So you wanna know how to make perfect French Fries, do you? So did I. For about the past 20 years. The trick is in the triple cooked chip. Not double. Triple.
I will tell you now, that I have tried every method, potato and oil temperature known to humankind in my quest to create the perfect french fry. I've come close many times. In all that time I had never succeeded in creating the perfect chip at home.
Until I discovered the triple cook method developed by by The Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal.
If you're interested in other "Perfect" stuff, try my perfect pizza recipe done in a cast iron pan. I know bloggers tend to lean towards exaggeration with their stuff. Like "the BEST", "the only!" "the PERFECT"! But I really only call something perfect if it is.
I lean more towards truth as in "The Almost Award Winning Maple Bourbon BBQ Sauce." Which is actually quite delicious.
This is not a post on how to make easy french fries. It is a post on how to make perfect french fries. Remember that when you start compulsively rolling your eyes at me throughout this post.
Table of Contents
Important French Fry Factors
- Variety of potato
- Temperature of oil
- Type of oil
- Length of fry
Most people (sanely I might add) make french fries at home either with a bag of frozen french fries baking them in the oven or if they're a bit more serious about their fries in a home deep fryer.
The really adventurous make chips from potatoes and deep fry them. But they do it wrong and end up with soggy or partly cooked on the inside, burned on the outside fries.
I am on the opposite end of the scale. I grow my own potatoes for making french fries. I'll get to which varieties I grow specifically for making fries in a bit.
French Fry Making Mistakes
- The first way people make homemade fries is to grab whatever potato they have in their cupboard, cut it up, turn the deep fryer onto "HOT AS HELL", and throw them in.
This will not create the perfect french fry. - The second way people try to make fries is by getting fancy and twice cooking the french fries. First cooking them in oil, taking them out to cool. And then cooking them again at a higher temperature. It's a good start but ...
This will not create the perfect french fry.
So how do you do it? How do you create the ideal french fry at home?
The Method
If you want to make french fries that are golden and crispy on the outside and hot and fluffy on the inside, you need to:
- Use the right potato - Russet Burbank (baking potato) is ideal and its cousin the Kennebec (white potato) is even better. Both the Russet Burbank and the Kennebec are bred for making commercial french fries. I grow both of these varieties for making fries.
McDonalds uses Russet Burbank to create their famous fries. In-N-Out uses Kennebecs.
- Peel the potatoes. Perfect fries don't have skin, because the skin won't get crispy the way we need it to. So off with the skin.
Aren't all the vitamins in the potato skin?
Actually, no. That's a myth that we've all heard from someone so we just accept it as fact. 🤷♀️ In truth, potato skins contain 40-50% of the fibre that a potato has to offer. As far as the major vitamins and nutrients, they're all right there in the potato flesh.
- Boil them first. This is the key. It creates a slightly rough texture on the potato which is what helps make them crispy when you fry them. It also partially cooks them.
- Add some animal fat to your oil. You can use vegetable, grapeseed, peanut oil or any other oil with a medium to high smoke point. It should also be neutral tasting. And then add a big blog of lard or tallow to it.
- Fry them at a low temperature. Then let them cool.
- Fry them at a high temperature to finish them.
What You Need
- Potatoes
- Deep fryer
- Heavily salted pot of water
This is all very scientific, so I figured I'd better have a control group to show you the difference between an O.K. fry and THE PERFECT FRY.
I'm even wearing rubber gloves and a lab coat. And a stethoscope.
TEST fries
I created a control group of fries by doing what everyone does when they cook fries; I cut up a potato, turning my deep fryer onto HOT AS POSSIBLE and dropped them in.
This method produced overly dark, slightly undercooked fries. So they looked overcook and tasted raw.
They were limp. And unappealing. As limp things often are.
Perfect Homemade French Fries
Make perfect homemade french fries. The triple cooked chips an invention of chef Heston Blumenthal.
