How to Make Restaurant-Worthy Fries
As far as fries are concerned, they are best served in fast food establishments. It’s not that they use the freshest potatoes (they don’t), or that they have some secret seasoning (that’s salt), or even that they’re deep-fried (that’s good tactics, but not required). The secret, my friends, is that they are cooked twice .
Most restaurants order fries frozen, and these fries have been cooked once before. Other restaurants – like this one – cut potatoes at home and cook once, and the chips suck. As J. Kenji Lopez-Alt explained to NPR’s The Salt , moisture is to blame. The second stage of cooking is necessary for proper dehydration of the potatoes:
Moisture in the center of the product will migrate to the surface after the product has cooled down and the surface is wet again. Then you evaporate this moisture again on the second fry.
To be clear, I am not suggesting you buy potatoes, chop them in French and then fry yourself twice; frying once is already exhausting enough. I suggest you do what the pros do and buy a bag of frozen potatoes (get the skinny ones). Like my good friend Jeffrey Morgenthaler before me, I also suggest you fry them in duck fat because you deserve a bistro-inspired feel and a roast that will stand up whether you put it next to a steak or a burger.
Now I know what you are thinking (indignantly): “That’s a lot of duck fat!” This is if you are deep-fried, but you don’t really need to deep-fried to get crispy blonde bois. Frying in a skillet is more than enough, and all you need is a quarter cup of fat. Could you use a different fat? Yes. You can use beef tallow (for a retro McDonald’s vibe) or peanut butter, vegetable oil, or other high smoke point oil. I use duck fat because it makes the potatoes crispy, yes, but it also spices up their tender, fluffy insides with fat, smoky duck fat, which makes me happy. To make yourself happy even for a moment, you will need:
- 1/4 cup duck fat
- As many fries as you like
Heat the fat over medium to high heat in a large stainless steel or cast iron skillet, as soon as it starts to flicker a little, place one dough fry in the oil. If it sizzles right away, add as many potatoes to the skillet as you can in one layer. (If not, let the fat warm up a bit before adding the rest of the fries.)
Let the potatoes sizzle and cook, stirring gently and turning them with a spatula in hot fat, until they turn pale golden brown, which should take 6-8 minutes. Use tongs or a slotted spatula to remove them from the fat, place on paper towels to dry, and season with salt. Repeat, replacing fat as needed until your pile of potatoes is big enough to satisfy your hunger, then pat yourself on the back for something In-N-Out can’t do. (Or it won’t; it actually looks more like a reluctance situation.)