Is there anything more amazing than perfectly done French Fries? Golden brown and crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside? It took a while, but we figured it out! Check it out!
Ingredients:
- Good sized, uniform baking potatoes
- Peanut oil
- Kosher salt
Cut the potatoes into the size you want (we hand cut for larger fries and use a mandolin for shoestring fries). No need to wash or peel.
Dunk your cut potatoes into a big bowl of ice water. Swish around and let them sit in there for 5-10 minutes. You are doing this to clean them and wash off the excess starch.
In the meantime, heat about 3-4 inches of peanut oil to 325 degrees. We use an old tall Calphalon stock pot for frying – tall so stuff doesn’t spatter out.
Pull your potatoes out of the cold water and lay them next to each other (like sardines in a can) on half a clean kitchen towel. Throw away the runt fries. Fold over the kitchen town and roll it up like a HoHo ™. This will get out the excess moisture. One batch of fries (2-3 potatoes) usually yields 2-3 towel rolls of taters.
Think of each towel roll as a batch. Dump one (gently, to avoid splashing) into the oil and par-cook for about 3-5 minutes (you don’t want them turning golden brown – not yet). Pull out with tongs or a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Do this with the other rolls. The fries should be mostly cooked, but still pretty flacid and white. Be sure to let the oil get back up to temperature between batches.
When the fries are par-cooked, crank the oil up to 350-375 degrees. As the oil heats up, prep a large bowl by lining it with paper towels.
Drop the fries into the hotter oil in the same batches as before. They’ll bubble and sizzle like crazy and they only need to be in the oil 30-60 seconds – pull out when they get as golden brown as you’d like and place in the lined bowel. Sprinkle each batch with a bit of kosher salt.
Not step back and look at what you’ve created – then dig in! It’s SO worth the effort!
Pro-tip: for extra flavor zing, add some fresh ground black pepper and grated parmesan cheese to your fries!
