French Fries
Or Should We Say Belgian Fries?
Ingredients
2-3 lbs Russet Potatoes - Sliced into whatever size you like
1/2 - 1 gallon Peanut Oil (vegetable or canola works too) - you need enough oil to fill a large pot deep enough to fry but no more than half full
Salt
Whatever toppings or condiments you like!
Preparation
Are there many things better than hot, crispy, salty French fries? Making fries doesn’t have to be difficult and can be an awesome addition to any meal or party. Just be very careful when deep frying! Also, timing is relative to amount of potatoes and size of fryer. Go by eye and color of the fries (see below).
Wash and slice potatoes and place them in a large bowl of ice water for 30 minutes to overnight (30 min is the absolute minimum, try to at least soak for a couple hours if you can).
After soaking the potatoes, drain them and lay them out on paper towels to dry. When you go to fry, if your potatoes are very wet this causes the oil to splatter and bubble up and can get dangerous very fast. That is why you want a deep frying pot so that the oil doesn’t boil over onto your heating element.
While the potatoes dry, heat your oil to 350 F. When the potatoes are dry and the oil is hot, SLOWLY lower your potatoes into the oil. If you have a frying basket use that but if not use a spider strainer and lower in batches.
Fry for a few minutes (if you don’t have a lot of potatoes this will go fast!) just until they start to turn a very light golden brown. Then remove from the oil and place on a paper towel lined baking sheet to cool and drain excess oil. Heat your oil to 375 F during this time.
After the fries have cooled (~20 minutes), place them back into the oil for another few minutes or until they have turned a nice golden brown. Toss them on the paper towel lined sheet to briefly drain and cool and immediately salt!
If your fries are still not crispy, fry them a third time but very quickly ~30s to 1 min. You do not want to burn them.
Serve them with some truffle mayo, ranch, or classic ketchup and enjoy!