Soaking the sliced potatoes in cold water is one of the main steps to prepare perfect French Fries. The cold water removes the starch present outside the potatoes so that you get perfectly crispy fries.
He uses Idaho potatoes, which the cooks peel, soak in refrigerated water for eight hours, cut into long thin sticks and soak for eight hours more before frying. The soaking, Mr. Nasr said, is the secret to the crisp texture of the fries. It draws out the starch, making them more rigid and less likely to stick together.
Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey.
Rinsing potatoes with cold water prior to boiling helps remove excess starch. Rinsing with hot water immediately after boiling can remove even more starch. Cutting potatoes before boiling does remove excess starch.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Place them in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Allow them to soak, 2 to 3 hours. (You can also stick them in the fridge and let them soak overnight.) When you're ready to make the fries, drain off the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels.
Using ice water will stiffen the potato's cell walls which help you achieve crispier fries. Just make sure after you've rinsed your fries, you completely dry them before cooking. Drying them is critical to making sure you achieve the perfect crispy taste.
First let's talk about why cut potatoes need to be immersed in water to begin with. The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.
Double Fry Method = Crisp exterior, fluffy interior – If you want the best homemade french fries, you really need to cook them twice. First at a lower temperature to make the interior soft like a baked potato, then a second time at a higher temperature to crisp the edges.
They can soak longer, but you'll need to keep them in the fridge while they soak. Don't soak for longer than 3 hours.
Add vinegar, water and potato strips to a pot, cover, and heat to boiling. Boil for 10 minutes. Why vinegar? The acidity of the vinegar holds the potatoes together so they don't get mushy and fall apart while boiling.
You don't want soggy loners left on the pan. These tips are completely doable, actually pretty much fail-proof. SOAK your potato chunks in cold water. This removes some of the starch and helps get them super duper crispy.
Make sure that you soak the potatoes for at least 2-3 hours. Soaking the sliced potatoes in cold water is one of the main steps to prepare perfect French Fries. The cold water removes the starch present outside the potatoes so that you get perfectly crispy fries.
Give them a cold water bath: Once your potatoes are chopped, toss them into a large bowl. Then cover the potatoes completely with cold water and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight). This will help to rinse off the excess starch and help the potatoes crisp up beautifully in the oven.
Step 1: Peel, Cut and Blanch
They're then briefly immersed in hot water to remove excess natural sugars for color reasons. According to McDonald's, blanching also eliminates enzymatic activity which prevents spoilage and develops a fluffy interior, similar to a baked potato, for better texture.
You should dry the fries after rinsing, and then let them sit after tossing with starch to let the starch-crust form. This will also remove excess surface water, which will prevent boil ups. Lastly, if you are worried about it, use less oil and fry in smaller batches.
Soaking the potatoes after they're cut draws out some of the starch which is naturally present in potatoes. This will result in a crispier fry. A thirty minute soak in cold water does the trick but you may soak them longer if you want.
Many making fresh cut fries, first cut the potatoes, rinse in water till the water is clear, then transfer to plastic buckets with water, place in the walk in and come back in a few hours. Typically the excess surface starch will drop to the bottom of the bucket.
But as fries cool down, the water starts to move out of the crystals, and you lose the fluffy texture, Hartings said. The spheres become more crystalline and gritty, he said. And where does the water go when it leaves the starchy spheres? Right into the crust of the fry, Hartings said.
In addition to frying and seasoning the fries, McDonald's coats them in dextrose, a form a sugar.
A great way to enliven potatoes which have been stored since last year's harvest. The milk gives them a creamier texture and a little more body and richness.
It's best to parboil before frying to save time and give cooked fluffy inside potatoes. Don't over boil so the potatoes don't lose shape or break down.
Soak the potato strips in water with a dash of apple cider vinegar. Soaking the potatoes draws starch to the exterior of the potato. This prevents fries from sticking together and helps them get crispy. Vinegar delays potatoes from turning brown and also speeds up the starch extraction.
Blanching. Another restaurant trick is to blanch the fries in water, then freeze them, which allows more of the potato's moisture to escape, thus producing a crispier fry.