Monday, April 30, 2012

The Best Way To Prepare French Fries


I love French fries. I am just recovering from an illness, but from the first day I was sick, I’ve desired French fries over other foods. The first time I ate them they were a disaster. I almost threw up! So I thought I should make a statement, as a chef, on French fries. 

There are three methods of cooking French fries:

Method 1: The Unacceptable Method:
With this method, all you have to do is hurl the potatoes in hot oil, deep fat fry them for a few minutes and serve. Now I know a few fast-food restaurants that have mastered this method. But it doesn’t change my opinion of it: totally unacceptable!

Method 2: The Acceptable Method
This is the method I was taught at school. The potatoes are first par-boiled. Ok, that’s a scientific term. Let me explain. To par-boil the potatoes, put them in cold water and bring them to the boil. As soon as the water starts boiling, get them from the heat, put them in a colander and refresh them over cold, running water. To add flavour to your fries, add salt and white pepper to the water before boiling.

After par-boiling the potatoes, feel free to dip them in your hot fat, and fry till they reach an appetising golden brown colour.

Method 3: My Method.
I call this my method because I don’t know anyone else who uses it and I came up with it a few years ago while experimenting. All you need to do is immerse the potatoes in a brine solution overnight. To add to the flavour of your fries, you can add white pepper to the brine solution. (I have a thing for white paper, you know)

Of course you don’t have to soak them overnight, although according to my experiment, I soaked the potatoes overnight. With a strong brine solution, you will have to soak for about thirty minutes or an hour. 

So after getting your potatoes out of the brine solution, pat them dry in a kitchen towel and fry.
My method is the best I guess. This is because it gives the fries an extra crunch and flavour.
So, who wants me to taste their fries?

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