The Temperature Trick For The Crispiest Possible Home Fries

Fries at fast food joints and restaurants are always perfectly golden and crispy, but it can be frustrating when you try to make french fries at home. You somehow end up with more mushy potato sticks than crispy fries. Luckily, there are a few tricks you can use to make the best possible homemade french fries that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Firstly, when making fries at home using the pan-fried method, the most important thing to remember is to let your potatoes cool down after parboiling them and before tossing them into a hot pan.

In this situation, the temperature is critical because potatoes that are parboiled tend to take on water. If you don't let your potatoes cool down before adding them to the pan, they will still be holding onto that water, causing them to become mushy and soggy on the inside instead of firm and crisp.

The first step to crispy pan-fried fries is to cut up the potatoes into same-sized pieces. This is because, as Gordon Ramsay says, "If they're cut evenly, they're going to cook evenly." Once you do that, it's time to parboil the potato slices. Parboiling before cooking is an essential part of getting crispy fries because it releases all the starch and helps them cook more evenly when fried. If you don't parboil the potatoes and throw them in the pan raw instead, you risk burning the outsides of the fries before the insides are done. When parboiling, make sure to start the potatoes off in a mixture of cold water, salt, and a dash of vinegar. Set the flame to high and cook for about five minutes after the water reaches a rolling boil.

Then, once the potatoes have been partially cooked, remove them from the hot water immediately and leave them in the strainer so they start to cool. As the potatoes cool, they will release the water they soaked up during the parboil. When cooled to room temperature, add to a hot oiled skillet and cook until golden brown.

The trick to getting crispy golden fries from a deep frier is also all about temperature, mainly, the oil temperature you use on the first and second fry. For ultra-crispy fries, double frying is the way to go because the first fry acts like a parboil in that it partially cooks the fries so that the second round can get them nice and crispy. So, how do you do it?

First, cut your potatoes into evenly thick slices. This is especially important when frying so that all your fries get crispy after the same amount of time. In a deep fryer or deep pot, heat your oil to 330 degrees Fahrenheit then add in the fries and cook for two minutes. After two minutes, remove the fries and place them on a wire rack to cool. As the fries cool, increase the temperature of the frying oil to 385 degrees Fahrenheit. Then add the fries back into the oil and cook until they start to float to the top. Once they float, remove them from the heat, season, and serve. Season with salt for classic french fries or with truffle oil for deeply rich and satisfying truffle fries.