Making the perfect chips yourself: easier said than done. I'm not talking about oven fries, wedges or other fakes - I want the original. The first act of an arduous journey to the fried potato Olympus.
Potatoes, frying oil and you're ready to go
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
I heated the deep fryer to 170 degrees Celsius. I am always fascinated by how differently water and oil behave at such temperatures. Water would boil, bubble and splatter. And with oil? Nothing. The smell of hot frying oil hits my nose as I open the lid of the deep fryer. I feel transported back to my childhood and ski school. More precisely, to the lunch table - a bratwurst with onion sauce and chips in front of me. This meal alone was worth all the effort in the snow.
Conclusion: there's more to it
My research has shown that frying the potato sticks twice is supposed to give them their crispiness. That's what I'm going to do next time. Do you have any other tips I should bear in mind? Then let me know in the comments column. If you want to follow me on my journey to the perfect homemade chips and are hungry for more, then follow me by clicking on the "Follow author" button.
I love French fries. When I see the crispy potato sticks, smell them fresh from the fryer and finally have them on my plate, a feeling of bliss sets in. I could eat a portion at any time of day - preferably with mayonnaise and ketchup. But I'm fussy. I don't like oven fries. I'm also sceptical about wedges or country cuts. The perfect chips have to be thin, fluffy and crispy. Too thick, too firm or too soggy - these are all no-goes. Unfortunately, they are too often served just like that. That's why I'm now setting out to prepare the perfect fries myself.
I keep my first attempt simple: I cut the potatoes, briefly put them in a bain-marie and fry them - that's it. I want to know how good fries turn out without much effort. I don't need much for my project. The fryer and the chips cutter are ready and waiting. Now I need the potatoes and the oil. I've read that waxy potatoes are often the best choice for homemade fries. They should be nice and creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside. With floury potatoes, on the other hand, the fries should be much fluffier on the inside and still crispy on the outside. Although I personally prefer the fluffier version, I try out both varieties. For the frying oil, I choose high oleic sunflower oil, which can be heated up to 190 degrees Celsius and is supposed to be good for deep-frying. In general, oils with a high smoke point and weak flavour such as rapeseed, sunflower or peanut oil are ideal for chips.
I have everything I need for my first attempt.
I have all the ingredients and utensils I need to make perfect fries myself. Hopefully. The waxy and floury potatoes go into the chips cutter one after the other. I choose the smaller attachment, which turns the potatoes into seven-millimetre sticks. I save the larger nine-millimetre attachment in case everything goes wrong with the thinner sticks. I briefly throw the cut fries into a cold water bath to wash out the starch and to prevent them from turning brown. I then dry the sticks with kitchen paper. Now they are ready for a bath in frying oil.
I wash the potato sticks after cutting them.
The oil is hot and ready for the raw potato sticks.
First it's the turn of the waxy potatoes. I put the cut and washed potato sticks into the frying basket and then into the hot frying oil. Only now does the fat hiss loudly - music to my ears. The rising aroma of deep-fried chips makes my mouth water. After around seven and a half minutes, I take the fries out of the fryer, which have now turned brown. They look very tasty - I like my fries to be rather dark in colour. As I drain them, I realise that they are probably rather soggy. When I put them on a few sheets of kitchen paper, this suspicion is confirmed. Only the sticks with the potato skin have become reasonably crispy. I am pleasantly surprised by the flavour: I can taste potatoes, fried food and homemade. What I'm holding in my fingers is pretty okay, but it's still not the perfect fries.
This is what the hard-boiled fries look like.
Now I repeat the process with floury potatoes. Cut, wash, dry, deep-fry, drain and enjoy. After seven and a half minutes at 170 degrees Celsius, the bath in fat is over. This time the fries didn't turn as brown as the waxy potatoes. Were the seven and a half minutes too short? Or should I have fried the waxy sticks for less time? When I empty them onto kitchen paper, I notice that the fries are crispier this time. The flavour, on the other hand, is less intense - I prefer the waxy variety. But you can work with that: I would like the crispiness of the floury sticks paired with the intense flavour of the waxy fries.
And these are the floury fries.
I'll be honest, the first two plates of homemade fries surprised me - and in a positive way. I wouldn't have thought that my shot in the dark would result in such decent fries. The flavour of the waxy potatoes is convincing, the chips from the floury potatoes are crispier. For simple cutting, washing, drying and frying, the whole thing is impressive. However, both are still far from perfect. So what can I tweak to make the fries crispier? Because that's what I love so much about the greasy things: the sound when I bite into a hot fry.
I haven't squeezed the full potential out of the potatoes yet.
