French Fries, Poutine, Pommes Frittes

Skybird · 03-01-17, 02:21 PM

Years ago we had a thread about how to make pizza. And another thread how to make a real good steak. I confess I am very good at both, and then some other kitchen stuff as well.

You can imagine that for this reason it hurts my ego even more severely that I terribly fail in making something that most would claim to be an almost primitive dish, something so simple and easy that it is not even worth to be talked about: Pommes Frittes, French Fries, Poutine, Fritten - whatever you call it in your part of the world. I mean the fried potatoe thing in stick format, not the sauces and dips.

I love it, but I am desperate, for I just don't know in or out anymore.

In Germany, we serve Fritten (or Pommes, as we call them, pronounced not French but German) usually with nothing but white salt and then either mayonnaise or tomato ketchup or both. This is by far the most common format of French Fries over here, at best the Fritten get accompanied by Currywurst, and more ketchup and curry powder. I love it (the Pommes, not the Currywurst).

But I just dont get it done right in my own cuisine. The pommes get the proper colour and looks of being nicely fried, being crispy, soft in the inside but not soaking with oil, the outside harsher, crispy, like chips, the single stick not soft and wobbly, but stiff.

Mine are soft and like jelly, they have the right looks, but the consistency is terrible.

I tried various sorts of potatoes, floury and firm ones. I always fry twice. I tried longer times, and I tried shorter times. I varied the pause between both frying sessions. I controlled the temperature of the oil, that it indeed is what the thermometer says.

For exmaple, I may cut the potatoes into sticks and put them in water for hours, change the water several times. Then i dry them on a towel, I even tried to warm them up in the micro for a minute so that the drop in temperature in the deep fryer is not so huge when I put them in. I may do a first frying (blanching at 150-170°C, for 5-7 minutes), then take them out and rest for 5-8 minutes, and bringing the oil up to 190°C, then fyring them for another 3-4 minutes. After the blanching, the potatoe stick have turned slightly yellow, almost not visible, and after the second frying they are golden, brown, toasty, they look crispy, indeed they look almost perfect - but they are not perfect, they are like rubber foam, soft, wobbly, like jelly or soft rubber.

I use a Tefal Oleoclean 8040, which in America gets sold as T-Fal EZ Easyclean and some other names. A perfect device with inbuild oil-filtering, btw, if you are planning to get a deep fryer, definitely check this one out, it is great, I use it since one and a half year. The minimum oil is 2.8 liters, maximum 3.5 liters, I am usually at around 3.3. I change the oil after 6-9 frying sessions depending on the oil quality and the kind of food recently fried, the oil filtering allows to use it slightly longer than if you would not filter the oil ever. The recommended ammount of pommes used for one frying session is 600 gr, the possible maximum is given to be 1200 gr, what I put in usually is in the range around 700 gr.

Has anyone any idea what I do wrong, where I go amiss? Do you fry your own french fries at home, with fresh potatoes, not frozen industrially prepared stuff where the first blanching has been done in the factory already? If so, how do you do it, what is your recipe to get them done properly: dry and crispy and dark golden on the outside, soft and non-oily in the inside?

I really don't know what else to try, I just don't get it.

And it really means a big blow to my chef-ego to ask this.

Its my culinaric Waterloo, my proof of defeat, my ultimate failing dans la cousine.

I mean: helphelphelphelphelp!

03-01-17, 02:21 PM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,603 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	French Fries, Poutine, Pommes Frittes Years ago we had a thread about how to make pizza. And another thread how to make a real good steak. I confess I am very good at both, and then some other kitchen stuff as well. You can imagine that for this reason it hurts my ego even more severely that I terribly fail in making something that most would claim to be an almost primitive dish, something so simple and easy that it is not even worth to be talked about: Pommes Frittes, French Fries, Poutine, Fritten - whatever you call it in your part of the world. I mean the fried potatoe thing in stick format, not the sauces and dips. I love it, but I am desperate, for I just don't know in or out anymore. In Germany, we serve Fritten (or Pommes, as we call them, pronounced not French but German) usually with nothing but white salt and then either mayonnaise or tomato ketchup or both. This is by far the most common format of French Fries over here, at best the Fritten get accompanied by Currywurst, and more ketchup and curry powder. I love it (the Pommes, not the Currywurst). But I just dont get it done right in my own cuisine. The pommes get the proper colour and looks of being nicely fried, being crispy, soft in the inside but not soaking with oil, the outside harsher, crispy, like chips, the single stick not soft and wobbly, but stiff. Mine are soft and like jelly, they have the right looks, but the consistency is terrible. I tried various sorts of potatoes, floury and firm ones. I always fry twice. I tried longer times, and I tried shorter times. I varied the pause between both frying sessions. I controlled the temperature of the oil, that it indeed is what the thermometer says. For exmaple, I may cut the potatoes into sticks and put them in water for hours, change the water several times. Then i dry them on a towel, I even tried to warm them up in the micro for a minute so that the drop in temperature in the deep fryer is not so huge when I put them in. I may do a first frying (blanching at 150-170°C, for 5-7 minutes), then take them out and rest for 5-8 minutes, and bringing the oil up to 190°C, then fyring them for another 3-4 minutes. After the blanching, the potatoe stick have turned slightly yellow, almost not visible, and after the second frying they are golden, brown, toasty, they look crispy, indeed they look almost perfect - but they are not perfect, they are like rubber foam, soft, wobbly, like jelly or soft rubber. I use a Tefal Oleoclean 8040, which in America gets sold as T-Fal EZ Easyclean and some other names. A perfect device with inbuild oil-filtering, btw, if you are planning to get a deep fryer, definitely check this one out, it is great, I use it since one and a half year. The minimum oil is 2.8 liters, maximum 3.5 liters, I am usually at around 3.3. I change the oil after 6-9 frying sessions depending on the oil quality and the kind of food recently fried, the oil filtering allows to use it slightly longer than if you would not filter the oil ever. The recommended ammount of pommes used for one frying session is 600 gr, the possible maximum is given to be 1200 gr, what I put in usually is in the range around 700 gr. Has anyone any idea what I do wrong, where I go amiss? Do you fry your own french fries at home, with fresh potatoes, not frozen industrially prepared stuff where the first blanching has been done in the factory already? If so, how do you do it, what is your recipe to get them done properly: dry and crispy and dark golden on the outside, soft and non-oily in the inside? I really don't know what else to try, I just don't get it. And it really means a big blow to my chef-ego to ask this. Its my culinaric Waterloo, my proof of defeat, my ultimate failing dans la cousine. I mean: helphelphelphelphelp! __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 03-01-17 at 02:29 PM.