Ingredients
- 4 large baking potatoes - Burbank Russet or Kennebec
- salt
Instructions
- Cut baking potatoes (note 1) into medium sized fries.
- Place in pot of cold, heavily salted water. Bring to boil. Once you see the first big bubble of a boil, remove fries. They will be cooked, but not falling apart. Drain and run under cool water.
- Dry and cool fries in fridge, convection oven or with hairdryer until leathery.
- Fry (note 2) at 300°f until a crust forms but no colour. About 5 minutes. (Technically Heston's fry temp is 266 F but that's hard to do with a regular, crappy home deep fryer)
- Shake out oil and cool in refrigerator or freezer. Fries should seem leathery.
- Fry again at 355°f until golden and crispy. About 7 minutes.
- Salt immediately.
Notes
- The best readily available potatoes to use are Burbank Russet (baking potatoes) or Kennebecs. Heston Blumenthal who invented this technique uses Maris Piper potatoes.
- Use a neutral tasting oil with a medium - high smoke point like peanut, grapeseed or vegetable oil. Then add a blob of animal fat. Lard or tallow if you can find it.
If you want something similar to a McDonalds french fry, cut your fries to ¼". Technically McDonalds fries are blanched in low temperature water for a long time instead of boiled quickly. But if you want my honest truth, as long as you cut a fry to ¼" inch, double fry it and douse it in salt it's going to taste McDonaldey.
Step-by-step instructions
1. Plop your fries into a pot of cold, heavily salted water.
Bring the pot to a boil. Once it shows signs of boiling, remove the fries.
The easiest way to cook them to the right degree is to immediately remove the fries once the water shows its first big bubble. If you get to a rolling boil your fries will be overcooked and falling apart.
You should be able to pick up one of the fries without it breaking in half. But you should feel very nervous about it. THAT'S a perfectly pre-cooked fry.
2. Spread your fries on a cookie rack to dry.
You can dry them in the fridge, convection oven, or with a hairdryer.
The surface should be dry and leathery. Refrigerate until cool.
3. Once the fries are dry and cold, fry at 300°f* until a crust forms. About 5 minutes.
*(if your fryer works as low as 266 that's the ideal/recommended temp but sometimes home fryers don't behave this way)
You don't want the fry to colour the potato. It just has to form a crust.
4. Return your fries to the cookie rack and refrigerate or freeze until cool.
I do see you rolling your eyes in exasperation, so just know that.
5. Fry again in hot oil of 355°f until golden brown and crispy. 5-7 minutes.
These fries are crispy good with no "limping" even after sitting out for several minutes.
The outer shell is crispy and crunchy, while the inside of the fry is hot, fluffy and salty thanks to boiling them in salt water first.
That's O.K., just make sure you buy baking potatoes for fries. Any baking potato. They are usually larger and more elongated than a white or yellow potato with a tougher skin. A baking potato has the right amount of starch and moisture to make good fries.
You cannot under any circumstances create perfect french fries in the oven. Cannot. You can create slightly healthier fries in the oven but they won't be considered, referred to or hailed as perfect. So no.
Using a french fry cutter, or by hand, cut your fries so they're ¼" thick. Almost shoestring size. Blanch at 170 f for 15 minutes. Then fry once at a low temperature (300) for 5 minutes and let them cool. Then fry again at 400 until golden and crisp. Salt, salt, salt.
See here for how to make Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries. I haven't given the esteem of perfect because a lot of people have trouble with the method. If you don't follow it perfectly you end up with very unperfect sweet potato fries.
And if you want something truly awful I can hook you up with some brussels sprouts which are always gross, but this recipe I got from Shelter restaurant on Tofino, British Columbia is edible if you hate brussels sprouts. Mainly cause they're fried and covered in a delicious dressing.
O.K. get your eyes straight in your head again and either go out and make some french fries or call your sister to tell her how insane people on the Internet are.
