Perfect French Fries?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Does anyone have a good recipe for perfect French Fries? Ideally technical enough to be consistent and repeatable (equipment, oil, times, temperatures, etc.) and that could produce quite large quantities, maybe for 50 people over an evening?</p>

2

<p>Best fries I have ever had were at Bouchon. AND [Keller</a> Cops to Using — No! — Frozen Fries – Grub Street New York](<a href=“http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2007/01/in_his_cookbook_bouchon_thomas.html]Keller”>Keller Cops to Using — No! — Frozen Fries)</p>

<p>If you are using a frying machine—just go with the directions that come with the unit.</p>

3

<p>I don’t have an answer for you but I’m real curious what type of get-together you might be planning and what’s on the menu! (besides fries???)</p>

4

<p>You have to fry them twice. Once at a lower temperature (say 325) until they are tender but not brown. The second fry should be at 375 until they are the color and crispness you desire. The key is to cut the potatoes to a uniform size. I’m not sure how you will do this for 50 people, though. We make fries at least once a week (my nickname is spud) and making enough is always the problem. You could do individual batches as each person comes up, like fast food, if you have them par-fried ahead of time. But you can’t really do a huge amount at once. In my experience, fries don’t hold the perfect texture if you keep them warm in the oven. The best fries are made with peanut oil, by the way.</p>

<p>I saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen recently and they made what they called “the perfect fries.” The method was to put the potatoes into cold oil and bring the oil up to boiling with the fries in the oil and not stir or otherwise touch the fries for 15 minutes. Theoretically, they would be absolutely perfect at the end of the 15 minutes. I haven’t tried that method yet.</p>

5

<p>Go to a local flea market or antique shop and look for an old “vegematic” - that would help with the uniform size (just recently sold 2 of these in my garage sale!!!) </p>

<p>[Google</a> Image Result for <a href=“Discontinued Website | National Museum of American History”>Discontinued Website | National Museum of American History](<a href=“http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/photos/224.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/objectdescription.cfm%3FID%3D224&usg=__j47gsZiVTNvW9aCcF61f_4AufpE=&h=303&w=250&sz=10&hl=en&start=6&sig2=mIZZxedgUfeaSZNOjMYz4w&zoom=1&tbnid=Nqfst9A7aEZjbM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=96&ei=MWxSTveSKKrq0gGOqOCNBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvegematic%2Band%2Bfrench%2Bfries%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1T4GGLS_enUS403US404%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1]Google”>http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/photos/224.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/objectdescription.cfm%3FID%3D224&usg=__j47gsZiVTNvW9aCcF61f_4AufpE=&h=303&w=250&sz=10&hl=en&start=6&sig2=mIZZxedgUfeaSZNOjMYz4w&zoom=1&tbnid=Nqfst9A7aEZjbM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=96&ei=MWxSTveSKKrq0gGOqOCNBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvegematic%2Band%2Bfrench%2Bfries%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1T4GGLS_enUS403US404%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1)</a></p>

6

<p>Mostly beer, abasket.</p>

7

<p>I’ve used Americas Test Kitchen recipe at home and it works great! But if you are making fries for fifty people, it’s just not practical. And honestly, the natural potato high end frozen fries are great.;</p>

8

<p>Place an order with McDonald’s?</p>

9

<p>No, not McDonald’s, I did mention the word “perfect”.</p>

10

<p>When we make fries we mix some sweet potatoes and white potatoes together and add very thinly sliced onion to the batch. Toss them in olive oil, kosher salt and a lot of pepper. You can do them in the deep fryer or sometimes we bake them on jelly roll pans in a 450 convection oven for about 20-30 minutes depending on size and shape, tossing once during cooking. You have to put them in a single layer and try not to have them touching or else they won’t get crispy. If you have the convection oven you can put several trays in at once which will help when trying to make so many at one time. However it will be very hard to make that many fries while keeping them hot and fresh. </p>

<p>I wonder if you can make them in advance, slightly under cooking them and then reheat them to finish them off in the oven when you are ready to serve them. I would try it first though before serving it that way for a party.</p>

