Homemade French Fries

When making homemade French Fries, there are 4 things that determine how well they turn out:

• Potato. As the main ingredient, the quality of the potato will determine the quality of the French Fries. If your local store offers a choice, go for a better quality rather than the cheapest. If you can, use Russet potatoes as they are generally considered the best potato variety for French fries. If you cannot get Russet potatoes, get a good quality baking potato. Do not use 'New Potatoes' (potatoes harvested in early summer, with a very thin skin) as their high water content makes them unsuitable for frying. Do not use potatoes with a green color or green tinge.
• Oil. The potato absorbs a fair bit of oil during frying, so the resulting French Fries will have the taste of the oil which was used. There is also the fact that some oils are healthier then others. Please see below for detailed discussion.
• Method. There are a number of different ways to prepare French Fries. The choice of method will affect the taste and texture of the French Fry, how crisp and crunchy the outside is, and how much oil is absorbed. Please see below for detailed discussion.
• Condiments. One can add many things to French Fries. Popular additions are ketchup, salt, pepper, and vinegar (in UK, malt vinegar is popular).

Preparation - The Science

The first step is to peel the potatoes and wash off any dirt. Then cut the potatoes into strips. The length of the potato strips is not important, but the thickness is.

• All the potato strips should be approximately the same thickness, as otherwise the thick strips will be undercooked when the thin strips are already overcooked.
• Thin strips cook faster, make crisper fries, but absorb more oil.
• Thick strips take longer to cook, are not quite as crisp, and absorb less of the cooking oil.
• Normally, French fries are between 1/8th inch (3 millimeters) and a centimeter thick.

The next step is to deep fry the potatoes. The secret to crispy potatoes is to fry them twice (known as double-frying).

When deep frying, temperature is important. Lower temperatures result in crisper fries, but higher oil absorption. Higher temperatures result in less crisp fries, but less oil absorption. The trick is to cook at a temperature low enough that the fries are crisp, but high enough that the amount of oil absorbed is reduced. Reducing the amount of oil absorbed is healthier (less fat, fewer calories) and tastes better (most people do not like greasy, soggy fries).

With the double-frying method, one first cooks the fries on a lower temperature until they are cooked through. One then lets them cool and then add them to the hot oil for a couple of minutes to make them crisper. Since cooked potatoes absorb oil easier than uncooked, the temperature of the second cooking needs to be higher than the first cooking, in order to avoid too much oil being absorbed.

Preparation - The Procedure

1. Pre-heat the oil to 325°F (160°C).
2. Add the strips to the hot oil. If there is not enough oil to cover all the potato strips, one can cook them in batches one after the next. Keep the oil at  325°F (160°C) until they are cooked through. For very thin potato strips this can take as little as 2 minutes and for very thick potato strips it can take as much as 10 minutes. It can also vary somewhat depending on the potato variety and how old the potato is.
3. One can check when the fries are done by sticking a sharp knife in one (when it goes through easily with resistance, the potato is done) or by removing one and checking if the inside is soft (either by biting into it, or by squeezing it between one's finger and thumb).
4. When the fries are done, immediately remove them from the hot oil, and leave them to cool. This takes about 15 minutes, but if you are preparing food in advance you can leave them a maximum of 4 hours. Do not leave them directly on a plate or in a bowl, as the oil on them will pool on the bottom and soak into the fries on the bottom. Instead, either put them on paper towel or on a rack while they are drying.
5. Heat the oil to 375°F (190°C). Add the fries to the hot oil and leave them until they are golden brown and crisp. This takes 2 minutes (for very thin cut fries) to 5 minutes (for thick cut fries).
6. Remove the fries from the hot oil. Use some paper towel to remove the oil on the surface of the fries and serve immediately.

When deep frying, you should have a metal sieve which fits into the pot (all deep fryers come with this), which allows you to quickly remove all the fries at once. If you don't have this, a skimmer (a large metal spoon with holes in the bottom) can be used instead to remove the fries from the hot oil.

Preparation - Variations

Some recipes call for the potatoes to be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes prior to the first frying. This does tend to make the fries slightly crisper, but the difference is not great.

Oil

Peanut oil is a popular choice for French fries. It has a fairly neutral taste and consequently does not give the fries a strong oily taste. It is also considered one of the healthier oils. If you do not have Peanut oil, vegetable oil is a good alternative.

However, what tastes best depends largely on personal preference. Some people like to use olive oil, although this gives a distinct taste that is not universally appreciated. In blind taste tests of various options, it has been found that the most popular taste is for fries cooked in rendered beef fat or even goose fat (although technically these are not oils).

Until 1990, McDonald's used to use rendered beef fat instead of oil (93% beef fat with 7% cottonseed oil), as this was the most popular taste. In 1990, faced with criticism about the amount of cholesterol in their fries due to the beef fat, they switched to vegetable oil with an added flavoring to give the old beef fat taste.

Use fresh oil. One of the reasons that home-made fries are better is that commercial outlets reuse the oil, often to the point that it becomes rancid and that the repeated re-heatings have largely de-natured it (making it even less healthy). If you want to reuse the oil, the best approach is to let it cool and then strain it (e.g. through a coffee filter) and then store it in the fridge to keep it cool.

Condiments

There are many things that one can put on french fries. Salt is very popular, as is pepper to a lesser extent. In the UK, malt vinegar is often used.

Notes and Trivia

The origin of French Fries is not known for certain, although a number of nationalities claim to have created the recipe. Based on limited evidence, the most likely source of French Fries is Belgium. They claim that some poor inhabitants of the Meuse valley in Belgium, who regularly fried fish from the nearby river, did the same with potatoes when the river froze over and fish were unavailable.

The largest consumer of French Fries is the USA, but the largest consumer per person is Belgium.

In the UK, French Fries are known as 'Chips', as in their extremely popular 'Fish & Chips'.

French Fry Cutter

If you make French Fries often, you might want to purchase a French Fry Cutter. These cost from about 10 dollars (basic model) to about 50 dollars or so (a deluxe model). However, they all work the same: put the peeled potato in and push down a handle, causing the potato to be pushed through a grill which cuts it into french fry size.

Following is a photo of a basic model:

Here is a more expensive model, which is not only more sturdy but has a beauty which I think makes it a nice addition to any kitchen: