EntranceWhat to do to make French fries crispy. French fries in a modern kitchen
Everyone knows what french fries are. And everyone knows that you need a lot of deep-frying oil to cook it. In this recipe, I will show you how to make crispy and beautiful french fries with just a few tablespoons of oil.
Many when cooking deep-fried dishes are stopped by a large number of oils. Have to choose or cook right amount fried potatoes and throw out still quite good oil, or, wasting time, cook a large amount of french fries, which will not be eaten right away, and then quickly become tasteless.
But my method is good because it takes the same amount of oil to cook french fries as it does to fry ordinary potatoes. Moreover, the amount of oil directly depends on the amount of potatoes being cooked, if you want to make a little - you will need a little oil, if you want to cook more, just add oil as needed during the cooking process.
For cooking we need:
Raw potatoes - 1 pc.
Vegetable oil- 3-5 tbsp. spoons
Salt - to taste
From inedible:
Vegetable shredder with a nozzle for a thin bar-straw
Towel for drying raw potatoes
Paper towels to remove excess oil
Cooking method:
We put a frying pan on the strongest fire and pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil into it. Here the amount of oil does not depend on the amount of the cooked product, but only on the size of the pan. It is necessary that the oil covers the bottom of the pan with a not very thick layer. Somewhere with a millimeter or two.
While the oil is heating, peel the potatoes. If you plan to cook a lot, then it is better to clean in advance. For clarity, I took one potato, it just roughly corresponds to one solid serving.
Next, we need a kitchen tool, without which it is difficult to get french fries. This is a vegetable slicer. And with a nozzle cutting straws. Without such a shredder, you should not start making this dish.
It is necessary to chop with straws, and not with sticks, like regular french fries, or in some other way. Potatoes cut too thick, with this method of preparation, simply do not fry. Shredded potatoes are placed on a towel to remove excess liquid.
Smooth it out in a thin layer and gently blot it several times. In the meantime, the oil has already become hot enough for us to fry. We evenly pour about a third of the one potato chopped by us into the pan. You need to put quite a bit, just as much as you see in the photo. This is a guarantee that the sticks will be fried on all sides.
Fry for 3 minutes, stirring so that the sticks do not stick together, and turning over so that they are fried on all sides. By appearance, we determine readiness. We spread paper napkins folded in two layers on the table and spread the potatoes on them. And we lay it out like this - we tilt the pan on one side, the oil begins to drain down, and we move the potatoes up and, through the raised side, dump them on napkins with a slotted spoon.
Napkins are needed, you guessed it, to remove excess oil. Immediately salt the potatoes on napkins and mix gently.
We repeat the whole complex of procedures with the second and third batch of potatoes. Preliminarily shifting the sticks dried from the oil onto a plate, and changing the oiled napkins as needed.
It took about 15-20 minutes to cook this portion of potatoes. If you need to cook more, then the time will approximately proportionally increase. This is of course longer than when cooking in a deep fryer, and at the same time, you still need to inseparably deal with only this one dish.
But on the other hand, this way you can quickly and at minimal cost prepare even the smallest portion. And when preparing large volumes, for example, for a festive side dish, you can attract one of the family members, because there is nothing complicated here, you only need constant presence and some attentiveness.
By the way, after cooking one potato in the pan, there is oil left, which is enough for another one or two of the same portions, but if not enough, you can just pour more between the hot portions.
In such a simple way you can cook a great and delicious side dish pleasantly surprising family and guests.
P.S. In the comments, they have recently begun to write that these are not french fries, but potato pie.
Let me clarify this question:
Firstly, of course, this recipe is different from the classic french fries, but it allows you to easily and quickly make at home fried potatoes most similar to french fries.
Secondly, the fact that this is NOT a potato pie can be easily determined just by looking at the photos of these two dishes. For share, the potatoes are chopped much thinner. Literally straw. Whereas in this recipe the "straws" are thick, more like thin sticks.