11

<p>For perfect French fires, you must use lard (rendered beef tallow). Acceptable substitutes are rendered goose or duck fat. Any other oil and you’re guilty of deceptive advertising. Wandering down to the local farmer’s market to pick those perfect “spuds”? And then treated to a hot bath of flavorless vegetable oil?</p>

<p>Fry up a batch and serve them with some coarse sea salt. Otherwise, buy some good frozen seasoned or battered French fries. Use some kind of vegetable oil to fry them up and serve them with a variety of condiments to add flavor and calories. </p>

<p>Use lard? Just remember, the white stuff in Oreos is a simple mix of sugar and Crisco. Mmmm!</p>

12

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<p>But Crisco is vegetable shortening, not lard.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I meant to imply that people who may feel leery about using lard as a frying agent may not know that they’re ingesting shortening and sugar when they eat Oreos. “I don’t fry with lard, but I will eat shortening laced with sugar…”</p>

14

<p>Usually starchy Russet potatoes. The oil has to be “clean.” As they cook, starch is released, which can make the oil murky and affect taste (and, I guess, the science.) Rinsing the sliced potatoes will shed some of their starch, then pat dry. But when cooking in several batches, you still may need to change the oil a few times. I nearly freeze them, before cooking. </p>

<p>One of the top restaurants on my city is known for its fries-- and we found out they also use frozen fries from a bulk supplier. For 50 people, can you do that?</p>

15

<p>When cooking large batches of french fries we use the large pot/cooker that we use to make deep fried turkey. Outside. Use mandolin slicer for the potatoes. mmm, makes me hungry thinking about freshly cooked french fries.</p>

16

<p>“For perfect French fires, you must use lard (rendered beef tallow).”</p>

<p>I thought lard was pork fat. </p>

<p>Anyway I’ve heard the duck fat makes great fries, and agree with parboiling russets in oil (after soaked in water, then dried.). </p>

<p>[French</a> Fries Recipe - CHOW](<a href=“http://www.chow.com/recipes/29720-french-fries]French”>http://www.chow.com/recipes/29720-french-fries)</p>

<p><a href=“http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/597717[/url]”>http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/597717&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/785059[/url]”>http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/785059&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>Best fried potatoes I ever had (not quite fries) were in France. New potatoes sliced and fried in goose fat with fleur de sel harvested locally.</p>

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<p>Wow, I had no idea there was a chef’s version of french fries! This is great. You gotta love CC-- the home for any expertise you need to tap into. </p>

<p>The lard comments crack me up. I mean come on, you’re making double deep fried potatoes! You can’t start now worrying about the health consequences of a little lard for one treat!</p>

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<p>Since there are plenty of people who swear that the best pizzas come from New York or Chicago, you can expect plenty of americanized versions of the “perfect” french fries. For the people who take the contrarian (insert smile) that the best pizza might still be found in Italy, a reasonable choice would be to look how the french(ed) fries are prepared in Belgium.</p>

<p>Looking at the above, Zoosermom has it right. The best fries will require cooking them twice at different temperatures. Inasmuch as she suggested peanut oil being the best, purists consider that … beef fat is the best. Peanut oil and duck fat being close second in the race for the best oil or fat. Some people swear by keeping the fries refrigerated after the first cooking. Others believe in soaking the fresh potatoes in cold water for a while. This might be true but not as essential as cooking them twice and never overload the fryer. </p>

<p>For batches, check this video:</p>

<p>[French</a> Fries - YouTube](<a href=“French Fries - YouTube”>French Fries - YouTube)</p>

<p>The NY Style
[Best</a> Thing I Ever Ate - French Fries - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

<p>From the REAL experts:
[Best</a> of Belgium - Part II: How to make Belgian potato fries - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

<p>Remember that the temperature of commercial fryers will be different from home versions. So 130 to 140 Celsius and 160 to 180 Celsius will not translate too well! And remember that lard is not beef fat!</p>

20

<p>There is a new shop near my house that sells wonderful Belgian fries with the most exquisite dipping sauces and mayonnaises. Yummmmm!</p>