What's the best way to make homemade fries? My buddy deep fried them in peanut oil in a sauce pan once, and that seems to me to be the closest thing to deep frying but everything online says to cook them in a skillet in vegetable oil. Is the deep fry method not safe on a stovetop?
shareThey really taste best when deep and double fried.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/double-fried-french-fries-recipe-1945253
^^^This^^^
shareI used to fry them in a pan back in the day when I could still digest fried chips without problems. I liked them but they aren't the same as deep fried, not as evenly or uniformly cooked.
I make them all the time:
https://i.imgur.com/NHwEYp9.jpg
Just cut up a russet potato into quarter-inch strips, heat some vegetable oil (a couple of inches deep in the pan) on medium-high heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, put the potato strips in the oil (put them in slowly; you don't want the oil to boil over the side of the pan), leave them on medium-high heat and cook for about 7 minutes, until they are browned and feel/sound crispy on the outside if you tap them with a fork. Use a slotted spatula or whatever to remove them from the oil and onto a paper towel-lined bowl, and salt them immediately.
The temperature of the oil will drop drastically (to about 275) once the potatoes are in there, but that's fine; it needs to be that way so that will get to the right stage of brownness and crispiness at the same time that they are fully cooked inside. If you were to heat the oil on high to 400, put the potatoes in, and leave it on high, they would get brown and crispy in just a minute or two but still be fairly raw on the inside. That's why there are tedious / time-consuming double-frying methods using different temperatures, along with soaking them in water and whatnot. However, I've used the simple method I described above ever since I was a kid in the '80s, and I love them. They come out like the fries you get from concession stands at a fair.
Don't try to cook too many at a time. Half of a large potato is about right for one batch. You don't want them to be too crowded in the oil, plus, too many of them at a time will reduce the temperature of the oil too much.
Ideally you should have a way to monitor the temperature of the oil. I use an infrared temperature gun.
Above all else, be extremely careful, or you'll have a fire on your hands. If the oil boils over the side of the pot and onto the burner, it will ignite immediately.
So why not the peanut oil “deep frying” method in the sauce pan I mentioned?
shareSo why not the peanut oil “deep frying” method in the sauce pan I mentioned?
Why do most web sites list peanut oil as the best choice for fries?
shareHigh smoke point.
sharePeanut oil has a high enough smoke point and a ~neutral flavor, but so do various other oils/fats. Hydrogenated cottonseed oil (which is what Crisco vegetable shortening was when it was introduced in the early 1900s, up until at least the 1980s) is what everyone used, including McDonald's when their fries were the best around (they also mixed in some beef tallow with the cottonseed oil; about a 1/4 cup of it for each 6 cups of cottonseed oil). The old Crisco is what Colonel Sanders originally used for his famous "Kentucky Fried Chicken" too; that information comes straight from the man himself in an old TV interview. You can't beat it for deep frying, but like I said, the chance of you finding some at your local grocery store is somewhere between zero and none.
Speaking of Crisco, for many decades they had a recipe for french fries on their label:
https://i.imgur.com/O7N295e.jpg
You could try that recipe, and Crisco shortening is still a viable option for deep frying, but keep in mind that it's no longer pure cottonseed oil (nor does it contain any cottonseed oil at all) like it was when that recipe was written.
Cottonseed oil (which you probably won't be able to find), Canola oil, "vegetable oil" (which is actually soybean oil), corn oil, refined coconut oil, refined olive oil (which is marketed as "light olive oil;" don't use virgin or extra virgin, because those are terms which mean "unrefined" and "even more unrefined"; they are not intended for frying as unrefined oils have very low smoke points and lots of their own flavor), peanut oil, safflower oil, Crisco vegetable shortening, are some oils that will work fine. There's no way for anyone to know what you'll prefer. Cottonseed, Corn, Canola, Peanut, and Safflower all have a ~neutral flavor, so if you don't want the oil to add its own flavor to your fries, those are all good choices.
I thought peanut was used because it had flavor?
shareNeutral-flavored oils: Use corn, peanut, canola, or safflower oil when you don’t want your oil to add its own flavor to your dish. You also can mix these neutral flavors with equal amounts of olive or nut oils to create a different flavor.
Peanut Oil Uses
Although most varieties of peanut oil have a very light, neutral flavor, they can sometimes have a slightly nutty flavor. Roasted peanut oils are strongly flavored and are usually added after cooking for added flavor. Peanut oil is perfectly suited for frying because of its high smoke point.
It's not difficult. The only thing that matters is the oil being extremely hot, since that "closes" the surface and cooks the interior in its own sauce. The easiest way to test the temperature is to throw one into the oil. If it starts to "boil", then it's OK.
Be very careful with the splashes.
Another trick: don't fry too many at once, since that decreases oil's temperature. If you're using a pan, probably you'll have to use 2-3 shifts.
