waterinthefuel
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- Joined
- Nov 15, 2003
- Messages
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I've been chasing the right combination of temp, length of time for cooking and then the ice bucket for over a year, and a little while ago, I finally nailed it. Now I want to share it.
For this recipe, you'll need a french fry cutter that cuts the fries into 1/4" cube sized slices. A common french fry cutter will do this. The other thing you will need, and this is the secret......a bucket or container of ice water, literally with ice cubes floating in it. Have this ready for the next step.
The first thing you need is to cut the potato into fry shaped slices. If the potato won't fit in the french fry cutter, cut it in half first. If you do, place the UNCUT end of the potato against the cutting blades before proceeding to cut the fries. If you don't, it will be almost impossible to cut.
After you have cut the fries, you'll need to dry them well. Use a paper towel or even regular towel for this. (Don't worry about germs, dropping them into hot grease sterilizes everything instantly) After you dry them, heat your oil to 375 degrees. Place the fries into the grease for 2 and a half minutes. At 2 and a half minutes, immediately remove the fries from the grease and place them into the ice water. This stops them from cooking. While the fries sit in the ice water, heat the grease to 425. After 10 minutes or so of them sitting in the ice water, take them out and dry them again. Failure to dry them will result in excessive popping and splashing of the hot grease when the cold fries are reintroduced. When you place the fries back into the 425 degree oil, time it for 1 minute, 30 seconds. At that time, immediately remove the fries from the grease and place them onto a plate with a paper towel on it to absorb excess grease. I personally like dry fries so I use another paper towel to dry them even more. At this point you can eat them plain, you can add salt or you can add french fry seasoning.
The result will be a fry that is crispy on the outside, yet fluffy on the inside and will be a beautiful golden brown. While it's a lot of work and trouble and does make a mess, the end result is a huge pile of fries that literally cost about 1 dollar. It would cost about 7-8 dollars at McDonalds to buy the same amount of fries that I can make for about a buck. And I can season them the way I want to. I use the large potatoes from the grocery store, leaving the skin on. You can skin the potato first if you choose. That's a personal choice. To determine oil temp, I used an infrared digital thermometer, so my temps are accurate to within +/- like 1 degree. This is a much more accurate way of determining oil temp than using the knob with the preset numbers on fry daddys and such. And is safer than sticking something down into the oil like a temp probe. The infrared thermometer keeps your hands safely away from the grease.
I always did all of my frying outdoors but my frying pans and such couldn't get the oil above 375 so I fried these on my stove. Just remember, between batches, to turn the stove off if you choose to do this inside. (Just put the fan on above the stove to suck out all the smell. I was worried about it smelling bad in here after I finished, but it doesn't.) I say that because between my first batch and second batch today, while I was chowing down, I forgot the light on. I come back and the grease is smoking like crazy. I checked the temp, 561 degrees!!! Yikes! I almost had me a grease fire.
Just be careful and you can have a blast making your own french fries. Kids love french fries, so they can participate in helping too. Just leave the grease part up to the grown ups, but they can surely take the fries out of the ice water and dry them and such for you. Kids love to eat things they just cooked, and french fries aren't something you usually cook at home so they'll think that's pretty neat.
Dip 'em in ketchup if you wish and most importantly......Enjoy!
For this recipe, you'll need a french fry cutter that cuts the fries into 1/4" cube sized slices. A common french fry cutter will do this. The other thing you will need, and this is the secret......a bucket or container of ice water, literally with ice cubes floating in it. Have this ready for the next step.
The first thing you need is to cut the potato into fry shaped slices. If the potato won't fit in the french fry cutter, cut it in half first. If you do, place the UNCUT end of the potato against the cutting blades before proceeding to cut the fries. If you don't, it will be almost impossible to cut.
After you have cut the fries, you'll need to dry them well. Use a paper towel or even regular towel for this. (Don't worry about germs, dropping them into hot grease sterilizes everything instantly) After you dry them, heat your oil to 375 degrees. Place the fries into the grease for 2 and a half minutes. At 2 and a half minutes, immediately remove the fries from the grease and place them into the ice water. This stops them from cooking. While the fries sit in the ice water, heat the grease to 425. After 10 minutes or so of them sitting in the ice water, take them out and dry them again. Failure to dry them will result in excessive popping and splashing of the hot grease when the cold fries are reintroduced. When you place the fries back into the 425 degree oil, time it for 1 minute, 30 seconds. At that time, immediately remove the fries from the grease and place them onto a plate with a paper towel on it to absorb excess grease. I personally like dry fries so I use another paper towel to dry them even more. At this point you can eat them plain, you can add salt or you can add french fry seasoning.
The result will be a fry that is crispy on the outside, yet fluffy on the inside and will be a beautiful golden brown. While it's a lot of work and trouble and does make a mess, the end result is a huge pile of fries that literally cost about 1 dollar. It would cost about 7-8 dollars at McDonalds to buy the same amount of fries that I can make for about a buck. And I can season them the way I want to. I use the large potatoes from the grocery store, leaving the skin on. You can skin the potato first if you choose. That's a personal choice. To determine oil temp, I used an infrared digital thermometer, so my temps are accurate to within +/- like 1 degree. This is a much more accurate way of determining oil temp than using the knob with the preset numbers on fry daddys and such. And is safer than sticking something down into the oil like a temp probe. The infrared thermometer keeps your hands safely away from the grease.
I always did all of my frying outdoors but my frying pans and such couldn't get the oil above 375 so I fried these on my stove. Just remember, between batches, to turn the stove off if you choose to do this inside. (Just put the fan on above the stove to suck out all the smell. I was worried about it smelling bad in here after I finished, but it doesn't.) I say that because between my first batch and second batch today, while I was chowing down, I forgot the light on. I come back and the grease is smoking like crazy. I checked the temp, 561 degrees!!! Yikes! I almost had me a grease fire.
Just be careful and you can have a blast making your own french fries. Kids love french fries, so they can participate in helping too. Just leave the grease part up to the grown ups, but they can surely take the fries out of the ice water and dry them and such for you. Kids love to eat things they just cooked, and french fries aren't something you usually cook at home so they'll think that's pretty neat.
Dip 'em in ketchup if you wish and most importantly......Enjoy!
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