Amanda and I made some french fries at home last week on a whim. Here are the notes.
- We used this recipe from Serious Eats as a base.
- Making fries at home is both easier and more difficult than The whole process takes at least an hour and a half before clean up. Make sure you have enough time to do this. We were getting pretty hungry by the end. We aren’t making them on a weeknight again, only on a weekend, maybe a huge batch with tons of dipping sauces and friends to consume them.
- Using a mandolin with a 7.5mm blade makes french fries that are about the size of McDonald’s fries.
- Boiling with salt and vinegar before frying is a must. The fries would have been tough without doing that. The vinegar keeps the potatoes from breaking down.
- Peanut oil doesn’t smell nearly as much as regular vegetable oil. We are definitely using peanut oil from now on.
- I’m skeptical that the double frying method’s taste is good enough to warrant the extra effort and time above the single fry method.
- 5-6 minutes in the 400F oil makes fries that are almost as crispy as potato chips.
- 3-3.5 minutes in 400F oil makes fries crispy enough that they stand up to dipping them in sauces.
- A good strainer is necessary. I didn’t have one and I regretted it. I’m ordering this one before I make them again.
- Salt the fries as soon as they come out of the fryer so the salt will stick.
- Consume them within 30 minutes so they don’t go limp.
- Keep the container the oil came out of so you have a way to dispose of it after it cools. Our oil came in a large jug that held more than we needed, so we dumped out some old juice and used the juice container.
- I made a copy cat of Monk’s fry sauce to dip them in (recipe coming soon)
Cook Like Chuck 