Finally! Great Tasting Home-Made French Fries!

Crisp Flavorful Homemade French Fries

Welcome to my new blog HomeMade In 2014!  I am on a mission this year to see how many things that I normally buy that I can make at home with simpler ingredients and less chemicals and preservatives.  Thanks for stopping by!  Today I am on a mission to make home made french fries.....that actually taste good.  Come along and see what I discovered!

Most home made french fries are a soggy mess.

We typically eat low carb to help control our weight.  Although we are low carb, that doesn't mean we are NO carb!  Occasionally we indulge in some good 'ol carbs.  And one of those occasional treats for me are french fries!  But I am always frustrated with the results when I try to make home-made french fries from scratch.  Too often they turn out soft and soggy and very unappetizing.

I spent most of the day yesterday testing home made recipes which included soaking the potatoes in ice water;  Double frying them (first in 325 degree oil, then in 375 degree oil) and I even tried pre-cooking them in the oven and then flash freezing them prior to frying them.  But to my disappointment all I got were less than stellar results that were anything but the crisp crunchy fries I craved.

Feeling frustrated with the results I almost gave up until I decided I would try one more recommendation.  And am I glad I did!

I read a recipe for making homemade potato chips where they boiled the chips before frying.  So I immediately wondered if this would work for french fries too.  And it does!

It was very simple actually.  Here is how I made perfect, I mean perfect homemade french fries.

First I cut the fries into 3/8th inch sticks trying to keep them as even as possible while I had a pan of water heating to a boil on the stove.  Once the water was boiling, I dropped the cut fries a few at a time into the water.  I let them boil for 4 minutes.  This pre-cooking allows the inside of the fry to cook.   While they were boiling I started heating my oil for frying to 350 degrees.  ( I used lard). After four minutes, I drained off the water into the sink using a collunder.  I then placed the par boiled fries into a cloth lined bowl to absorb any additional water.  Once the oil was to the correct temperature, I added the still hot fries and cooked them until they were golden.  After frying,I removed them to a plate with paper towels to absorb any oil and salted them to taste.

The taste test was unanimous.  Perfect french fries.  Just like the ones at the  arches!

One warning:  Be very careful working with hot oil.  It can cause very serious burns.  Keep children and pets out of the room while cooking these.



I hope you will give this recipe a try.

Up next:

Finding a way to remove the gritty sand I find in my quinoa.