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If you're like me, you take pride in making your food from "scratch," as you know exactly what is in the food, you control every aspect of it, and you get a lot of creative pride out of your accomplishment, not to mention many smiles and compliments from your diners. Here's the recipe that I came up with of how to make everyday, common French Fries from scratch. There are a few extra steps involved, but the little extra effort will reward you with superior taste and extra flavor. These fries also masquerade as "chips," when served with fish and chips... Special
tools: Deep-fat fryer, paper towels
2
large red potatoes, or 2 medium russet or other baking
potatoes, unpeeled Wash potatoes and cut out any bad spots, or "eyes." I prefer my fie's made from unpeeled potatoes, but if you prefer, you can peel them. Using sharp knife, slice potatoes lengthwise into long sections, each section about 3/8" in diameter, about the size of a fry. For even cooking, try to keep all of the fries about the same size. You may have to discard small end pieces, unless you want to have small, extra-done pieces. Place slices into a bowl of cold water for two hours and place in refrigerator; the idea is to eliminate the starch. After two hours, drain water from bowl, add new water until barely covering fries, and then add enough ice cubes to completely cover fries, and return bowl to refrigerator. Soak potatoes for an additional 30 minutes, under the ice cubes.
Left: One red potato, cut up into pieces for chips. Right: Chips on ice, which is a very important step. Heat deep fat fryer to operating temperature; about 350 degrees. Remove potatoes from ice water and dry them off with paper towels. Wrap potato slices in paper towels. You do not any moisture to remain. Carefully add potatoes to fryer in small batches, and cook until potatoes just begin to turn golden in color, about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from fryer and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with desired amount of Kosher salt. Serve immediately. Offer ketchup on the side dipping. I can't emphasise how important it is to soak the potatoes in cold water, and then in the ice water. For the soaking, I use plain tap water, but I add a few ice cubes to make the water cold, somewhere in the 55 to 60 degree range. I really go overboard when I add the ice to the water, and I completely cover the bowl with ice.
Left: Chips cooking in the deep fat fryer. Right: Chips, ready to eat. I prefer not to add any salt to them. Before you place the potatoes into your deep-fat fryer, make sure that all moisture is removed. This is a safety issue, as if the smallest remnant of moisture remains, the oil can fly out of the fryer and hit you in the face, which probably would require a trip to the emergency room and would ruin your meal, not to mention your whole day. Give my homemade fries a try, as they make a delicious side dish to fried fish, sandwiches, and many main dish courses.
Copyright(c) 2007 eRench Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since December 22, 2002. Web page design has been created by eRench Productions, Inc., custom photography for any occasion...
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