<\/a><\/h1>\n

https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/life-style\/food-wine\/100652849\/the-great-kiwi-mystery-just-how-big-is-a-scoop-of-chips<\/a><\/p>\n

JONO GALUSZKA (pictured above)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last updated\u00a017:22, January 17 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

A classic Kiwiana culinary\u00a0measurement is under scrutiny, with an industry educator calling for a scoop of chips to become standardised.<\/p>\n

A Stuff<\/em> survey of five fish ‘n chip shops in Palmerston North found a scoop of chips, while costing $3 at each shop, could weigh as little as 363 grams and as much as 480g.<\/p>\n

None of the stores displayed information saying how\u00a0much a scoop would weigh.<\/p>\n

The Chip Group training and education manager Kate Underwood said variation\u00a0in scoops was rife.<\/p>\n

The last survey the group did found a cooked scoop ranged from 280g to 800g, she said.<\/p>\n

“It is the one thing in New Zealand you go to buy and have absolutely no idea how much you will get.”<\/p>\n

Having different sizes shop-to-shop made it tricky for customers to know how much to order, so they would either throw out food or think they had been short-changed, she said.<\/p>\n

The group had spent years advocating for people to make a scoop 330g of uncooked chips, which would become slightly heavier as they absorbed oil while cooking.<\/p>\n

Underwood said 330g was about what you got in a cup at a sports event, and was an appropriate serving for one person.<\/p>\n

It was also a good size for cooking frozen chips. A scoop too big would see the oil cool too much, resulting in soggy chips, she said.<\/p>\n

Shops with the best chips often used scales, which they would weigh chips on before they went to the fryer.<\/p>\n

That also helped with consistency between different kinds of chips, like straight cut, French fry and curly, Underwood said.<\/p>\n

“Maybe even weigh every one in 10 scoops, to get an idea of how many grams you are serving each time.”<\/p>\n

It could be hard for shop owners though, as customers may have become accustomed to larger sizes.<\/p>\n

“A lot of owners get flack from customers saying ‘that’s not enough, give me more’,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n

“It is about the customers and the operators knowing [330g] is enough.”<\/p>\n

She said signage about scoop size could let customers know what they would get.<\/p>\n

Fishtown Takeaway owner Gary Yeh said he aimed to serve at least 400g per scoop.<\/p>\n

His staff were experienced enough to know how big 400g was in the scoop, and he would keep an eye on new staff.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes new staff will give extra, but I don’t mind that.<\/p>\n

“We only give extra and don’t give less.”<\/p>\n

Customers would sometimes say a scoop was too small, which could be down to them being used to takeaways from other places, Yeh said.<\/p>\n

It was also tricky when customers \u00a0asked for things like “$5 worth of chips”, as it skewed\u00a0the scoop system. Staff would have to try to figure out how much $5 worth was, then show that to customers, who might ask for another few dollars’ worth, he said.<\/p>\n

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Statistics New Zealand includes fish ‘n chips as part of the consumer price index, defining a meal as one fish and one scoop of chips.<\/p>\n

The agency was unable to separate the fish prices from the scoop prices for Stuff<\/em>, but its\u00a0data shows the costs of the meal has gone from $4.38 in June 2006 to $6.47 in December 2017.<\/p>\n

But tomato sauce has not been subject to inflation. In fact, a 560g can of the classic fish ‘n chip\u00a0accompaniment has gone from $3.03 in June 2011 to $2.84 in December 2017.<\/p>\n

The index does not measure other condiments people may have with their fish ‘n chips, such as mayonnaise, aioli or lemons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0–\u00a0Stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/life-style\/food-wine\/100652849\/the-great-kiwi-mystery-just-how-big-is-a-scoop-of-chips JONO GALUSZKA (pictured above)\u00a0 Last updated\u00a017:22, January 17 2018 A classic Kiwiana culinary\u00a0measurement is under scrutiny, with an industry educator calling for a scoop of chips to become standardised. A Stuff survey of five fish ‘n chip shops in … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3730,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Gemma Carroll","author_link":"https:\/\/thechipgroup.co.nz\/author\/gemma\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":172,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":172,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"News"}]},"yoast_head":"\n