Compare, here is a photo of a potato pie:
Thirdly, the taste of this recipe and potato pie is also different. Properly cooked potato pie is like potato chips, while the potatoes fried according to this recipe are closer to french fries.
Practically not a single day of our life is complete without the so-called "second" bread. And if it is no longer possible to surprise anyone with fried, boiled or mashed potatoes, then french fries at home are considered a delicacy that is difficult to refuse. Most often, in order not to bother with cooking, we prefer to eat french fries in some cozy place or buy a semi-finished product - frozen french fries in bags. All thoughts about harmfulness and calorie content this product recede into the background when remembering a delicious crispy dish with a golden fried crust and a soft, tender middle.
But maybe it's still worth trying to cook french fries at home? This option has many more advantages. The first and most important, perhaps, plus is that a dish prepared at home is much healthier than purchased fast food. All ingredients are fresh, processed and prepared by your own hands or under your guidance, but again in front of your eyes. The second plus is, without a doubt, the material side of the issue. Making french fries at home is much cheaper than buying one. In addition, you can cook it as much as you like. In a word, your household will be satisfied and happy if you one day announce to them your decision to cook french fries at home.
The classic recipe for making french fries at home is quite simple. To prepare it, you do not need to have special skills and super-culinary skills, but you just need to have high-quality products available. The main ingredient - potatoes - must be ripe, not too large, without damage or defects. You should not use for cooking a vegetable that contains a lot of starch, as well as young potatoes that do not yet have the desired density and pronounced taste. And, of course, immediately get rid of the green tubers. They contain the poisonous substance solanine.
Vegetable oil, salt and spices - that's all you need to make french fries at home. You just need to cut the potatoes into long sticks and fry them in batches in vegetable oil. Moreover, preference in this case should be given to refined deodorized oil. Which one? You choose. Now let's take a closer look at some of the recipes. After all, as you know, in the world of two identical recipes simply do not exist, little secret is in everyone. And who, if not us, is always ready and happy to share with you even the most secret secrets.
French fries "For the whole family"
Ingredients:
1 kg potatoes
200 ml vegetable oil,
salt, spices, herbs - to taste and desire.
Cooking:
Choose a medium sized potato, wash it thoroughly and peel it. Cut the finished tubers into cubes about 1x1 cm in size. By the way, potatoes can be cut with a curly knife. It will turn out not only tasty, but also beautiful. Put the sliced sticks on a paper towel and blot them, removing excess moisture. What is it for? The answer is simple: so that when they are immersed in oil, it does not shoot and burn you. Next, take a deep frying pan, stewpan or just a saucepan, heat the oil and in portions so that the oil covers the potatoes, fry the sticks over medium heat, stirring so that they do not burn and brown on all sides. To determine if the oil in your chosen cooking container is hot enough to desired temperature, carefully dip one piece of potato into it. If it floats, surrounded by bubbles of oil, then you can lay out the rest.
Remove the fried potatoes with a slotted spoon, place them on a dish lined with paper towels to remove excess oil, and cook the next batch. Transfer the finished potatoes to another dish, sprinkle it with your favorite spices or chopped herbs and serve. Salt french fries also need to be ready, just before serving.
French fries "Crunchy pleasure"
Ingredients:
8 medium potatoes
200 ml vegetable oil,
200 g wheat flour,
3 pinches of salt.
Cooking:
The principle of cooking crispy potatoes is almost the same as in the previous recipe. You also select and prepare potato tubers for cooking, cut them into neat sticks or straws of the size you need. But then take a deep bowl, pour flour mixed with salt into it, dip the chopped potatoes into this mixture and mix it with flour, thus breading each slice. In a saucepan or any other deep container convenient for cooking, heat the oil and put it in in small portions potato slices breaded in flour and salt so that they float freely in oil, without sticking together and without preventing each other from getting a delicious golden color. Gently stir the potatoes while frying with a spatula, being careful not to damage the slices. Put the pieces that have reached readiness on a paper towel, let the excess fat drain and transfer to another dish. Serve the crispy French fries prepared according to this recipe with any sauce, such as white, garlic or mustard. It will not only complement the dish, but also add spice to it.
