if you read regularly, you might already know that cavin and i like to snack on truffled frites at poste, where they are a mere $4 during happy hour (4-7pm weekdays).

recently though, we have found another place to fill our frites obsession: brasserie beck (or, just beck's, as the dr community is calling it these days). we've already gone twice and it's superb, but i'll save my post about beck's for another day. this post is strictly about french fries.

after eating french fries my entire life, the pommes frites variety rules over curly, waffle, fat steak fries, etc. you probably know them as the skinny ones that you might get if you ordered steak and frites, or if you order moules and frites at a belgian restaurant, which are sometimes served with mayonnaise.

shamefully, i have never made fries. but this weekend, i finally decided to take on this endeavor, since we had some days-old potatoes sitting around begging to be used. i wanted to also make homemade curry-flavored mayo as a condiment, but i flaked out and just mixed jarred mayo with curry powder (making fries at 9:30 in the morning, i felt, was enough badness for the day).

the key is to fry them twice, at different oil temperatures, but to also cut the potatoes at the proper thickness - too thin and you end up with potato chip sticks, too thick and you end up with those thick-cut ones you might get at ponderosa. it's really not that hard and they are far superior than most of the french fries i've had in my lifetime (which are quite a bit).

pommes frites
peel 2 large baking potatoes. cut potatoes into 1/4" to 3/8" thickness. rinse in several changes of cold water. thoroughly dry potatoes.

add vegetable oil to a large pot so it is about 3" deep. heat oil on medium-high to 325F (use a thermometer to check!). when the oil is up to temperature, add a handful of potatoes, turn heat to high, and add the rest of the potatoes, then turn heat to medium once all the potatoes are in the oil. cook, stirring sporadically, until the majority of the potatoes start to brown (10 minutes or so).

when the potatoes start to brown, turn heat to low and remove them from oil onto a paper bag or paper towels. at this point, they should be limpy and pale. once all the fries are out of the oil, turn heat to high until the oil is at 375F. (edit: only heat oil to 350F)

return fries to the oil, and fry for only a few minutes until they are browned to your liking. remove them from oil onto papertowels, and add salt (or any other flavoring like chili powder) and toss immediately.

Labels: cooking, french fries