French Fried Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them into thin slices or strips.
Soak the cut potatoes in cold water for 1 hour.
Drain the potatoes and dry them between towels.
Fry and serve
Heat the oil to 390°F (200°C).
Fry the potatoes until golden brown, then drain on unglazed paper.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and keep hot for serving.
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 the interior turning soft and fluffy as it cooks.
- Deep frying oil
- Hot oil cooks the potatoes quickly, drying the surface and browning it into a crisp exterior.
The step that matters
Dry the potatoes before frying. Surface water drops the oil temperature and turns the frying into steaming, which keeps fries pale and soggy. Drying the cut potatoes lets the oil crisp the surface instead.
“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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