French fries "Gentle", cooked in the oven
Ingredients:
8 medium sized potatoes
3 egg whites
salt, paprika - to taste.
Cooking:
All using the same technology, prepare the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Take a deep bowl, whisk in it egg whites with salt, add the prepared potato pieces and mix so that each piece is completely covered with a protein mixture. Preheat the oven to 200-220ºС. Take a baking sheet, cover it parchment paper, evenly spread the potatoes over its surface and sprinkle it with paprika on top. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the potato slices for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until golden brown. Alternatively, instead of paprika, you can use garlic oil, prepared as follows: mix 2 chopped garlic cloves with oil, add spices if desired, pour this mixture over the potatoes laid out on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. Do not forget to salt the finished french fries to taste. Garlic oil will give the dish a tantalizing, mouth-watering flavor, and the potato itself will simply not come off.
French fries with spices in breadcrumbs "Big Portion"
Ingredients:
2 kg potatoes,
100 g vegetable oil,
100 g breadcrumbs.
2 tsp paprika,
2 tsp ground cumin,
1 pinch red ground pepper,
salt, black ground pepper - to taste.
Cooking:
Cut the washed, dried and already peeled potatoes into cubes. Although why, in fact, with bars? Cut it as you like: into strips, neat slices, using all kinds of tools for this - knives with corrugated edges or vegetable cutters. The shape that you give the potatoes will absolutely not affect the taste of the finished dish, but it can make it much more interesting and original in terms of appearance. Place the potato pieces prepared and dried with napkins in a deep bowl, sprinkle them with oil and mix so that the oil evenly covers each piece. In another bowl, prepare the dry mixture: mix breadcrumbs, red and black ground peppers, paprika, ground cumin. Roll the potatoes in this fragrant spicy mixture, put them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and bake in an oven preheated to 200 ° C for 30 minutes, while not forgetting to turn the potato slices from time to time so that they are baked evenly on all sides. Please note: the potatoes have become golden, so take them out of the oven, put them on a dish, salt, season with fresh chopped herbs, and serve as a side dish or as a separate independent dish, in this case, prepare any sauce for french fries.
French fries cooked in lard with spices and Rustic sauce
Why such a strange combination, you ask, french fries and suddenly - "Rustic". Already in the village, it’s definitely not up to french fries, but the very combination of two primordially Russian products, potatoes and bacon, this unique aroma during cooking, takes away memories to the village, to my grandmother, to her ordinary potatoes fried in lard, which was tastier than anything in the world.
Ingredients:
6 potatoes
150-200 g of lard,
3 garlic cloves,
mixture ground peppers- taste.
For sauce:
50 g mayonnaise,
50 g ketchup.
Cooking:
Cut the fat into large cubes and send it to the frying pan to melt. Cut the potatoes into cubes, matches or straws of the same size. Moreover, the same size when cooking french fries at home really plays an important role. The same size of all pieces allows them to fry evenly and almost at the same time. When the fat is completely melted, send the potato slices to the pan. It is better to do it in small portions. Fry until golden brown, then put the finished potato pieces on paper napkins, let the excess fat go away, salt and season them with spices while hot, and prepare the sauce. To do this, pour mayonnaise and ketchup into the gravy boat, squeeze garlic through the press to them and mix everything so that the mass is homogeneous.
If the house has a deep fryer, then the cooking process is simplified. If not, try experimenting and making French fries at home, such as in a slow cooker or microwave. We have a couple of such options.
French fries in a slow cooker "Home-style"
Ingredients:
1 kg potatoes
1 liter vegetable oil
salt - to taste,
spices, herbs, sauce ready meal- also to taste.