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mollydolittle
You are a woman after my own heart. I, too believe that Kennebec potatoes are the best potatoes, period. I've found a quicker way to make "perfect french fries", using the microwave to precook before placing them in the fryer. Cook for 2 minutes, then fry. I don't have a picture, however. But, my family gobbles them up, perfect or not.
Maria
You crack me up!!!!
and BTW there was a McDonalds ad at the bottom of the blog!!!! Thought that was funny!!!
Karena
Gosh I think the rules were broken from the start!Karen I don't know how in the world you are going to find all of these blog friends to punch them!
Your French Fries look delish!
I hope you will come see my new Annie Sloan Projects revealed!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Lisa
Safety in numbers...she can't catch us all. :)
calliek
But what if I LIKE soggy fries?
Paulina J!
caliek you are weird. that is all :)
mimiindublin
Interesting that you boil the potatoes from cold, I'd have thought that would make them soggy, even in the couple of minutes.
But then I'm no French Fry expert! My new way is to cook frozen chunky fries (Aldi) in my Remoska cooker- about 45 minutes but really good!
Bridget
Your fries are beautiful! How do you cut them to be so square in shape?
Karen
Bridget - I just cut them in strips like you normally would and cut the ends off. That's all! ~ karen
CatFauve
It's just plain stupid - why to make simple when you can make complicated... I'm Belgian and we're doing the best fries - by cooking them twice (and no, it's not fancy, it's just the right recipe). The potatoes matters, the fat also - it has to be vegetable. First at 170°C, then cool down and repeat at 190°C.
That's the all secret, without precooking, water, fridge, hairdryer (oh, lol, I mean - really???)...
Karen
Hey CatFauve! Thanks so much for coming to my website and calling my posts stupid! Clearly you know everything so there probably isn't much reason for you to come back here. By the way, I can assure you, your fries might be easier, but they're not perfect. Sorry. ~ karen!
Jamie
I love your replies. You're the best. <3
Pati Gulat
YOU GO, GIRL !!! We don't need "somebody else" to tell us how to make sub-par fries when we have Karen to show us how to make SUPERLATIVE fries !
Biswajit giri
;-D
CFunk
You probably cut your own hair, don't you.
Kristin
Wow....now I'm just hungry for fries and it's 7 a.m.
Deborah
Shoot - now I want some and I do not have a deep fryer. Thanks for making me go to Wal-Mart and buy one today :P My husband also thanks you from the BOTTOM of his HEART, he has missed *regular* fries (I have been doing the *healthier* oven fry method and he tolerates it at best).
Natika
I have a friend who was obsessed with French fries and came very close to this exact method. I'll have to tell him!
A few times a year he would make a big batch of fries and chili (even the ingredients are hard to find in Japan) and we'd have chili fries! The whole process would take hours, but it was always worth it. (^-^)
Gayla T
I was sure you were going to wrap yours up in a tea towel like my mother did. I don't remember why she did them that way but she wrapped them up and put them in the fridge for maybe an hour or so. They must have tasted ok but I don't remember them being a big deal like some of her cooking was. I'll have to take your word for how great yours are. When I have to have a recipe to make fries, it's too darn much trouble. Now the part of the recipe you obviously left out is how you got out a ruler and straight edge to make them all the EXACT same size. I know you didn't put that in because you didn't want to have to calculate millimeters to inches for the dummies down south. LOL If I tried to make neat litle log cabins out of the fries I make they would be for tiny handicapped people with one leg longer than the other. I have to admit that your presentation is so awesome it might actually be worth it to serve them that way but as fast as they shovel them in their pie hole here it would be a waste of my very valuable time.
lori
I promise to try if you tell me what kind of deep frier you have!!
Karen
This one is an older model TFal. (professional series) I don't think they sell it anymore. But any tfal should do. ~ karen!
Micol
Hi Karen,
Are those hand cutted?
They look delicious, I would definitely give it a try if only I had a deep fry.
Love you.
