“You’re just adding all the things you want to go in your mouth and stacking them on top of each other,” says Jarrod Moore of the classic “chips topped with gravy and cheese” dish. “You’ve got crunchy, you’ve got fat and cheesy, and then you’ve got something rich on top to meld it all together. It turns into the ultimate comfort food.”

At The B.East in Melbourne’s inner north, Moore and the team have somewhat perfected the holy triumvirate of comfort foods sometimes referred to as poutine. But they aren’t looking to appeal to traditionalists. “I feel sometimes North Americans are like, ‘You should be using this specific type of cheese curd’. [But] we’re not trying to be a perfect Montreal poutine venue. It’s more fun if we put our own spin on it with stuff we’d want to eat.”

When there’s only three elements to a dish, it’s worth making sure each is bringing something to the table. First, focus on the gravy, which Moore vividly describes as tasting like “a charcoal chicken shop in liquid form.” The gravy uses a twice-infused chicken stock which supercharges all those intense, savoury flavours. “You can actually make your gravy the day before if you want to,” says Moore. “It’s only going to deepen in flavour in the fridge overnight.”

To get started on the gravy, you’ll want two litres of a nice chicken stock ready to go. “Then we get a whole bunch of chicken wings, which are super rich in chicken flavour, and roast those,” says Moore. Add some onion, carrots and celery to the tray, then once roasted, deglaze with a little wine or sherry. Then add everything to the premade stock and let it bubble away for up to two hours to finish the double stock.

“After we’ve got the ultimate double chicken stock, we cook it down with butter, flour and wine,” says Moore. “Then we let it reduce until it starts to get thick.” You’re shooting for a gravy thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. “Much runnier than that and it ends up leaking all over the bottom – you want it to be able to sit on the top and be able to melt everything without having a big puddle on the bottom of your plate.”

With the gravy done, get your Birds Eye Deli Seasoned Chips Parmesan, Garlic & Basil chips nice and crisp in the oven. A hot oven is the key, allowing for the outside batter to crispen, whilst trapping the moisture of the potato inside.

From there, spread your chips in your serving vessel of choice and add cheese. Australians can basically forget finding poutine-style cheese curds anywhere, so Moore recommends a bag of shredded cheese designed for a stringy melt – a pizza or Mexican blend is ideal. “Whatever blend you want to use, put it straight over the top of the chips and then make sure your gravy’s nice and hot,” he says. “Hit it over the top while it’s hot and serve it straight away. Don’t let it sit there and get soggy – get straight in.”
Here's how to make Jarrod Moore’s ultimate barbeque bird loaded fries at home.

Jarrod Moore’s barbeque bird loaded fries
Serves 2-3
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
1kg chicken wings
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 brown onions, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1 cup cooking sherry or white wine
2L chicken stock
½ bunch thyme
3 bay leaves
125g butter
75g plain flour
1 packet Birds Eye Deli Seasoned Chips Parmesan, Garlic & Basil
Chicken salt
500g cheese curds or shredded Jack cheddar
Cracked black pepper
½ bunch chives, finely chopped (for serving)

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C.

For the gravy
In a roasting tray, roast chicken wings with chopped vegetables until golden brown – roughly 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once wings and vegetables are roasted, deglaze by pouring in sherry or white wine. This helps to lift all the deliciousness off the bottom of your pan.

Pour 2L chicken stock into a large pot and add the contents of the roasting pan, plus the thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for roughly 1.5-2 hours, skimming the top every now and again to discard any impurities.

When the stock is almost ready, add butter (or lard) to a deep pan and melt on medium heat. Add flour and mix well. Reduce heat to low and lightly cook the flour and butter mixture (roux) until golden in colour and fragrant – 10-15 minutes. This will help thicken your gravy and cook out the floury taste.

Strain the chicken stock into a separate pot, keeping only the liquid and bring to a simmer. Add cooked roux and whisk until combined, then cook until reduced by half and thickened, roughly 750ml. Strain gravy into a bowl and season with chicken salt and black pepper to taste.

To assemble

Cook the Birds Eye Deli Seasoned Chips Parmesan, Garlic & Basil as per the packet instructions until golden and crispy

Transfer chips to serving container while hot and cover the top with cheese. Drizzle hot gravy all over until cheese is melted and stretchy. Top with extra cracked black pepper and chopped chives and dig in while hot.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Birds Eye. See the Birds Eye Deli range of seasoned potato chips.