Crisps

Crisps never go out of fashion. "Many old Parisian bistros serve good-quality plain salted potato chips, which are considered the perfect accompaniment to Champagne. This French habit is well worth mimicking. Serve the chips in small bowls, silver if possible. The pairing also works with cava and prosecco." So wrote David Tanis in this morning's New York Times writing about what to serve for New Year's Eve.

Plain is good, but topped works also. This iPhone shot was taken at the Belling Food Awards this year, cooking by Mikael Viljanen and Rory O'Connell. I'm not sure which of them was responsible for the crisp topped with Sally Barnes' Woodcock smoked salmon, but it was a winner. I tried a version of it as first course for our Christmas dinner. I still haven't quite worked out how they keep the crisp crisp under it's little spoonful of sour cream. I think the secret is making absolutely sure that the whole of the crisp is cooked. Because anything that doesn't come out of the oil crispy is going to go soggy straight away.

Fry the crisps in small batches, that helps. And have the oil as hot as you dare. The potatoes are best cut using a mandoline. If you don't own a mandoline, consider making shoestring poatoes (grating them), or matchstick potatoes. Skinned, or unskinned depends on whether you are going to serve them plain (the latter) or topped.

It doesn't always have to be potatoes, of course, try banana, or any root vegetables, particularly carrot or beetroot.

This is a truly divine dipping sauce. It's inspired by a David Chang recipe. Simply mix the contents of one of the packets of flavourings that come with Japanese noodles – or indeed you can buy them without the noodles in Asian shops. They're basically a mixture of seaweed, sesame seeds, and flavouring, such as wasabe or maybe bonito. Empty the packet into some sour cream. Leave it to settle for at least 20 minutes. As Chang writes "you can thank me later."

Perfect for plain chips, with champagne, of course. Happy New Year.