Karen
Hi Micol - Yup. Hand cut. I made em pretty for their picture. ~ karen!
Mary Bozarth
AWESOME. I saw this article in Wired a while back http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_myhrvold/all/1, which mentions the thrice cooked fries you speak of. I can't wait to try this!
Doni
My mom's fries are pretty darn good too, and she feeds me lunch every day because I work with her and my dad in their home office. They are 85, so they eat their "dinner" meal at exactly noon every day, so I roll in to work promptly around 11:30ish, because I'm kind of spoiled and can get away with that. But I am totally on board with trying this perfect French fry myself. I have the time but not the fryer because I got rid of mine when we moved rather than clean it and pack it. And it wasn't that great anyway. So I was wondering what kind of fryer is that one you have? Does it heat the oil hot enough to actually fry? I had several that did not, and now it seems I will need to buy one if I am going to make perfect fries. Any suggestions?
Karen
Hi Doni - Yup the fryer I have is good. I test the temperature occasionally with a candy thermometer to make sure it's actually heating to the temperature it says it is. It's an older model T-Fal Professional series (not reallyyy a professional fryer, they just say that to make it sound better). I don't think they sell it anymore, but my guess is another TFal would work. ~ karen
Lisa
I've done it and it's true. The technique makes the perfect french fry. They are even better with potatoes you've grown yourself... no matter what floury potato you use.
manoj pande
i have also tried this method but it really work .so its really good thank you very much
Melissa Tuli
I guess people aren't afraid of getting punched in the vagina, or spleen.
Lindsay
Lol. That's exactly what I was thinking..
Bernadette
exactly. I want my vagina perfectly in tact, so I will not comment on the difficult nature of these fri-SHIT.
Melissa
The rest of you will just have to follow Karen's instructions, I guess. ;P
Gayla T
Or you could just give us all your mother's addy so we could drop in for fries when we are in the neighborhood. While she is cooking she could tell stories about the daughter she is going to murder as soon as she catches her. LOL
Melissa
Hmmm. Maybe. But it sounds like an awful lot of work. My Mom makes the best French fries I have ever tasted. Hands down, the absolute best. So I just drive there when I want the best French fries. Much easier and quicker too!
Lisa
That is a lot of work for a fry, but I shall have to make some now just so I can stack them just so...just like you did, because that makes them look irresistible!
Karen
Lisa - Well ... it's definitely not a post on how to make the easiest french fry. It's a post on how to make the very best, *perfect* french fry. ~ k!
Linda
@Lisa - I agree! Perfect french fry, perfect stack of french fries ... and she's hysterical! I'm going to have to make these just so that I can have a reason to read this again & so that I can stack those fries!
Keelea
Hope for the spleen, Lisa. Hope for the spleen.
LindsayH
Ha!!
Arvin
Ooooookay folks. Here is an abridged version of how to make a "perfect" french fry (to my standards anyhow).
1. Bring a pot of (unsalted) water up to a boil. and Preheat your deep fryer to 375 degrees.
2. Peel your potatoes, and cut them into fry shape. Throw em in the boiling water. Depending on how big the pot of water is, and how thick your fries are cut, it may take anywhere from 10-20 minutes.
3. Monitor your boiling fries. Once the outsides start fraying away and they are able to break pretty easily (Some will break on their own) Take them out and strain them. (The hard boiling of the fries destroys the outer layer, turning it to an irregular shape, which increases surface area, which is good!)
4. Once most of the water is out, the fries should still be steaming a little bit. Put them in your deep fryer. Careful here... Because of the steam from the heat, and the excess moisture on the fries, the oil reacts quite a bit right off the hop, but settles down in 10 seconds.. so slowly drop em into the fryer. Also, this will decrease the heat of the oil, giving you an effective frying temperature of 325-350 which is good.
5. Let em go until they are golden on the outside, strain, salt, and enjoy :)
These turn out very delicate and as crispy as a potato chip on the outside and soft on the inside. enjoy!