Potato Strips
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and cut the potatoes into long strips, about 1/16 inch thick.
Soak the strips in ice water for 1 hour.
Dry the strips by placing them on a clean towel and pressing another towel on top.
Fry and serve
Fry the strips in hot lard, not too many at once, adding a little salt.
Remove them as soon as they are lightly browned, toss in a hot colander, and serve in a deep dish lined with a napkin.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy body that becomes crisp on the outside and fluffy inside when fried.
- Ice water
- Soaking draws out surface starch so the strips fry crisper and do not stick together.
- Lard
- Hot fat transfers heat quickly, browning the surface and crisping the strips.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the strips directly after frying so flavor sits on the crisp surface.
The step that matters
Dry the strips thoroughly before frying. Surface water cools the hot fat and turns the frying into steaming, so the strips absorb grease and turn soggy. Pressing them dry lets the fat brown and crisp the surface.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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