Around the end of January, I watched the documentary "Food, Inc.". It was an eye-opener to the U.S. food supply (which of course, has many affects on our food sources here in Canada as well). Most of my family and childhood friends would never guess that I would ever turn my tastebuds from such 'treats' in my lifetime, but I have. I'll never say never, but this is what currently feels right for us.
So here I am, the girl who loves (not chocolate, nor desserts, but) FRENCH FRIES! It has been four months and I know in my heart of hearts, that I NEED FRENCH FRIES! I can do easily without the hamburgers - they always made me feel like crap after anyways, but oh, those hot, crispy, golden McD's french fries, dusted with salt and generously dipped in good ol' Heinz ketchup! Chase it all down with a COKE! YUM! ...I miss you...
SO! I am on a quest to make the ultimate french fries!
Last week, I began my experiments.
I cut up a large amount of organic Yukon Gold potatoes in approximately the same girth as McD'd fries. I then steamed them in our steamer oven on "Firm" (as opposed to "Soft") setting to allow for continued cooking in my next step. I split the batch in half and set one half aside and then dumped the rest on a baking sheet atop parchment paper and put it in the freezer.
Batch #1
The first batch, I went to work on immediately. I made a combination of 4/5 organic High Oleic Safflower Oil (has high content of Vitamin E/antioxidant, low in saturated fats, high in monounsaturated fatty acid Oleic acid/Omega 9, is light texture, with non-greasy feel), and 1/5 Coconut Oil (tons of good stuff associated with coconut oil!) - both of which are good for high-heat/deep frying.I revved up the heat to just above medium-high, hoping to 'flash' fry them quickly, just enough to crispify them. If I were to do it again, I'd crank the heat up even more, I think. I haven't deep fried anything in a long while, so perhaps I was just intimidated to see all the bubbling and frenzy of heat in the pan. It didn't really do a terrific job, so I cranked the oven and broiled them for a period of time as well, tossing them, then letting them brown and tossing some more. When I finally took them out, I dusted them with kosher salt (i like the flakiness of it, rather than the chunkiness of sea-salt.) They were ok, but quite floppy still and maybe I'm not used to deep frying, but they just felt... more soggy than I was hoping for. The potatoes were also quite sweet. I may try a different kind of potato next round.
Batch #2
This batch of the same Yukon Gold potatoes, I took from the freezer, tossed in a bit of Safflower Oil and then threw them in the oven at around 500'C. I figured if the middle melted, and the outside crisped, that'd be perfect. Again, the got quite soft/soggy. I soon put it on broil once I knew they were thawed/heated, but it just kind of dried them out.
Things I liked about the inital trials:- This Safflower oil - I might give it a go again, with just straight Safflower, with unsteamed, raw potatoes at a higher temperature.
- Kosher salt - i like how it is kind of flakey on the fries
- Organicville Ketchup (with agave). Tastes just like Heinz ketchup.
- both batches were fairly soft, so because I cut the potatoes quite thin, I may dispense of pre-steaming them first
- oven-cooking seemed to make the second batch dry. Perhaps I need to fully pre-heat the oven to 500'c before introducing the fries and just use a fine spray of safflower oil.
- Yukon Gold potatoes are quite sweet. I will try a good ol' RUSSET!
Being a fellow who also loves 'good-skinny-long-just right french fries, I can only guess that your cooking oil is not hot enough to achieve the crisp. I say Hot!
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I recommend that the next time you're in Portland vicinity, stop at any McMenamins pub. They have the perfect fries in my humble opinion. That said, I have not tried yours yet.