French Fries

Potatoes are not hard to cook, but knowing which kind of potato and which kind of heat to use in any given situation is usually the key to success. A perfect french fry has an even, crispy, golden crust, while remaining perfectly fluffy in the interior. The former is achieved with high heat, the latter by low, and the quality of both is elevated by the use of potatoes with a higher starch content, usually known as russets. There are other factors which contribute to a crust of exquisite flavor and texture, namely the saturation of the fat (higher equals better, so rendered animal fats such as cow or horse are reputed to be the best frying medium for potatoes) – I don’t vouch for that but you can read more about the science and lore here. So this preparation, and  in fact every proper preparation, cooks the potatoes twice. Like several other preparations in this collection that involve cooking potatoes at high heat in some way and browning them, French fried potatoes are blanched first at low temperature, then fried the second time for the golden exterior. I always laugh when a mediocre establishment brags about its handcut fries or its peanut oil – as if those things make it somehow more elevated than the old diner fry or a McDonalds fry – and then have an interior that collapses disappointingly into mush because they cut the fries and then just dropped them straight into hot oil. A fry dropped into oil raw will have an inside that is mushy and a bit sticky – the opposite of fluffy. You can always tell – the interior does not resemble anything like fluffy, and for that matter, the exterior doesn’t have a true crust and is rather more of a dark chestnut than a deep, lustrous golden. Surprisingly enough, I often find diner fries more satisfying, and there’s no doubt that before arriving at whichever fine establishment I’m due to meet them, they were pressure or steam cooked to doneness then frozen solid. Even McDonalds, which food snobs are often forced to admit purveys a rather fine specimen of French fry, won’t last a day in the coming fast food wars if they ship out raw fries. (To the above point about fat saturation, their fries also rose to fame on the back of beef tallow, which was replaced with a synthetic version once the veggies empowered themselves in the 80s.) The fries below are blanched in water first, although they can just as well (and commonly are) be blanched in oil that is close to the same temperature. This is easier to accomplish with a professional deep fryer, which will maintain the oil at any temperature you set it to, but on the stove pot if you’ve got a nice thick bottomed pan and a candy thermometer that you don’t mind checking until you’ve got it regulated, it can also work and is perhaps a more traditional medium for the initial blanch.

The fries here are cut to the size that is most traditional for a French or Belgian brasserie as far as I know, which also suits me the most, but I don’t see any reason you shouldn’t make shoestring fries or steak fries or curly fries etc and have the means to make those shapes, I don’t see any reason why this preparation won’t work, but keep in mind that if they’re thicker, you should blanche for a little longer to ensure doneness, and if they’re very thin, perhaps you should leave them just slightly stiff in the middle so that they finish in the oil (if you left the thicker ones uncooked, I would worry that they wouldn’t get all the way there without their exteriors overcooking).

Ingredients:

• 3 large russet potatoes
• 1-2 qts high heat oil, like safflower or sunflower or peanut
• Salt

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and cut into batons (a half inch by half inch by the length of the potato). I don’t feel the need to square the ends, but you will still have some end scraps which you could certainly save for another use.

Drop the cut potatoes into a large pot of cold water as you cut them so they don’t discolor in the air, and when they’re all in, add some salt and place on high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat so that it is gently simmering. Cook until just done, then remove. It is best not to drain them in the sink but rather to use a strainer to gently lift them out of the boiling water so that as few break as possible. You’ll have one handy anyway, because of course you’re not going to remove them from the oil in the next step by draining them in the sink either.

Spread the blanched fries out on a sheet pan and allow to cool and dry out a bit.

When you’re ready to fry them, place the oil in a high-sided pot and place on high heat. The rule with deep frying is that you rarely want to fill your pot much more than halfway with oil, so that when you drop your food in and there is an immediate and sometimes violent expulsion of moisture the oil won’t rapidly bubble over the side. You want to keep the incredibly damaging hot oil in the cooking vessel – that’s the main idea, so know how it will react to whatever food you’re dropping in, and also keep that in mind as you apply common sense.

If you’re measuring the heat with a thermometer, you want it at 375, so do what you have to do to achieve and maintain this temperature. If you’re not using a thermometer, like me, after a couple minutes of heating on high, drop a small piece of potato in and reduce the heat to medium. When the piece of potato at the bottom of the pot and releasing bubbles steadily and briskly, it’s time to drop in the rest of your fries. Depending on how big your pot is, you’ll almost certainly have to work in batches. You’ll want to maintain the heat on medium or medium low, dependent on quite a few factors, but it’s not that hard to maintain a steady and brisk fry – too slow and you’ll sog them up; to fast and they’ll start to overcook and the oil will become bitter.

You don’t really want or need to move them around too much while they’re cooking, but don’t shy away from tending them either, separating two that have become attached, flipping or repositioning any that don’t appear to be getting evenly cooked. When they’re deliciously golden (you know the color) remove them with a strainer or skimmer.

As soon as you remove the fries from the oil, drain them well and place in a bowl (line it with a paper towel if you like) and liberally sprinkle salt all over them while tossing simultaneously. If you happen to have some béarnaise sauce handy, that’s my favorite dipping sauce for them, but you can do whatever you like – no matter what, serve immediately and enjoy immensely.