Beer Fries

I'd heard about this new trend hitting a lot of bars in the states and I knew I had to have a try myself. Two of the greatest things on god's green earth combined into one tasty snack. You like beer? Good. You like fries? Good. Let's keep it simple - today we're making beer fries.

When I posted this picture online, asking people to guess what I was making, I had everything from the inspirational (fish & chips with beer batter?) to the hilarious (beer and potato?). Truth is, it's nowhere near as complicated as a plate of fish and chips, and only slightly more complicated than beer and potato. It might seem silly, but stick with me, OK? You gotta start with a good quality beer. Goliath from Wychwood Brewery is just that. Rich, malty, a little bit of caramel - British bitter done right. Too bad I ain't drinking it...

A couple of baking potatoes, skin-on, scrubbed clean and cut into thick fries. Or 'chips' if you prefer. (Cue 10 minute argument inside my head as to whether these are 'chips' or 'fries'...)

Tip your fries into a bowl, big enough so they're below the rim. Do you know why? Can you guess what's coming? Of course you can. You rascal.

Cover the fries with the beer, so that they're totally submerged. It's almost hard to do, pouring all of that beautiful beer into someplace that's not your gullet. Trust me on this one. Have I ever let you down? No. No I haven't. Let the fries soak for about half an hour, during which time they'll soak up about half of the beer. (In fact, they drink faster than a lot of my mates...wheyyyyyy). Drain well.

Toss the chips with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a few minced cloves of garlic and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Make sure all of the seasoning distributes well and then arrange on a baking tray. Bang them into a hot oven, about 220C should do the trick.

Give the fries about 45 minutes in the oven to get like this. More or less depending on how you like them. In the Fatboy household fries are cooked one way and one way only - crispy. The darker, almost caramelised bit of potato skin lathered in seasoning and spices....that's just Flavourtown, USA. And the ridiculous thing about these fellas is that you can totally taste the beer, and it's amazing. The richness of the bitter absolutely comes through...it's a taste sensation. And a pretty bodacious one at that. Do people still say 'bodacious'? Has anyone who isn't a Ninja Turtle ever said 'bodacious'? Don't worry about it, I won't.

And that's that. Beer and potato, basically. Pass me the ketchup. And another beer.

Ingredients
1 good quality bottle of beer
2-3 baking potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
sea salt
black pepper