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I'm embarrassed to admit this as I am a culinary school graduate, but I cannot seem to make fries without them coming out limp and greasy. I try to make sure the oil is hot enough before dropping them in, I drain them properly. What the heck am I doing wrong ?
What kind of oil do you use? I use peanut oil and you can heat it up VERY hot without it smoking. Put a little salt in the oil, that helps draw more water from the potatoes. Maybe you are trying to fry too many at a time and the temp drops too low when you put them in. Maybe you cut your fries too big and they will always be a bit limp and soggy in that case.
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I make good crispy fries in my concession trailer.
I start with Idaho potatoes. I run them through a 1/4" slicer, and drop them right into a bucket of water. It washes off the starch, and separates every fry.
They will stick in a huge lump if they don't get washed.
I make sure that the oil temp is 375 F minimum. I prefer 400 F, but the oil burns out much sooner. That shouldn't be a factor for small batches at home. You also need a good volume of oil to hold the temp.
I move them around in the oil with tongs. When they break with a good solid snap they are done. Lift out the basket, and give them a real good shake to knock off excess oil.
Bandon, I feel your pain. I hate limp, greasy fries. You CAN make non-greasy, crispy fries though. Here's the video I learned from. My fries come out fan-crispy-tastic now!
It's from a show called The Best Thing I Ever Ate (http://www.hulu.com/watch/187404/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate-bobby-flay-on-french-fries#s-p2-sr-i0 - broken link) where celeb chefs talk about certain food. In this 3:00 clip, Bobby Flay talks the best fried thing he ever ate: fries at Balthazar NYC.
Excellent tips !!! Thank you everybody. And that link was tremendously helpful. I hadn't considered blanching, even though I was taught that in culinary school
I can see where my mistakes have been made. I probably do put too many in at a time for the oil I've got in the pot. I've been using canola but will try peanut oil in the future. I also want to experiment with sweet potato fries as I've had them in restaurants and with a little aioli, yummm.
I guess every cook has her challenges and mine has been perfect fries lol.
I too want to eventually open my own food truck, and good fries will be a must for that. Anyone have experiences with sweet potato fries ?
Sautee them then turn up the heat to sear the outside then stick them in an over at 425° for about 20-25 minutes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bandon
I too want to eventually open my own food truck, and good fries will be a must for that. Anyone have experiences with sweet potato fries ?
Can't say I have. I small dice sweet potatoes douse them in clarified butter and then sprinkle brown sugar over and bake them. Sort of like oven baked breakfast potatoes only different. I really hate sweet potatoes and that's the only way I can eat them.
Sweet potato fries are very good. I make them for my wife's daycare kids all the time and they love them. They are also very good for you and have way more good stuff in them than regular spuds.
When I'm feeling cheap and I need to buy oil I sometimes buy sunflower oil for deep frying and save my peanut oil for Thai food and other stir fries.
I'm not a professional but why not try the same method as described in the video? Crispy sweet potato fries are definitely an art form but they're definitely possible.
I had some recently at a burger joint called SmashBurger.
The video left out one step. Soak, blanche, FREEZE and then fry.
Freezing works, too, but it's not always necessary, if you blanche them correctly. That particular restaurant doesn't freeze them because they go through so many in a day.
Making sure the fries are dry is very important, though. Good catch.
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