Cooking:
Cut the selected, washed and peeled potatoes first into 1 cm thick plates, and them into sticks of the same thickness. Dip the chopped sticks for 10 minutes in cold, downright icy water. Then remove from the water, lay on a clean towel in an even layer and blot on top with another towel. Let the potatoes dry, and set the "Baking" mode for 1 hour. Pour the oil into the multicooker bowl and, while it is still not too warm, pour in a portion of potatoes and fry for 8 minutes. Of course, it will be more convenient to fry in a special wire basket, lowering it with potatoes into oil, but if there is none, just fry the potatoes in a bowl, and take out the finished ones with a slotted spoon. Fry with the lid open, remembering to stir so that the potatoes do not overcook. Lay the cooked potatoes out on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Then lower the new portion. When the potatoes are all fried, heat the oil a second time and fry the potatoes a second time, but this time dip them in the oil for no more than 2 minutes. Put the potatoes on paper towels again and, when the excess oil is gone, transfer them to a wide dish, salt, sprinkle with spices and finely chopped herbs if desired, and serve the sauce to the finished dish.
french fries in microwave oven
Ingredients:
1 kg potatoes
2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil,
1 clove of garlic
salt, spices - to taste.
Cooking:
Pierce potatoes cut into cubes and dried with napkins with a toothpick, and each slice without exception. Put in a bowl, pour in vegetable oil, add salt, pepper, chopped garlic clove and mix everything. Put the finished mass in the baking sleeve, tie it tightly from the sides, make punctures at the top to release steam and bake in the microwave at full power for 10-15 minutes.
And so that you do not waste your precious time looking for a sauce recipe, we are attaching a couple of recipes for simply amazing sauces.
Recipe #1: take 200 ml of yogurt, add a little chopped garlic, dill, lemon juice, just a little vegetable oil and grated fresh cucumber. Stir and refrigerate while french fries cook.
Recipe #2: take 50 g soft cheese and 200 ml of cream. Mash the cheese in a small amount of cream, dilute 10 g of starch in the remaining cream. Put cheese mix on a small fire and, gradually pouring in the cream mixed with starch, bring the mixture to a thickening. Remove from heat, add dry basil, dill, salt and spices to taste.
When cooking french fries at home, do not use vegetable oil twice. And remember that frequent use of french fries is undesirable, but it’s not forbidden to treat yourself to them from time to time!
Bon appetit and new culinary discoveries!
Larisa Shuftaykina
- New potatoes are not suitable for this dish, as they are too watery. It is best to take ripe potatoes, and one in which there is little starch. Otherwise, after cooking, it will soften and not be crispy.
- The number of potatoes can be calculated as follows: one large tuber per person. However, it is better to do a little more, it is unlikely to be superfluous.
- Potatoes do not have to be peeled, it depends on your preference. Only unpeeled potatoes must first be washed very thoroughly with a stiff brush.
- The potatoes need to be cut into long sticks 0.5–1 cm wide. You can also use a vegetable cutter or grater for this. Try to make equal strips so that the potatoes fry evenly.
- Sliced potatoes must first be soaked for at least 20 minutes so that excess starch comes out of it, and then dried by laying on a paper towel.
- An important role is played by the oil in which the potatoes are fried. Opt for refined deodorized oil, it tastes better.
The most real french fries are obtained by deep-frying. And the special secret of its crispy crust is double roasted.
thespruce.com Heat the oil in a deep saucepan or frying pan to 160°C. Check the temperature with a special thermometer or a ball of white bread. Dip the crumb into the saucepan. If bubbles appear around it, then the oil has reached the required temperature.
Dip the potatoes into the oil in a single layer. If there are too many sticks, divide them into several parts. The oil should completely cover the potatoes. Roast it for about 5 minutes. At this stage, it should soften from the inside, but practically not change the shade.
Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a wire rack or paper towels folded several times. Leave it for at least half an hour, and preferably for several hours, so that excess fat drains and the potatoes cool completely.
thespruce.com Heat up the oil to 180-190°C. If you don't have a thermometer handy, put a potato slice in the oil. When the required temperature is reached, the oil around it should hiss and bubble slightly.