Once done, put them in a bowl with a couple of absorbent papers, it helps to remove the excess of oil.
yes it is.
sharei just chuck em in and cook em
shareMy mother used to. She had a deep frier. They were very oily and tastey. Real potatoes, not frozen. And we used vinegar on them, so yummy.
shareMake em at least once a week in every way imaginable. I got a big machine you stick potatoes in and it spits out french fries. For best results you bake em or microwave em first before deep frying. (some people double fry them, but this always soaks oil into the fry, I don't like that. makes em taste greasy.) You get crispier fries if you fry them in a pan on the stove, it gets the oil way hotter. You can also soak the fries in ice water before starting the cooking process, which will keep them from getting dark and having that blackened flavor. I usually skip this step unless i'm trying to impress company. I like em dirty.
shareSo peanut oil in a skillet? Do I have to pre-cook them in a pan or microwave or can I just cook them once? Sounds like a hassle.
shareIt IS a hassle. I got a big fancy restaurant style deep fryer now, I don't use a skillet too much. But when I do use the stove, I bought this special deep dish pan that came with it's own basket. (still use this for fried zucchini and green tomatoes. You arrange everything in the big square basket and just lower it in.) My buddy, he's got the turkey fryer on his back deck, he does all his frying out there. That gets proper hot. But peanut oil in a skillet is fine. Just watch the splatter and you may have to turn em over a bit. My family, they say they prefer the taste of peanut oil but honestly I can't tell the difference. But it is supposed to be healthier. If you don't cook them twice they're gonna taste like ass. They gotta get dried out a bit and if you leave them sitting around they turn brown and nasty. You gotta get that starch off em too, so you at least gotta rinse them real good after you slice em. (and pat them all dry after.) They won't quite cook through and they won't be crispy if you don't double cook em. You'll just get floppy fries that are burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. I usually just give a nuke in the microwave, spread em all out flat on a plate, you can't have them piled up or they'll weld to each other. Which ever route you take, it's a lot of prep, it makes a lot of mess, and it's there's a bunch of steps. But I tell ya. If you wanna just get a frozen sack of fries that taste almost like the real thing, track down "Lamb Weston's Hand Cut Fries". They got this in walmart and a lot of other grocery chains. They're the best frozen fry I ever had. Their whole line of fries is great. They got em fast food style, and all the usual varieties, all extra crispy. Just toss em hot oil, they come out amazing. I use the wedges when I have a catfish fry. Hoo Buddy. Yessir.
shareCool thx for the pointers. Sounds like the microwave method is the easiest. Does it work just as well? How long do you nuke them for? I read somewhere you should soak them in water for at least an hour after peeling, true? Also, isn’t a deep sauce pan better than a skillet?
shareYeah, deep pan for sure. Cut up, soak in in cold water, pat em dry, spread em on plate. Depending on how big your microwave is, it's probably 5 minutes a potato or so. You can visually see when they're getting along. They'll start to sweat and get a bit of a green look to em, then they'll have a white chalky sort of look. That's when you're good to go. You can just take one and snap it in half. If it breaks clean, it's heated through. Basically the same process as cooking a baked potato in the microwave, or prepping one for home fries. This step is just getting all the excess moisture out the potato. I skip the water soaking step all the time. What you're doing there is getting all that starch out of the fry, it'll make em crispier, crunchier. But even if you skip that step, you at least gotta give them a thorough rinsing. I toss them in a colander under the running water for a bit, just like pasta. When I first started doing it, results were really crappy. Don't get frustrated if your first few batches are ass. You really have to make sure you have uniform shaped fries all the same size, or you're gonna have some cooking fast and some cooking slow and it's just gonna be a disaster.
shareCool thanks. Is it worth buying a fry cutter? This one got good reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Restaurant-Quality-36-3501-W-Suction/dp/B000T3OO8C
Wow, that's a contraption. For years and years I had the square plastic one. Worked great but eventually wore out. I eventually upgraded to a steel version. In my experience, things that stick to the counter with suction cups don't usually stick so good. Think I picked mine up at Bed Bath and Beyond. It's great for more than just potatoes too. You can chop up veggies for salads or pizza or whatever. and it shreds eggs real good for egg salad and stuff. Just a good kitchen tool to have in general. Crap shoot buying a new kitchen tool. Good luck!
shareNice. Is this the one you had?
https://www.amazon.com/Culina-French-Potato-Cutter-Slicing/dp/B00FX0LBGE
That was pretty much it. The pusher design was a tiny bit different. You just pop out the blade bits and toss em in the dishwasher if you got one. It was a trooper for years but I think eventually the blades got dull. I threw a big old potato in there and cranked the handle down and it snapped right off. My new one looks just like that, same concept, it's just all metal. It's much more stout.
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