[Note: I’m starting a new category called “needs improvement” and I’m serious about it. Use the comments or contact me directly with suggestions. I’ll be updating these as I discover improvements. If you have one of those recipes that “seems like a good idea” but never seems to work right, send it along and we’ll see what we can do…]
Peter was frying chicken last night (he insists on deep frying but that’s another story) so I made french fries. I’ve done them before with mild success. My best outcome was with sweet potatoes. I’ll keep at this and post updates as I perfect the technique.
The basic technique is generally agreed: cut high-starch potatoes, soak in cold water, dry well, fry in low oil, drain, fry again in high oil, salt and enjoy.
First: high-starch potatoes are generally russets or bakers. This is what I used.
I cut them on our v-slicer/mandoline, using the 1/4″ julienne blade.
![sm-fries-mandoline](http://recipicity.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sm-fries-mandoline.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
This is a departure from how I’ve done fries in the past – by hand with a nice big knife. I don’t think it was an improvement for fries – they were too small for my liking. Using these “fries” for hash browns, fritattas or tortas could be wonderful.
Second: soaking the cut fries. This helps reduce the amount of starch on the surface of the fry so that it doesn’t form a crust during frying. This means the steam can escape from the inside of the fry, making the interior light and fluffy. Allegedly.
![sm-fries-soaking](http://recipicity.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sm-fries-soaking.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
Dry them really, really well, or you’ll be sorry.
Next, heat the oil to about 320F. We use peanut oil since it has a nice high smoke point (never heat an oil above its smoke point – it’s dangerous and will break down the oil and make it nasty). We tend to overshoot on the lower temperatures since our fryer has such slow recovery, and dumping a whole potato in makes the temperature drop really fast.
(Our 327F dropped to just under 300F when I dropped in the fries.)
Once the fries are floppy and soggy and generally horrible looking, pull them out and drain them.
These should be more spread out, but I only have so much counter space (and remember, someone in my kitchen is also making fried chicken at the same time).
![sm-fries-resting](http://recipicity.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sm-fries-resting.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
![sm-fries-second](http://recipicity.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sm-fries-second.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
Heat the oil to 365F or 370F and put the fries back in. These tiny little 1/4″ fries cooked fast – two or three minutes for each step.
The finished product:
![sm-fries-finished](http://recipicity.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/sm-finished-fries.jpg?resize=523%2C480)
What I learned:
- 1/4″ fries are too small for this application. My hand-cut 3/8-1/2″ fries worked better.
- Two-step frying really does seem to make a difference. The inside of the fries are pretty fluffy – even at this small size.
Other things to try:
- Some other starchy roots
- Much larger fries – planks?
- Try grapeseed oil for a higher temperature final fry
- Try a more flavorful oil using these small fries at lower temperatures – walnut? olive?
- High-temperature bake in lieu of final fry
- Use these tiny fries in a torta or gratin for different texture than the usual slices