After a 25 year hiatus, I'm cooking the heck out of a grill now, several times a week. I've been making fries and chips but still not happy with the fries or thicker chips. I like a crispy, crunchy outside and a soft inside.

My technique so far is to cut the potatoes, then wash and let sit in a change of water for several minutes. Ltghtly drain then microwave in a tupperware container for 5 or so minutes then drain and deep fry in 350F oil.

This gives me a good and soft inside but leaving it in the oil long enough to get a crunchy outside gives it a slightly burned taste.

What direction should I go from here? While writing this I got the idea to prep some and freeze them so I'll probably try that next time but any words of knowledge and wisdom would be appreciated at this point.

Thanks!

Mark

The second post in this thread has some great information:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeb...rites_topic4916.html

We try and use potatoes (just had an Dan Quayle moment)That have been sitting in the bottom of your pantry and have developed eyes the starch is staring to break down the only thing I would add is to fry them twice..

some potatoes make better French fries than others... I use the biggest Idaho's I can get, wash and scrub them clean, then run them thru a French fry slicer to get uniform fries about 3/8" square... if they are too long, they will sag when you pick them up, so keep them shorter than 4"..let them soak in cold water until youre ready to cook, then pat dry....deep fry in hot fat, Crisco, Wesson..peanut... your choice... till about 3/4 done.... till they start to brown... dip them out , let them drain...don't pile them up, spread out on a cookie sheet.... after you have the whole batch cooked, heat your grease back up till a wooden
match will light when dropped in...now cook till brown, remove, drain, salt... only tip I can think of is to keep the grease deep enough so that all the potatoes are submerged... and don't do too many at one time..relative humidity seems to effect cooking times...

This what I do, regardless of the type of fries- whether small or medium sized fries or even wedges:

1. Peel and slice to whatever
2. Soak in water with a splash of white/cider vinegar for 20 minutes to et rid of starch
3. Dry them
4. Cook at 300* until they're beginning to change color
5. Take them out and put on a rack
6. Crank it up to 375* to crisp and brown

Yes, double dipping is the secret! As posted above.

FMC, for those who don't want the fat your method is great.
My training was the, best way is with beef suet. Yup !

Nuke whole, washed, unpeeled potatoes for 3 minutes. Get the grease hot. Slice as for steak fries (careful, they will be hot). Fry till brown.
I got this from the Food Network - Alton Brown.

You are welcome.

Alton Brown is my favorite! Mete, I believe beef suet was McDonalds secret to great fries before all the health food nuts raised Hell years ago. Am I mistaken?

That works + I've never had a kid complain;scarfed them all + their burger as well,but then you know a crew of little boys on a sleep over. Always tickld me after the fact when I went in to check on them after lights out they looked like a litter of puppies;lying there in a pile.The boys are all in their 30's + 40's now + I would never bring it up to other parents but sweet memories indeed.

My wife has an old pot that she claims is special and cure for crisp potatoes..she slices the potatoes like a half dollar size and thickness and puts as many in the post of grease as possible until golden brown..they always come out of the pot like a patato chip..and the taste is out of this world, they stay crisp btw..She says you have to stuff the pot or they get soft..