Potato Fillets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and slice the potatoes thinly into small fillets, about ¼ inch square.
Keep the fillets in cold water until ready to fry.
Fry
Drop the fillets into boiling lard and cook until nearly done.
Remove the fillets with a skimmer and drain them.
Boil the lard again, then drop the fillets back in and fry until fully cooked and puffed.
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 of the fillets, which cook up tender inside and crisp outside.
- Boiling lard
- Conducts heat quickly and fries the fillets, giving them a crisp, golden surface.
The step that matters
Boil the lard again before the second fry. Dropping the fillets back into lard that has cooled lowers its temperature, so they absorb grease and puff less. Reheating the lard restores the heat needed for a crisp, fully cooked finish.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.