Arrange the prepared potatoes in a single layer and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. It can be a little longer if you want to get even more toasted pieces. Then dry the potatoes again, as after the first roast.
thespruce.com You need to salt the french fries after cooking, otherwise they will not crunch. It is better not to wait until it cools down, but to serve it to the table while still warm.
minimalistbaker.com First, in a large bowl, mix the potatoes, a few tablespoons of oil, and salt to taste. And if you add some spices, the dish will become even more aromatic.
Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If the pieces lie on top of each other, they will bake unevenly. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 220 ° C for 25 minutes. Then turn the potatoes over and bake for another 10 minutes until they are crispy and golden.
Turn on the multicooker in the “Baking”, “Free” or “Multi-cook” mode, depending on the model. Pour oil into the bowl. The ratio of potatoes and butter should be 1: 4, otherwise you will get just. After a couple of minutes, when the oil is hot, put the potatoes and cook for 8-10 minutes.
French fries in a slow cooker are fried twice, as well as on the stove. After one roast, of course, it will be tasty, but it will not be covered with the desired crispy crust. Remove the potatoes, pat dry, let cool slightly and put in the slow cooker for another 2 minutes.
Salting such potatoes is also necessary after cooking so that they do not soften.
Richard Allaway/Flickr.com Arrange the potatoes on a platter so that the pieces do not touch each other. Drizzle with a little oil, sprinkle with salt and spices to taste.
Place the potatoes on full power for 3 minutes, then turn them over and cook for another 3-6 minutes until golden brown. Just do not overdry the potatoes, otherwise they will be tough.
Bonus: battered french fries recipe
Richard Eriksson/Flickr.com Ingredients
- 1 glass of flour;
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt;
- 1 teaspoon onion powder or 1 tablespoon minced onion
- 1 teaspoon of salt;
- 1 teaspoon paprika;
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper;
- ¼ cup of water;
- 900 g potatoes;
- ½ cup oil.
Cooking
Mix flour and spices. Add water and mix well. If the batter is too thick, add a little more water.
Dip the prepared potatoes in the batter and place one piece at a time in the hot oil. If you put a handful at once, the sticks can stick together. Roast for about 10 minutes, until potatoes are softened on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside.
Then place the cooked potatoes on a paper towel to drain excess fat. Serve hot with your favorite sauce.
It would seem that it is worth cooking ordinary french fries. Sliced, deep-fried, salted and you're done. But there is one nuance. French fries remain crisp for the first two or three minutes after they are taken out of the deep-fryer. And then, as it cools, the fries go limp and less tasty. So our goal is to deep-fry the potatoes so that they remain crispy even after they have been served. Moreover, it remains relatively crisp even after cooling. You will need:
Potato.
Odorless vegetable oil for deep frying.
Salt.
Sugar. Approximately 2 heaping tablespoons per 2-2½ liters of water.
Peel the potatoes and cut into long strips.
Sliced potatoes immediately as they are cut are sent to a pan with cold water. The meaning of this action:
Firstly, then the potatoes will not darken.
Secondly, it is necessary to wash off the starch, which is very abundant in potatoes. The photo shows how cloudy the water has become.
We wash the potatoes for about 20 minutes. For the first five minutes, stir it a couple of times, and then do not touch it so that the starch settles to the bottom. We take out the potatoes from the water, trying not to disturb the contents of the pan too much and wash it under running water. Pour out all the starch water from the pan, rinse the pan and put the washed potatoes into a clean pan. Pour sugar into potatoes. At the rate of 1 heaping tablespoon per liter of water.
Pour cold water into a saucepan. Not much, so that the potatoes are just covered with water. It is precisely on the basis of this amount of water that the amount of sugar is taken. Stir potatoes with sugar in water until the latter dissolves.
We leave the potatoes to take sweet baths for another 15 minutes. During this time, you can prepare for frying french fries. Whoever has a deep fryer - he uses it. I don’t have a fryer, so I’ll do it the old fashioned way, in a regular ladle. Pour odorless vegetable oil into a ladle and put the ladle on fire. I use a small ladle as I don't cook on a commercial scale right away. So it takes me about 250-300 ml of oil. I fry french fries in batches. Warm up the oil properly. I check the degree of warming up in the following way. I throw a small piece of potato into the oil.
