Easy French Fries (Chips)
This easy French fries’ recipe will produce crispy tasty
chips (fries) in no time and can be done at home anytime without any
commercially purchased prepared deep
frozen potato products. All you need is a stove, a pot, sunflower or another vegetable oil, a knife and of course potatoes :-)
Fries or Chips or Pommes as they are called in Germany have conquered the world. They are probably one if not the mostly loved and used accompaniment to meat or fish dishes in the fast food and hospitality industry. Kid's love them, Adults love them. If there is no other food around they serve quite well as a main dish or quick snack with tomato sauce, mustard, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise or a lovely cream based mushroom sauce to name just a few condiments that go perfectly well with those famous potato sticks.
For years I followed the trends and suggestions from the grocery stores and purchased prepackaged and pretreated fries which cost substantially more than plain potatoes and promised a better and tastier end result. Some products worked and tasted good others rather not. Which left me with need to either purchase chips at a fast food place which actually quite often didn't prepare them the way we enjoy or to look and find a better way to make french fries at home.
Thanks to my friend Angela who shared her home with me many years ago when I needed a place to stay I learned that making tasty and crispy chips at home was no problem at all. It was simply going back to basics.
Some good medium to large potatoes (if in doubt ask your grocer or vegetable dealer which he would suggest and stocks), a pot with frying oil, a sharp knife and a hot plate are all you need to prepare batches of crispy chips in less than 30 minutes.
Here is how its done.
Ingredients
for
Easy French Fries
- 3 to 4 medium to large washed potatoes with skin (we leave the skin on the potatoes and have done so for many years. This way we save the tedious job of peeling them, time and some of the goodness that is in and just below the skin of the potato)
- 750 ml / 25 oz of frying oil
- Salt
- Other spices to taste (optional)
Directions
for
Easy French Fries
- On a chopping board cut potatoes into thin long sticks about 5 mm / 0.2 inch thick.
- Separate them with your hands and place them on a plate or in a bowl.
- Add the oil to your pot. It should fill up at least 5 cm / 2 inches but leave plenty of space for the oil to rise once it is hot and the potato sticks are frying in it.
- Switch on the heat to the Very Hot setting and wait about 5 minutes.
- Depending on the size of your pot use a slotted spoon to add about enough fries to the pot for them to be just be covered by the oil. Do this before the oil is very hot, although this will lengthen the time the chips will fry it will reduce the rising of the oil in the pot and prevent it from flooding over the edge of the pot which could be dangerous. Once you have got the heck of it you will be able to adjust the amount of chips you add to your frying pot at a time.
- Use the slotted spoon to carefully separate the fries in the oil and let them fry for about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Check them regularly every 5 minutes or so to see their progress and turn them carefully with the slotted spoon so they all fry evenly. They will initially only fry gently and will be at the bottom of the pot, but as they loose moisture and the oil is getting hotter they will fry more intensely.
- A few minutes before they will become crispy and ready to be removed from the pot they will rise to the surface of the oil and will start to change color.
- Once they have turned golden brown, check them with the slotted spoon to see if they have become crispy or have the consistency you prefer.
- If they are done, carefully remove them with the slotted spoon from the oil and place them in a colander so the excess oil can drain off.
- Salt them and serve them hot with the condiments of your choice.
We have made these easy french fries this way for many years now and really love the simplicity of the process and the tasty fruits of our labour at the end of it :-) You can of
course experiment and cut your potatoes into any different shape ie: dice or wedges you like. The results should nevertheless be similar and hopefully satisfying for you!
Important Notice: You are working with hot oil which can become very dangerous if left unmonitored or taken to lightly. Be careful and always alert when dealing with hot oil!
Dangers of fire and hot oil in the kitchen
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