The night of Halloween, I felt it was important to feed Nina and Pinta a healthy dinner before they headed out into Candy Land. So I gave them hot dogs and homemade French fries. Okay, I'm not going to win the Nutritious Dad of the Year award on account of that meal, but I needed something quick and easy (and when Nina said "woof, woof" is what I want for dinner, I found it impossible to resist such a cute clue).
Because I was in a hurry, I cut the potatoes very thinly, and set the oven for 425 degrees. I dried the cut potatoes on a dishtowel and then roasted them for about twenty minutes. They were magnificent, I have to say; the best ever.
I'm going to stick to making them in the oven, but since my original post, it has come to my attention that there is more than one way to make a homemade French fry. Two readers commented with very interesting ideas.
Stan Harrison suggested trying things the Belgian way. "If you use a reasonably sized pot filled two thirds with oil the results are fantastic. Fry once at 250, let the potatoes cool, then fry again at 350 to crisp the outside. Sorry for not providing the particulars but they can be found online. If you let the fries sit on a paper towel you can remove much of the oil. As you'll see, most of the oil remains in the pot." I looked online, and found a site that promises "Real Belgian Fries."
Bob del Grosso provided an even niftier solution. He said, "Baking maybe healthier but the easiest, safest and most delicious way to make "fried" French fries at home is to start them cold. This method was described in enough detail for anyone nail it in a NYT diner's journal post in 19 Mar 2010. I've made thousands of pounds of fries over the course of my career and am still amazed by how well this works." He thoughtfully provided a link.
If you make French fries at home, how do you do it? What kind of oil do you use? What kind of potatoes? How did you learn?
Super interesting links to the Times recipes, thanks! I have yet to make fries at home but I will give the slow cook a try soon!
I should add that before settling on the “Times’ method” of making fries at home, I went thru 2 electric deep fat fryers. Both had been gifts and each broke after less than a year of use. Then after a brief return to the “pot of oil over the open flame method” I found the Times’ post and never looked back. It’s MUCH safer and works just as well as the standard blanch-cool-fry technique. Of course, for line-cooking the latter is still the fastest, and therefore best method.
When I cut the potatoes, I cut them thin, just like you did, then I soak them in heavily salted water for a few minutes. The potatoes soak up the salt.So we do not need to salt them later.
When dropping them in the oil, do not crowd the pan, do them in batches. When they are slightly brown around the edges take them out of the oil onto a plate lined with a paper napkin and sprinkle some pepper on them.