Anyone with an air fryer will swear to you that they’ve perfected making fries by using their favoured gadget but, we all know, none of us have quite mastered the crisp, salty, delicious delight that is restaurant fries at home.
However, Chef Frank Proto from Epicurious revealed the secret to french fries at home and it is actually a lot simpler than you’d think, though it does take just a little bit of work.
Chef Proto revealed that when it comes to making his french fries, what he uses for frying is not, uh, air, but instead duck fat.
He said: “Duck fat has a pretty good smoke point but it also gives us a tonne of flavour.”
So, how is it done?
The chef recommends using a type of utensil called a ‘spider’ and a frying thermometor for his method.
He recommends deep-frying around half of your sliced fries in oil at around 150°C which he admits isn’t enough to cook them through to being a finished fry, but, it is enough to blanch them, which is cooking the potatoes without giving them any colour.
This is when you should see bubbles, according to the chef. After around 3-5 minutes, you should be finished with the blanching process and removing the fries onto a wired rack using your spider.
Then, repeat with the second batch.
Once all of your fries are blanched, and, you may want to sit down for this, you need to put them in the fridge for around 3-4 hours.
While this is undoubtedly annoying, it is the secret to perfect fries which are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Once you’ve taken the fries out of the fridge, heat your oil to around 195°C and cook your fries once again in two batches.
Once they look finished, take them out of the pan using the spider, season them immediately with your chosen seasonings and enjoy!