pomme frites

—allyzay on March 20th, 2009
in

Summary

Yield
Source

time out chicago (no kidding!)

Prep Time45 minutes
Kind of Dishside dishes
Dietary Infovegetarian
Tagsfried

Description

i am spamming you all but i'm posting this by request. no need for a deep fryer!

Ingredients

  • 4 large potatoes, unpeeled and washed
  • 1⁄2 q canola oil
  • fine grain sea salt, to taste

Instructions

pour canola oil into a large, heavy pot (you want to have at least two inches of oil at the bottom, and you need at least two inches of room between where the oil ends and the top of the pot to minimize spattering). if you have a deep fry thermometer, affix to the pot and heat the oil to exactly 300 degrees. i don't have a deep fry thermometer, so i heat the oil on medium-high for about 15 minutes.

while the oil is heating, cut the potatoes length-wise into 1/4 inch strips. rinse under cool water for a couple minutes (until the water is running mostly clear) and pat dry. gently place into the oil and blanch for three minutes. remove from oil, drain on a paper towel and then place into the fridge for 15-20 minutes to cool off.

while fries are cooling, crank the oil up to 350 degrees (no thermometer style: put burner on high and get it bubbling a bit). toss the cool fries back in and fry for 5-10 minutes until golden. you will know when they are done, they will just look like delicious french fries. drain and then toss fries with your preferred amount of salt.

serve with favorite condiment! i like to make a ghetto garlic aioli by mixing minced garlic to taste with mayo.

Notes

if you are serving more guests, just add one more potato per person. you also might need more oil, depending on your pot. i know this seems like a long prep time but seriously 80% of it is just waiting for oil to heat up/fries to cool off so it's not a lot of work.

Comments

Submitted by Lauren on March 24th, 2009.

My french fry tip is to keep the sliced raw potatoes in a bowl of ice-cold water until they're ready to go into the frying pan. I swear this produces the ultimate crispy frites. PAT THEM DRY BEFORE YOU PUT THEM IN THE HOT OIL, though. I thought that was self-evident, but I had a friend who neglected to do that and much badness resulted.

Submitted by allyzay on March 24th, 2009.

i have forgotten to pat them FULLY dry before doing this too -- it is bad news.