Bag-shook French-Fried Potatoes

 

Ingredients and Equipment

French Fry Basket which can be used with an ordinary high-sided frying pan.

High smoke-level oil: Peanut or corn or lard. Enough to cover the potatoes but allowing for doubling in height when boiling
Candy/Deep Fry thermometer
Medium brown paper grocery bag
Paper Towels/newspaper
Salt/pepper/?curry spices
large platter
large cast-iron skillet

This recipe when followed precisely will yield one large serving of crisp, thoroughly cooked, brown fries. No more than this one serving should be made at one time. One intent of this recipe is to set up a method for deep frying for individual servings without the expense of a useless mini deep fryer and with minumum waste of expensive oil.

Helpful hints: I have heard, but I cannot verify, that older potatoes with eyes just beginning to appear, make the best fries. Do not skin the fries for retention of the most nutrients.

Step 1:
Wash potato. Slice with carving knife: first lengthwise, then lengthwise across the slices. About 1/4" maximum square. As you slice, place the raw fries in a bowl under running water. You can buy and use a $185.00 Mandolin, loose the slicer protective cup, to cut the tips of your fingers when you wash it if you want. My mother used to have a simple slicer with one blade, cost $2.00 in the hardware did the same job. Can't find one of those or I would use that. But I have found that most things are sliced just fine with a well-sharpened chef's knife

Step 2:
Heat the oil on high. Be Careful! Boiling oil burns and is flammable!

Step 3:
When the oil is just about to reach 390°, remove the raw fries from the water, place on paper towles and thoroughly towel dry. Again be careful: water and oil do not mix and the boiling oil will sputter wildly and possibly flame up if the potatoes are not thoroughly dried! But do not skip this step as it is the key to the whole recipe!

Step 4:
Cook the potatoes jiggling the basket and occasionally stirring the fries around to prevent sticking together and to insure even cooking of all fries. Generally, having washed the fries first, they will not tend to stick together. Cook until they have the look of a McDonald's french fry. Cooked, but light colored with just a hint of turning brown. They may even be a little crispy at this point. Go by the color. At this point remove the fries onto another pad of paper towels and pat dry. Allow the heat to build up again in the oil. You can remove any small bits that have escaped the basket to prevent them from burning and effecting the flavour of the oil.

Step 5:
Place the fries back in the basket and the basket back into the oil and cook until golden brown: 1-2 minutes.

Step 6:
Dump the fries into the brown paper bag while shaking the bag. Shake the bag until it looks good and soaked with oil. Throw in a little (not too much!) salt, pepper, spices, and shake again. Do not put the salt into the bag before the fries have been shook around a bit and have lost a lot of their oil; otherwise the salt will cling to the fries 100%. Too salty! Serve.

To re-use the oil, allow it to cool in the skillet. Filter the cold oil through a fine sive or paper towel and store in the refrigerator in a glass jar.

Personally whenever I want french fries now I use the pre-cooked-frozen-heat-up-for-10-minutes-in-the-oven ones I get from the grocery store.