Potato Straws
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash, peel, and drain the potatoes.
Cut them into ½-inch slices, then cut across into ½-inch strips.
Soak the strips in cold salted water for 10 minutes.
Drain and dry the potato straws with a clean cloth.
Fry and serve
Heat deep frying oil in a pot.
Fry the potatoes in batches for about 8 minutes, until delicately browned.
Remove with a skimmer and drain on unglazed paper.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve immediately.
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 starch that crisps into the straws' light, crunchy structure when fried.
- Deep frying oil
- Transfers heat quickly to the potato strips, drying the surface and producing browning and crispness.
The step that matters
Drying the strips before frying. Surface water must be removed first, because water in the potato slows browning and causes the oil to spatter and cool. Dry strips crisp and brown evenly.
“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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