French fries, a staple of fast food and fast casual restaurants seems to be a very simple food.
When you break it down, its basically just deep-fried (and usually salted) julienned potatoes. But they can be served in a few ways, either soft or crispy and can be served with ketchup, vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, or anything you like.
These days, they are not strictly made from potatoes but also from other types of root vegetables for a healthier option. To up its nutritional value, they can also be baked which means using either less or no oil.
When it comes to their cut, there are three main ways it can be done.
The most common is the shoestring which is a thin, straight-cut French fry. Some cut them thicker, skin-on or wedge-sized.
The other is waffle-cut fries. As the name implies, it's cut in a criss-cross pattern. Then there's curly fries and crinkle-cut fries.
And most recently, the Tornado fry is especially popular in Asian countries wherein an entire potato is cut into one continuous thin spiral and served on a stick.
So what's the secret to irresistible french fries, the likes of which you get outside?
It all starts with the potatoes. You need to get the starchy variety of potatoes aka Russet potatoes. It's the ruddy-skinned potato that's often baked. The flesh is very dry, and the skin is thick. This is key to ensuring that the interior of the finished product will have the soft texture you find outside.
The potatoes have to be cut about the same size so they all take the same time to cook.
Then, let the potatoes soak in water to get rid of extra starch. And make sure they're dry before getting into the fryer so they will fry properly.
Now, comes the frying part. The secret is to double-fry it.
In the first stage, just par-fry the potatoes. The temperature here is about 163°C (325F) to 176°C (350F). This step is important to make sure the potatoes cook through the inside. Just the inside! The potatoes shouldn't take on any color. A good practice to make sure its cooked is by poking it with a toothpick.
The second fry occurs at a higher oil temperature of 191°C (375F) to 204°C (400F). This takes about half the time of the first fry and it's mainly to achieve nice color and crust on the exterior of the fries. Fry them until they're crispy with a dark golden brown.
After that, remove from the oil, season liberally with salt and enjoy! Now you know how to have fries that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Oh, and feel free to check out the range of deep fryers we have on our website!
You might even be interested in this MODELUX deep fryer which is made for two-stage frying with auto-lifting function and timer.
