Homemade French Fries

Last night, we had hamburgers and I thought...mmmm, wouldn't some homemade fries sound good with that?  I really hate the frozen kind, so this really hit the spot.  Never made homemade fries before?  Read on.  You'll never go back to store-bought.

Items needed

Ingredients:  Note, this was for our family of three and we had plenty!

6 small (or 3 large) Russet Potatoes

1 1/4C Vegetable Oil (may differ depending on your pan size)

1T Vinegar

1/4C Sugar

Sea Salt, optional

Start by getting your soaking water ready.  Add in 1T Vinegar.

Why vinegar?  No clue.  I'm thinking maybe it keeps the taters white.

Then add 1/4C sugar and swirl around.  Why sugar?  Because it 

makes the taters nice and sweet.  We like that.

Now prepare your taters by giving them a little shower

And cutting out any bad spots

If you have a fancy fry cutter like I do (and have never used until now),

you can cut them super quick. 

If not, I'm sorry, you'll have to cut them by hand.

Look how cool that is!  Got it on clearance at Bed, 

Bath and Beyond a couple of years ago.

As soon as you cut one, throw it in your sugar water so it

doesn't turn brown and icky.  (Save the tiny little end pieces in a separate bowl)

Remember those little end pieces I was telling you about? 

I separate them out because I don't want a bunch of little, tiny

burnt fries in with my perfectly golden, yummy fries!

I then throw them in a little bowl and pour some 

sugar water from the large bowl over them.

Some recipes will tell you to let them soak overnight to get a lot

of the starch out of them.  I don't have time for that.  We're having

dinner in about an hour, so I'm giving them 30 minutes to soak.

When the 30 minutes is up, prepare your oil.

 I only used a little over a cup.  My pan is not very wide and 

I wanted to use as little as possible to save money.

While oil is heating up, strain your fries and give a good rinse.

Lay them out on a few paper towels to soak up the water.

I know...I said I'm trying to break my reliance on paper products,

but I just picture little fuzzies on my fries if I use a towel.  Maybe

I need to get some tea towels!

Place a couple more on top and press down to get all the moisture off.

Here's what I did to begin with, thinking the oil would drip down

better and catch on the paper towels.  As you'll see later, I removed

the rack because they kept falling through and being a real pain.

You can check to see if your oil is ready by using a candy thermometer.

It should read around 375.  Note, do not touch your thermometer

to the bottom of the pan.  You will not get an accurate reading.

I quickly and carefully tipped mine to the side and took the temp.

Deciding that was creeping along too slowly, I checked my oil the old-

fashioned way.  If it's sizzling, you're pretty darn close!  Some people

do this with flour, too.  I figure the fry was handy, so why bother.

Using a spider, a slotted metal spoon, or a big honkin' 

wok utensil like I did, lower half of the fries into the hot oil.  

Be sure your utensil is heat proof.  This little baby 

says right on it that it can withstand temps up to 400!

The recipe I used said to fry the fries twice.  Once for three minutes,

let them rest, then fry again for three minutes.  Rather than put you

through that torture that I'm not entirely sure produced a better fry,

we're just gonna fry them once and get it over with.  

(I did it on the first half, not the second half). Stirring occasionally,

fry them up until you like the color.  Remember, they're a little darker

when they come out, so don't over cook them.  Mine took about 8 min.

Lay them on your paper towel-lined tray to drain.  I also patted

a paper towel or two on top to absorb the excess grease.

Add some salt if desired and serve up with a yummy hamburger!

Or if you're strange like me and like your fries kinda limp and soggy

(but not cold), you can do the following.  Pour a portion in a small

brown paper lunch bag.

And roll the top shut.  Wait about 5 minutes, then open and eat!

Don't forget to recycle your cooking oil! There's almost a cup there!

Notes:

These are sooo good and really inexpensive.  The whole batch for 3 people, including the oil , the paper bag, the sugar, vinegar and the paper towels needed came to about 85 cents.  I know that probably doesn't sound too terribly cheap, but in the big scheme of things, it's not bad.  You can't even get a small order from McDonalds for that price.  And these aren't loaded with salt.  The skins are intact so they have a tiny bit of nutritional value left to them, too.

For information about how I recycled my cooking oil, click HERE.

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