How to Make Perfect French Fries

Crisp outside, fluffy inside: great French fries come down to the right potato, a cold soak and frying twice — once to cook, once to colour.

Preparation Time: 15 min           Cooking Time: 45 min           Servings: 6

Ingredients
1 pound baking potatoes
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Directions

Pick your potatoes: To make the best French fries, you’ll want to start with high-quality potatoes. The best fries are made from russet potatoes that have low moisture content. The low moisture content means the potatoes will absorb less oil during the cooking process resulting in French fries with a crispier texture.

Prepare your potatoes: Peel and wash potatoes. Slice into 1/4-inch thick slices, then into 1/4-inch sticks. Before cooking them, place them into a bowl of ice cold water. Allow them to soak for about a half-hour. This will ensure maximum crispness when you finally fry them.

Blanch your potatoes: To create the very best fries, you’ll want to blanch your potatoes before frying them. To blanch potatoes, heat clean cooking oil to a temperature of 320 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s important that your oil be hot enough to keep the potatoes from soaking up extra oils during the blanching process. Cook your potatoes on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Your goal is to precook your fries. You don’t need to cook them until they’re golden brown yet. After removing your fries from the blanching oil, put them in a container and refrigerate them until you’re ready to fry them golden brown.

The final fry: When you’re ready to serve your fries, heat your cooking oil to a temperature of 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Slowly add the potatoes to the pan and fry them on both sides until golden brown in color. Immediately remove from the oil when golden brown and place them on an absorbent towel to drain any excess oil.

Season your fries: Always serve your freshly made fries within ten minutes for best taste. Before serving, sprinkle your fries with sea salt. Many people enjoy the taste of natural French fries and won’t require any other seasoning. For the more daring, fries can be seasoned with garlic, chili powder, black pepper, parsley, or a variety of other dried herbs and spices. They can also be served with an array of dipping sauces such as honey mustard, barbeque sauce or garlic mayonnaise. Of course, the favorite for many people is still old fashioned ketchup.

However you choose to serve your freshly made fries, you can be sure that the best French fries will come from your own kitchen.