Fries not right

I know this is not a very sexy question but any help would greatly be appreciated. I have a small catering business and I occasionally get requests for french fries. Obviously, as Im doing them in the customers kitchen, their is no deep fat fryer. What I have been attempting to do is, first use russets, cut 1/4" thick, soaked in ice water until ready to fry. Dry completly. Fry in 330 F veg oil just until fries are a very pale gold. Next I Drain and spread out on a sheet pan for one hour. Second frying at 390 F. Sometimes this method gets close but it seems to always miss the mark. I have tried other potatoes, other fats (lard), but nothing really works. Please , please help.

This is the best:

Arabian-Passard’s Optimum Fries

2 to 3 quarts of peanut oil (or substitute 1/3 to 1/2 beef tallow)
1 to 1¼ pound Idaho Russet-Burbank or large white boiling potatoes
Salt

Pour the peanut oil into an electric deep fryer or a six-quart stove-top deep-frying pan fitted with a wire basket. Use as much oil as the manual of the electric deep fryer recommends (or up to half the volume of the stove-top version. i.e., three quarts). Using a frying thermometer, bring the oil to 265º F.

Meanwhile, wash and peel the potatoes, and with a french-fry cutter or a kitchen knife, cut them into long strips with a square cross section about 3/8 inch on a side. Discard the smallest and most irregular pieces. You should have between ¾ and 1 pound of potatoes (3 to 4 cups). Use the smaller amount with two quarts of peanut oil and the larger amount with three quarts. Do not wash the potatoes, but dry them carefully in a kitchen towel. Keep them wrapped tightly until the oil is ready.

Put the potatoes into the frying basket and lower it into the oil. Cook over high heat until the oil nears 260º F again, then lower the heat to maintain that temperature. Stirring often with a long cooking fork, cook for 9 or 10 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly cooked on the induced but are white and somewhat translucent on the outside and have not yet taken on color. Lift the basket and drain the potatoes while the oil reaches 370º F. to 380º F., again over the highest heat. Do not let the oil exceed 380º F.

Plunge the frying basket back into the oil and fry for about 3 minutes, until the potatoes are deeply golden and crisp. All-purpose or boiling potatoes take about 30 seconds longer to cook.

Lift the frying basket, drain the potatoes for a few moments, invert the basket onto a plate covered with paper towels, blot the top of the pile of fries, and, just before serving, salt them without stinting.

ok...could that last posting be more complicated? they're fries, man, not pommes souffle! wrap them tightly in a kitchen towel? how practical is that?

i've cooked a lot of fries and they're something that it's hard to do badly (although some places manage it).

i personally have never subscribed to this theory that you have to blanch them at one temp (lower) and then finish at a higher temp. i know all the books say that...but from my experience it doesn't matter and it's a pain to have to switch temps on the oil. i have always blanched them at the full frying temp (375°) for only about 15-20 seconds. they'll soften, get translucent, look really greasy. pull them and stick em in something....doesn't have to be a sheet pan, doesn't have to be a single layer....they're fries, man! then when you need an order, fry em again. same temp, same oil. until they're brown and crispy...usually takes 3 or 4 minutes.

this ain't rocket science--fries are fries.

oh, most importantly....don't wait to salt them....not before you serve, but right when they come out of the oil and are still glistening with oil so that the salt sticks.



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eddie

Whatever works for you. But, I have really seen fries messed up. The one I posted really works. It ain't really that complicated.

Here's how I make fries. I just cut the potatos like regular fries, "blanch" them in oil at 275 F until they start to change color just a bit. pull them out let them rest until I need them. then I fry them at 350F until done. It might not be the best way, but it works for me.

[Pete]

I agree with you CoolJ. Sweet and simple!!

Thanks for all your help. I willbe testing these methods tonight. One question remains. I would like to here what folks think about the type of oil/fat. Does it really matter?

I always use peanut oil. Neutral flavor, high smoking point. If I were to use anything else it would be pure canola.

[chefjohnpaul]

I like to run the raw cut fries in cold water till it runs clear, the excess starch will burn before the poatoes get crisp, at least that's what I have found.

Hey, rocket science or not, good fries, good meat loaf, good mashed potatoes, properly cooked rice, ect... The basics are the backbone of every good cook and the basics are the building blocks of more refined cuisine. Fry on!



[This message has been edited by chefjohnpaul (edited 02-06-2001).]