My latest kitchen gadget is a mini deep fat fryer I picked up at Lidl. It was reduced as the last one in the store and less than £15 and should prove to be a bargain if I can find some good uses for it.

Today I’ve concentrated on making crisps. I’d tried some microwave based recipes but wasn’t overly keen on the results, which tasted a bit burnt to me. I still haven’t perfected it with the fryer but got some reasonable results. It does cost a lot more time than just opening a packet but saves the environmental cost of a hard-to-recycle package for a treat that Jane and I do enjoy.

As a mini-unit (taking about 600ml of oil) the batch size is very limited but I see that as potentially a benefit. Deep fried foods are “calorifically dense” so small portions is probably a blessing rather than a curse.