Frites-Style Pulled Chicken Loaded Fries

Modelled on the loaded fries at Frites in Edinburgh, and specifically on the pulled chicken that sits under most of their menu: slow-cooked, mildly spiced, tender rather than saucy. It goes over proper hand-cut chips fried twice the Belgian way, crunchy outside and fluffy inside, with cheddar melted straight onto them. Get those two parts right, then it's a drizzle of sharp garlic mayo over the top — and one of the three Frites finishes at the bottom if you want to go further.

Pulled chicken

• 1 pack chicken thigh fillets — about 600 g
• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 cloves garlic + a thumb of ginger — grated
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 onion — sliced
• 1 chicken stock pot + 100 ml water

Twice-fried chips

• 800 g Maris Pipers — about 2 large per person
• Sunflower or vegetable oil — for deep frying
• Salt

Garlic sauce

• 4 tbsp good mayo — Hellmann's or Kewpie
• 1–2 garlic cloves — grated on a microplane, or crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

To build

• Grated mature cheddar — a big handful each
• Fresh coriander
• The garlic sauce, plus a finish from the list below if you want one

Method

1. Marinate. Mix the yogurt, lemon, garlic, ginger, spices, herbs and salt. Coat the thighs and leave at least 2 hours, overnight if you can.

2. Slow cook. Onion into the base of the slow cooker, chicken and all its marinade on top, stock pot and water around it. Low for 4–5 hours, until a thigh falls apart pressed with a fork.

3. Shred and reduce. Shred the chicken in the pot. Tip the liquid into a pan and boil it down for 5–10 minutes until it coats a spoon, then toss it back through. You want it moist and clinging, not sitting in sauce — the sauce goes on at the end.

4. Cut and rinse the chips. Peel, cut into 1 cm batons, and soak in cold water for 30 minutes to wash off the surface starch. Drain and dry them properly on a tea towel — wet chips spit and won't crisp.

5. First fry, 160°C. 6–7 minutes, in batches, until soft right through but still pale. Lift out onto kitchen paper and leave at least 20 minutes. The rest is what makes the second fry crisp.

6. Second fry, 180°C. 2–3 minutes until deep golden and crunchy. Salt them the moment they come out.

7. Garlic sauce. Stir the mayo, garlic, lemon and salt together and leave it while the chips fry — ten minutes lets the raw garlic mellow into the mayo. Taste it: it should be punchy, so add the second clove if it isn't. Loosen with a teaspoon of water if you want it thin enough to drizzle.

8. Build. Hot chips into a bowl, cheddar straight on so it melts from the heat (a minute under the grill if it needs help), then the pulled chicken, more cheddar, a good drizzle of garlic sauce, your finish if you're using one, and coriander.

Fast track (~2 hours)

Same chicken, same chips, braised on the hob instead of in the slow cooker. Swap these in for steps 1–3 above and fit the chips around the braise.

1. 0:00 — Short marinade. Coat the thighs in the marinade and leave for 30 minutes. Thighs take a short marinade well, and the braise does most of the flavouring. Cut the chips and put them in to soak meanwhile.

2. 0:30 — Brown and braise. Shake off the excess marinade and brown the thighs hard in a heavy lidded pan, 3 minutes a side. Onion in for 3 minutes, then the rest of the marinade, the stock pot and 150 ml water — a bit more than the slow cooker, because the hob loses liquid. Lid on, heat as low as it goes, and simmer gently for 1 hr 15, turning the thighs halfway.

3. ~1:00 — First fry. Chips in at 160°C while the chicken goes, then leave them to rest.

4. ~1:45 — Shred and reduce. When a thigh falls apart under a fork, shred it in the pan. Lid off and boil the juices down for 5–10 minutes until they cling.

5. ~1:55 — Second fry and build. Chips in at 180°C for 2–3 minutes, salt, then build as above.