Deep-fried
anything is one of my most entrenched cooking fears. Well, not a fear, exactly,
but I avoid it. Hot oil is dangerous, it’s smelly; you have to put food into it
very carefully, and then watch it like a hawk until it’s time to fish it out
even more carefully. Thus frying anything involves placing yourself at length
in close proximity to both the danger and the smell, while in your
concentration neglecting any small children who may be underfoot. Then, when
you’re finally done, you have to figure out a way to dispose of gallons of
greasy, smelly cooking oil. And that’s without even getting onto the health
question.
So,
I deep-fry things a few times a year; most consistently (and not coincidentally),
things I watched my mother and grandmother deep-fry, like meatcakes and
Christmas doughnuts, which don’t taste right made any other way and which I
feel reasonably confident about managing. I have never, ever tried to fry French
fries, the typical recipe for which sounds like everything I fear and loathe about
deep-frying, except that you have to do it twice. When I make fries, we have
oven fries.
Some
time ago, however, I came across a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Cold Oil French Fries. Instead of the traditional method,
which involves plunging the fries into (and extracting them from) hot oil twice in quick succession, this
recipe has you put the fries into the pan with the cold oil, and then heat them
all up together (translation: zero, rather than two, times plunging in hot
oil!). Then you cook them over medium heat in the boiling oil until they are brown
and crispy. Then you remove them, drain them on brown paper, salt them, and eat
them.
Not
only is this a much simpler method than the traditional one, it has only one
nerve-wracking step, as opposed to four. And the fries are, as I discovered
when I made them last night for the first time (and as the title above implies),
kickass.
Cold Oil French Fries
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
The
Cook’s Illustrated recipe, as they are wont to do, has various precise specifications
about types of potato and oil, peeling and cutting, temperature and so forth,
all of which I ignored. The fries may have been more kickass had I paid attention, but their level of kickassedness was perfectly sufficient to make my day.
The salient points that I fixed on to ensure the success
of the recipe are as follows:
1.
Use a heavy, Dutch-oven-type cooking pot to keep the oil sufficiently hot. (I
used my Le Creuset knockoff. Bonus cleanup points if you can use one that’s deep enough to minimize oil splattering
everywhere.)
2.
Make sure that your fries are completely submerged in the oil before starting.
Ingredients
6
small to medium potatoes (I don’t know what kind these are, as I bought them in
a brown bag from the guy who grew them, and I forgot to ask. I generally
prepare 2 potatoes per person I’m serving, unless they’re gigantic. (The
potato, not the person.))
canola
oil (or other neutrally-flavored oil, such as peanut; I emptied a 750-ml bottle
(~3 cups) over the fries, and added a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat for
flavor and good measure)
salt
Method
Scrub
the potatoes, remove any sprouts, eyes, or other unsightly bits, and cut into
batons about ½-inch (1 cm) thick. (Note that I did not peel my potatoes, but
whether or not you do is up to you.)
Line
a baking sheet with brown paper and set aside.
Place
potatoes in cooking vessel of choice and cover with oil.
Put
the pan over low-medium heat and cover pan with a splatter screen if you have
one. Keep an eye on the pan as the oil heats, stirring the fries occasionally
to make sure they’re not sticking.
When
the oil starts to boil, stir the fries again and check the heat setting to make
sure the boil is maintained consistently without a) dying off or b) overflowing and starting a fire. Continue stirring fries every few
minutes as they cook; once they start boiling, they should take 15-20 minutes
to fry. Once they are consistently a light-golden brown, they are done.
Turn
off the heat. Once the oil settles down, use a slotted spoon or similar to
scoop cooked fries out of the oil and onto the paper-lined baking tray.
Sprinkle
with salt. Eat as soon as fries are cool enough to permit injury-free
consumption.
Serves
2 adults and 1 child with what appear to be leftovers, until everyone goes back
for seconds.
PS:
Please report back on how much time elapses before you get a request to make
these again. (I got asked at breakfast this morning.)