If this piece immediately begins to actively fry, then the oil has warmed up properly.
If there is no active frying process, then we wait until the oil heats up and the piece still starts to fry.
If a piece of potato immediately begins to darken and burn, then the oil is overheated, set the ladle aside and let the oil cool slightly. Then we return the ladle to the fire again and re-check the temperature with a new piece of potatoes.
We keep the heating under the bucket medium so that the oil does not overheat and does not overheat. We take out the chopped potatoes from sweet water and dry them with paper towels. We take out not all at once, but in parts - as much as it will immediately be laid in deep fat.
Put the dried sliced potatoes into the hot oil. Here you need to be careful, because the moisture on the potato slices instantly boils and can burn both by itself and by small droplets of oil raised by steam.
Fry the potatoes in deep fat until the moment when the potatoes begin to slightly acquire a golden color. And immediately take it out of deep-frying on paper towels so that they absorb excess oil.
Here, quite legitimately, the question arises: “And what did we get?”. Something vague, completely different from the desired result. Where is the crispy crust, and what prevented us from frying the french fries completely to readiness? Of course, you can also fry, as is usually always done. That's just a crispy crust on potatoes will not work. And even more so, the crust will not crunch after the french fries have cooled down. So let's be patient. At the moment, we have given the opportunity for the potatoes to reach readiness inside. But we will do the crust a little later. In the same way, and to the same state, we fry the rest of the potatoes in several steps. Also spread on paper towels. Let the potatoes cool completely! This is important, so don't rush. and patiently wait for the potato slices to cool completely. By the way, after this stage, you can freeze the potatoes and leave the resulting semi-finished product to wait in the wings. When the potatoes have cooled, heat the oil again. The potatoes cool down fast enough that I just take the ladle of butter off the heat while it cools down, and when it's frying time, I put the ladle back on the fire. And again, we also put this half-fried potato in parts in hot oil and only now we fry the potatoes until cooked - that is, until a confident golden color.
After that, we take the potatoes out of the oil, quickly spread them on paper towels, and pat the potatoes on top with paper towels to remove excess oil. Sprinkle fine salt on top and serve hot.
This double frying of potatoes gives a wonderful crispy crust that lasts a long time. And the sugar that we added to the water when soaking the chopped potato strips does not give sweetness, but emphasizes the taste, and also gives a bright golden color to the potato slices.
Making Real French Fries
According to this recipe, you can cook potatoes "like in McDonald's". Although it is a little laborious, the potatoes turn out to be correct, with a crispy crust and a tender middle.
Required Products:
Potato
Vegetable oil
Salt
Garlic (optional)
One serving of french fries is about 1-2 potatoes (depending on size). Vegetable oil is used refined. Salts for cooking can be put more than usual, about 1 tbsp. spoon for half a liter of water. Garlic - 1-2 cloves. Added purely for flavor. If you don't like the garlic flavor, don't put it in.
We clean the potatoes. Cut into slices about 1 cm wide. You can make the slices corrugated using a special vegetable cutter. But still, their thickness should be at least 1 cm. It is this size that will allow you to make real potatoes fries, with a crispy crust, but soft inside.
We wash the slices with cold water in a colander, removing starch from their surface.
Put the potatoes in a saucepan for cooking, add finely chopped garlic and salt.
Fill with cold water and put on the stove.
1) Cutting into cubes about 1 cm thick - this is the size that will allow a crispy crust to form, and the middle to be completely cooked.
2) Washing the sliced potatoes with plenty of water will prevent the slices from sticking together.
3) Boiling in salt water with garlic will improve the taste of the potatoes, and also contribute a little to the formation of a crisp. This process can be skipped.
4) Drying before frying is needed so that the boiling oil does not splash, and again for a crispy crust.
5) Double frying with a cooling break is the main technique for getting crispy french fries.
6) Laying out on paper towels will help get rid of the oil remaining on the slices.