Everyone has a childhood memory of a favorite bad-for-you food. For me it was french fries, cooked in our “downstairs” kitchen in the cellar of our Cape Cod gray frame home.
Like many crazy people back then, we had two kitchens – one that was useless and one that was used. The one in the cellar is where tomatoes were canned, and more importantly, french fry oil splattered the walls.
I don’t make french fries. I wait until someone else makes them for me, because my eight-burner, griddle-topped kitchen range is greasy enough, thanks to stir frying.
But I did drag a deep fryer out on my deck a few years ago when the craving got to me. Cleaning the deep fryer afterward cured me.
Here’s a summary of how to make great fries. Warning: I stole some of this from a New Orleans cook who must have learned these tricks from the same guy at the Canfield Fair in Canfield, Ohio.
You need starchy russet potatoes. You fry them twice. Or you stick them in a very hot oven for the second “fry” and let the oven do the job. That’s how you get a soft center but a crunchy crisp outer coat. The oven works for sweet potatoes, too.
Canfield Fair French Fries
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
3 pounds russet potatoes
Canola or corn oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Peel the potatoes and slice them as thick (or thin) as you like, but keep them uniform. Put them into a bowl of icy cold water until you are ready to cook them.
Boil the sliced potatoes for about a minute. This cooks them slightly and prevents the sugar/starches from oxidizing. (No one wants brown stained potatoes.) Drain in a colander.
In a second large, heavy bottomed pot, bring at least 2 quarts of oil to a temperature of 360 F. (Use a thermometer). The oil should not fill more than one-third the depth of the pot.
Put a handful of the cut, blanched, cooled fries into the hot oil. Have a slotted spoon in hand to stir the pot if it bubbles too high.
Fry the potatoes until they’re barely brown. Remove with skimmer and let them drain.
The temperature of the oil must return to 360 F before doing the next batch.
You can keep these at room temperature until the last step, which is what they do at the Canfield Fair, where the fries are served with malt vinegar.
Heat the oil back up to about 400 F. Dip the already-fried potatoes back into the hot oil and fry for 20 seconds, maybe even less. Some will puff up. Drain. Salt and pepper. Serve.
Remember the oven trick? You have to preheat it to 400 F. Take the once-fried potatoes and put them in the oven on a cookie sheet. The more grease on them, the better. Check them every four or five minutes and turn them with a spatula. When browned, add salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Not as good as the double fry, but not too shabby either.
