Advanced French Fry Technique

White potatoes, 1kg, 1st fry for 15 mins, second fry for 4 mins, done to perfection and kid approved

I too did not think there was much to say about advanced french fry technique, but you do enough batches and you learn a thing or two. Kids love french fries, and adults love kids. Therefore by triangular logic it is unsurprising that adults should also love french fries, just not as much as kids.

The standard recipe for home made french fries is to:

1. buy a bag of fresh potatoes, wash them clean of dirt, dry them, cut them up into 1cm x 1cm strips,
2. heat up a large pot of oil to 180F/82C, fry for 11 minutes, remove fries from oil,
3. heat up the oil back to 180F/82C, then fry a second time for 4 minutes, remove fries from oil,
4. shake excess oil off from fries, drain on a couple of paper napkins, cool down fries
5. add salt and serve

Equipment Tips

• Use a deep fryer. The oil stays in the deep fryer so you don’t burn yourself. It has a nice little metal basket that can be raised and lowered while the top is still covering the fries, making it much safer than an open pot. Raise the basket out of the oil and load your potatoes. No splatter. Close the lid, then lower the basket. No splatter on you, and you conserve oil. Bonus. When the fries are done you raise the basket and the oil drains. After a couple of minutes you open the cover with the fries already well drained. The oil can be premeasured, allowing you to make a batch of fries more consistently and perfectly each and every time.
• Get a slotted ladle so that when the oil cools down you can fish out the tiny slivers of potatoe that slipped through the metal basket. If left in the oil, these slivers will go black and poison the oil.
• Ensure you check and top up your oil level before each batch. A low oil level means some potatoe strips will peek out of the pot and not get cooked. A low oil level will also take longer to cook the fries, or the fries will not be as well cooked.
• Use only the specified amount of potatoes for your size of fryer. Adding more potatoe than your fryer can handle will result in undercooked and therefore soggy fries.
• Use metal tongs to remove your delicious fries from the metal basket. Shake the metal basket vigorously to remove as much oil as possible.

Potatoe Tips

• When you open a new bag of potatoes, separate them into large and too small groups. Potatoes that are too small leave bits that go through the fryer basket, causing a mess in the oil. Use these very small shards in your compost. Use the too small potatoes for stews, not for french fries.
• When you buy potatoes, buy more than one bag. More than one bag means there are more larger potatoes suitable for french fries
• Yellow potatoes take less time to fry than white potatoes. With white potatoes you’ll need to fry them for 15 minutes for the first fry, rather than the standard 11 minutes. The fries come out golden, look better, and the kids say it tastes better.
• The potatoe season is cyclical. In the fall you can buy more bags when they are on sale, and store them in your garage in a cool, dark place. During the summer or the winter you can’t buy too many potatoes as it is difficult to store them.
• I had read to cut up the potatoes and soak them in cold water to remove excess starch. It turns out my kids like the excess starch and hated the presoaked potatoes. To each his own.
• For easy cutting I use a Vegamatic manual food processor.
• Put your fryer directly on your stove and over your oven fan. While it is frying turn your oven fan on, thus removing the frying odours from your kitchen, but will entice the neighbours with fragrant french fry aroma.
• Don’t cut your fries too far in advance, or they will oxidize and turn grey. If you are doing two batches, wait until the first batch is on its second fry before starting to wash your potatoes.
• Spell potatoe the way you want. Don’t let anyone bully you into “potato”. Tell the thug that the extra “e” is free.

Frying Technique

• After the first fry it is important for the oil to get back up to the proper temperature. Don’t be impatient or be pressured by the kids crabbing about they’re hungry and want fries now. Oh no, there are some things that are worth waiting for. Also don’t skip the second fry.
• If you want a darker shade of fry, increase the time of the first fry and keep the second fry at 4 minutes. Increasing the length of the second fry does not appreciably darken the fries.
• After you drain the fries from the hot oil and salted them, wait until the fries are cool enough to eat before you call the kids. The little buggers are not smart enough to be patient and would rather burn themselves.

Flavouring Technique

• I prefer sea salt on my fries, in contrast to your standard table salt. The sea salt is twice as salty and twice as expensive, but adds a different and very positive flavour to your fries. Use half as much.
• My favourite flavouring to french fries is sea salt, powdered garlic and freshly ground black pepper. Get a large hand grinder for the black pepper.
• Malt vinegar is an traditional British flavouring, and imparts an interesting taste. Ensure when you buy a bottle that the bottle opening is very small so you can sprinkle malt vinegar on your fries. A bottle with a large hole will drown your fries.
• You may opt to toss the fries after adding the flavouring, or let the kids do it in their mad scramble to fill up their plates.
• French fries topped with a curry sauce tastes divine. I saw this on a British travel show and tried it. You should as well.

May your kids love you forever because you fed them top quality home made french fries.

Reference
–The Secret History of French Fries
–French Fries by Wiki
–The Burger Lab: How to Make Perfect Thin and Crisp French Fries

White potatoes, 1kg, 1st fry for 15 mins, second fry for 4 mins, done to perfection and kid approved