French Fried Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips ½ inch thick.
Soak the potato strips in cold water for 1 hour.
Dry the potatoes with a cloth.
Fry
Heat the fat until it can brown a thin slice of potato in 1 minute.
Place the potatoes in a frying basket and lower it into the hot fat.
Fry in small batches to maintain the fat temperature.
Once browned, lift the potatoes from the fat and shake off excess grease.
Place on cheesecloth to absorb remaining fat.
Lightly dust 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
- Starch provides the bulk of the fries, with soaking and drying shaping their crisp exterior.
- Fat for frying
- Hot fat transfers heat quickly, cooking the outside to a golden, crisp crust.
The step that matters
Keep the fat temperature up in small batches. Adding too many potatoes at once cools the fat, so the fries soak up oil instead of crisping. Frying in small batches keeps the fat hot enough to brown the surface quickly.
“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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