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Fry, Baby, Fry!
Date: May. 8th 2009
Category: Cookbooks, Vegetables
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Is there anyone out there that doesn’t like the potato?
Especially when said potato is deep fried and then kissed with a light sprinkling of salt?
Anyone? Anyone?
Honestly, I can’t think of one person I know that would turn down a french fry. Clearly, I know the right people!
Going into the weekend, I’ve had french fries on the brain almost the entire week and this is all Martha’s fault. I blame her. If it wasn’t for Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook, wherein lies a very clear and thorough guide on how to make a good ol’ honest-to-goodness French fry, I would be thinking about other things.
Such as … opening my mail. Or … buying a new coffee table. Or … whether we need a layer of top soil in the garden. Or … ah, who am I kidding?!
I’d be thinking about food in some form or other and the food of choice this week just happens to be one of the most perfect things in the world: the French fry.
I love fries. Love’em! Growing up, we always had fried potatoes but Mama Cream Puff would cut them into cubes for us (which I also love). And unlike a true French fry, she would fry the potatoes once until deeply golden.
The proper French fry, as Martha so capably demonstrates in her book, is fried twice. It is fried once at a low temperature to cook the inside of the potato (this is called blanching). It is cooked a second time at a considerably higher temperature to crisp up the outside of the potato until a glorious goldenness is achieved.
From that point forward, the French fry becomes the canvas upon which ever person can paint whatever they wish. Some people like to paint the French fry with lots of ketchup. Some people use malt vinegar as their medium. Some people (me!) choose to express themselves with sea salt and rosemary. It doesn’t really matter. Point being, French fries are pretty much awesomeness in every sense of the word.
I would use the same word to describe Martha’s book. No use beating around the bush. It’s good. As some of you may know I sometimes have had issues with some of the recipes in Martha’s magazine. Visually they are promising but often, the end result is just a tad disappointing. But no disappointment with this book.
It is exactly what it promises to be. An excellent manual on how to cook everything. Cream Puff recommends it highly.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some French fries to fry and a masterpiece to follow.
Ciao!
Here’s a photo diary of my French fry adventure:
I used Yukon Gold potatoes.
While I do own a mandoline, I decided to cut the potatoes into fries with a knife.
For the blanching of the potatoes, I heated my oil to 300 degrees F.
I cooked them for about 4 minutes before removing them to a paper-towel lined tray to drain.
I let the oil temperature come up to 350 degrees F. for the second frying.
I cooked the potatoes for about 2 minutes in the hot oil. About 30 seconds before they were done, I threw in a sprig of rosemary. I drained the potatoes on paper towels and immediately sprinkled them very liberally with lots of sea salt (there is nothing worse than an underseasoned potato!).
I ate them all. All of them.
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05/8/09 at 9:29 pm
Oh, yeah! I LOVE a proper french fry! Last time we made them was last summer after we dug our own potaotes at a local farm (see here: http://www.familyfriendlyfood.com/2008/09/green-blackberries-are-red/ , But I cut them too thick…). It was sooo nice. I do recommend going to a u-pick potato adventure.
05/8/09 at 10:42 pm
now why didn’t I ever think of putting herbs on my french fries? that makes it way yummy! and pretty too!
05/9/09 at 12:19 am
I love homemade fries! Yours look fantastic!
Cheers,
Rosa
05/9/09 at 4:16 am
MMMMM CHIPS!!!!
I like mine with salt n vinegar, ketchup, mayo, alioli and a side order of more chips/fries
05/9/09 at 5:03 am
Why do I feel so embarassed by the fact that I have never read of or thought of the double frying technique myself? A pure “eureka!” moment. Or “duh”, it makes so much sense… once you actually think about it.
Now to try and convince the Italian matriarchs of the household that it is a valid method and they aren’t risking carcinogens by double frying…. for that, I don’t know if even Martha can help.
05/9/09 at 6:59 am
I have never deep-fried anything. (Lots of oil scares me) But I do love a proper french fry - with ketchup, with salt and vinegar, with seasonsings, herbs….making m hungry. Is 9 a.m. too early for fries?
05/9/09 at 7:36 am
I would have eaten them all, too!
05/9/09 at 8:07 am
Well done, I now have a serious french fry craving !
05/9/09 at 8:47 am
ohh these look delicious!! I m a normal person than cause I love fried poratoes
05/9/09 at 1:53 pm
Recently made these using Tony Bourdain’s recipe from Les Halles’ cookbook. He calls for using peanut oil to fry them, twice, as Martha does. What kind of oil did she recommend? Yours look yummy!
05/9/09 at 2:10 pm
Looks great - that is how we used to make them when I was working at Swiss Chalet.
I do a few things different:
I always leave the peels on.
I add a third step. When my potatoes are all cut into matchsticks I soak them in cold water (often sit them in a colander in a sink full of cold water) for 30 minutes. When I lift the colander full of potatoes out of the wather it is amazing how much cloudy starch is left behind.
05/9/09 at 3:40 pm
OMG - I would eat them all too! There’s really nothing better than home made fries except maybe a little aioli to dip them in
05/9/09 at 4:27 pm
Hot dog I love me some fries. Seriously. If I had to name my one true weakness it would be French fries. (I secretly love McDonald’s the best. Well, before the changed the oil, anyway.) But I never make them at home because they seem like such a pain. You make them look much more approachable!
05/9/09 at 5:50 pm
Actually, you do know someone who would turn down a French Fry - me! Not cause I don’t like ‘em, I do, with mayo, but because I gave them up awhile ago and can’t go back. Home made and chip wagon fries are the two types that make me regret giving them up.
05/9/09 at 6:14 pm
Scrumptious-looking!
Wish I were there to help you eat some of that.
Paz
05/9/09 at 7:52 pm
Sadly I know someone who doesn’t like potatoes…isn’t that just wrong on so many levels???
05/9/09 at 9:34 pm
Is it wrong that I think this constitutes a meal? I absolutely love homemade fries! I’m more of a malt vinegar or aioli girl myself, but your pictures are making me want to break out the frying oil here at midnight!
05/10/09 at 8:06 am
French fries are my very favorite thing in the whole world. I’ve never actually fried them myself because I’m afraid I would lock my family outside and eat them all myself. Yours look amazing!
05/10/09 at 3:18 pm
I just bought this book and haven’t gotten to the French fries yet. To be honest, I’m a bit afraid to make them, for all the reasons you mention — I would eat them all, every single one of them, despite my better instincts to share. But they look so good…..
05/10/09 at 5:24 pm
ugh. i have this book and hadn’t even looked at this recipe yet. but now i’m wondering how soon i can make them!
Yum!
05/11/09 at 7:33 am
oh lordy————- french fries! You’re right, I love the potato in just about any form. Any. All. I’m catching up with blogs on my way out the door, late for work– a long day looms. The fries look especially appealing because I’m having a pop tart. I hate to admit that, shame on me. Surely there are finer things to make in a jiffy but this morning I came up empty. Thanks also for the review, I’ve been afraid of this book and now will pick it up in full confidence!
05/12/09 at 3:50 pm
Yum…I have such a weakness for fries! Your version must taste so delicious with the rosemary…Now I know what to do with the rosemary growing on my balcony.
05/16/09 at 4:53 am
[…] Cream Puffs in Venice - Ivonne demonstrates the technique for perfect French fries. […]
05/16/09 at 11:06 am
Wow those fries look PERFECT!
05/27/09 at 4:31 pm
I would have definitely eaten them all, too! Fried potatoes are one of my absolute favorite snacks!