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December 7, 2006

Homemade French Fries

The other day I decided to make some homemade fries. I've never made them before in a fryer, but I do recall baking them.

ITEMS NEEDED
1 small bag Yukon Gold potatoes washed and cut into thin slices
flour (about 3c.) + seasonings (salt, pepper, about a tsp. of each: garlic powder, onion powder and paprika - or whatever taste you are looking for)
oil for frying (I used about 4/5 canola and 1/5 peanut)
something to fry them in I used a Presto Pot (those things are wonderful multi-taskers, by the way).
water and vinegar (about 1/4 cup to a bowl of water to keep the potatoes from browning and to pull some starch out of them so they are crispier)

Heat the oil to about 325. While the oil is heating cut and wash potatoes. Put potato slices in a bowl of cold vinegar water. After you've peeled all the potatoes and they've soaked in the vinegar, take some out and dry them well (I used a salad spinner). You'll have to do this in batches, eyeballing how much your fryer can hold at one time. Fry each batch for a couple minutes. You're not looking for browning here, just a quick blanching. Remove, set on paper towels to cool a bit.

After that is all done, kick your heat up to about 350-375.

Place first batch in the flour/spice mixture, coat thoroughly then remove, shaking off all excess flour (I used a mesh strainer, shaking it until all the flour came off -- hold it over the bowl with the flour in it so you can reuse the flour or you'll run out). You can do all of them or just some of them in between frying batches. When your oil is ready, go ahead and put them in. I'll guesstimate that each batch took about 5 minutes to cook/brown but as we all know cooking time varies. Remove, drain on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, toss to coat and eat when cool.

Because these were Yukon Gold they were sweet and more like home-style fries. They were crisp enough for me, but if you like a really crispy fry you might use Russets or slice them even thinner.



Comments

Yum! I love homemade french fries, especially when I can get a family member to peel and slice the potatoes.

Posted by: ebonyblue | December 8, 2006 3:47 PM

Yeah, they aren't something I'd be making every day but they sure are yummy. Mmmmm. :)

Posted by: Groovy Mom | December 8, 2006 7:23 PM