   Plate and serve

   Warm your plates. This matters. A fried egg on a cold plate loses its warmth in under a minute. Lay the gammon steak on one side, pile the chips alongside, spoon the buttery peas into the gap, and slide the egg on top of the gammon so the yolk sits there waiting to be broken. No garnish. No fuss. Carry it to the table. There are few better feelings than putting a warm plate in front of someone, and this is one of the warm plates that deserves it most.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your gammon from a butcher if you can, and ask for it cut thick. Supermarket gammon steaks are often sliced too thin, which means they dry out before the fat has a chance to render and crisp. You want the steak to be about the thickness of your thumb, at least.
• •The egg gets fried last, in the gammon pan. All that rendered fat and salt from the meat seasons the egg without you having to do a thing. It's one of those happy accidents that isn't an accident at all. It's the reward for cooking things in the right order.
• •If the gammon is too salty for your taste, soak it in cold water for twenty minutes before cooking. Give it a sniff first. Trust your nose. It knows before you do.
• •Malt vinegar on the chips is traditional and correct. A bottle on the table, not a drizzle on the plate. Your kitchen, your rules.

Advance Preparation

• •The chips can be given their first fry up to two hours ahead and left at room temperature on a wire rack. The second fry just before serving will crisp them as if you'd done it all in one go.
• •The gammon can be soaked in advance if it needs it, dried, and kept in the fridge until you're ready to cook. Everything else is last-minute work, which is part of the pleasure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 630g)