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Friday, March 30, 2012

The Secret to Perfect CRISPY Fries Revealed

Wow!  Would you look at this place???  I have to admit…I’m feeling a little dazed and confused about the changes…but super excited at the same time!  In case you were wondering…in addition to getting a much needed website “facelift”…One Good Thing By Jillee has made the move from Blogger to WordPress. Besides the cosmetic changes (Thank you Blog Fairy!)…you shouldn’t notice anything different….except a few more helpful ways to navigate the site. For example, if you click on “CATEGORIES” at the top, now you can look for Recipes, Crafts, Homemade Solutions, DIY, and Bright Ideas. Eventually we will even get more specific than that. But this is a start.

You will also notice on the right hand side, if you scroll down a bit, 3 new fancy “Share” buttons that you can “GRAB” and put on your site, if you should feel so inclined.

Other than that…any other changes will be behind the scenes, but will hopefully help make this site more versatile and enjoyable for all.  I hope you will all keep in mind the next few weeks…that I am a complete WordPress newbie! But thanks to my amazingly talented website designer, Emily – The Blog Fairy, I’m sure I shall become an expert in no time! ;-)

Trying to post today’s “One Good Thing” was a little bit of a challenge…but I think I have managed without screwing it up TOO much. So here we go……first ever WordPress post on One Good Thing By Jillee!

I think I have mentioned a time or two before that since going gluten-free we eat a LOT of potatoes around here. Potatoes and rice. The thing I do the most often with potatoes is slice, season, and bake. It’s fast, easy and tasty. BUT, I have never quite figured out how to make them CRISPY! I’ve tried everything I could think of.  More oil, less oil, no oil, taking them out halfway through and soaking up the moisture/oil in the pan, high heat, low heat, fast cooking, slow cooking. You get the idea. Little did I know that the KEY to crispy potatoes has NOTHING to do with how they are COOKED! My epiphanal moment came a couple of weeks ago when I saw this picture on Pinterest, with the following caption:

The secret to awesome oven fries is presoaking them in salted water, which makes the potatoes release a bunch of their moisture before cooking. This ensures they will crisp up without having to risk burning them. 
 
Well, after I read that, I HAD to put it to the test immediately! And what better way to do that than to try it out with this recipe by Martha Stewart for ITALIAN Fries. (The French got NOTHIN’ on the Italians where fries are concerned!)

Italian Fries

by Martha Stewart

Serves 6 (if you are very lucky)

Ingredients

6 or 7 Idaho potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/3-inch-thick French fry-style strips, soaked in cold water
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or some combo of dried oregano, thyme, marjoram, and basil
2 cups freshly grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, cut into 6 cubes (I omitted this)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For a French-fry cut, peel the potatoes and slice lengthwise into 1/3-inch-thick slices.
Stack the slices on top of one another, a few at a time,
and slice lengthwise into 1/3-inch-thick strips.
Peeled and sliced potatoes can turn brown pretty quickly. To avoid this, try floating the peeled, cut pieces in cold, salted water. I dumped in a couple of tablespoons of salt and soaked them for about 15 minutes.
When you’re ready to cook, drain them and pat dry.
Spread 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on each of 2 rimmed baking sheets
and spread out the potatoes. Give them a quick toss with your hands to cover them in the oil.
Sprinkle the dried herbs evenly over the potatoes. Liberally spread the cheese and parsley on top.
Bake until the potatoes are golden brown, rotating the pans after 30 minutes, for 45 to 50 minutes total. Use a spatula to lift off the potatoes with all the crusty cheese adhered to them. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

 

 

We ate ours with a side of Homemade Fry Sauce!

Mmmm…mmmmm…..goood!


Giving the French a run for their money in the Fries department is today’s…..




Comment | 34 Comments

34 thoughts on “The Secret to Perfect CRISPY Fries Revealed”

  1. Sharon

    I came across this problem just the other day, thinking I’d make some wonderfully healthy chips for my other half, alas, what came out of the oven were chips that were soft and floppy! Although tasty they weren’t crispy. Thanks for posting I will defiantly be giving this a try. BTW, love the new format, so much easier to find what your looking for, and I do rely on your site for many snippets of useful information… thank you :o).

    Reply ↓
    1. Jillee Post author

      Thank you for leaving a comment Sharon! It’s kind of scary making a big change like this….so your kind words are very much appreciated. :-)

      Good luck on the crispy chips!

      Reply ↓
  2. Sona Jacob

    Love the new layout. It’s very much cleaner and lighter on the eye. Have been following your blog for a few months now. Love it. Made the homemade laundry detergent and the hand wash, too. Great results.

    Sona
    All the way from India

    Reply ↓
  10. Mindy

    Love the new look! We’ve just recently started making our own fries and this has been the issue that has perplexed us! If you make a lot of fries, there are tools out there to help make cutting them easier…Pampered Chef just came out with a french fry cutter that will cut your fries very quickly. Instead of having to slice your potatoes, just create a flat bottom and then use the cutter to create your fries. There are other french fry cutters on the market as well, but I love many Pampered Chef products and this is no exception! Oh, it will also cut other things like zucchini, yellow squash, etc. Love zucchini fries!

    Reply ↓
  11. Heidi

    These look totally delicious. I wonder if the same trick would work with sweet potato fries. My oven batches have always come out a bit floppy. I looked a few times and couldn’t figure out where the 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, cut into 6 cubes was used in the recipe.

    Reply ↓
    1. Mert

      yes! Soaking sweet potatoes before baking helps make them crispier. Also try coating them with a little cornstarch, then olive oil. Found a great recipe on Pinterest– it’s from theartofdoingstuff.com.

      Reply ↓
  12. Kerry

    I use WordPress.org too and I love it. It has a ton of options and it can be a little overwhelming at first, but it’s so flexible. Congrats on the “face lift”. I also have had it with soggy potatoes. Going to have to try soaking as well. Thanks!

    Reply ↓
  18. Stephanie

    I, too, love the new format! I just recently found your blog and am sooo excited to try lots of your recipes. I make my own laundry detergent now and don’t ever want to go back to store bought. As soon as my dish washing detergent is gone, I am definitely making your recipe for dish washer detergent.

    Reply ↓
  25. Abby

    Oh my gosh! I knew that you should soak your fries in water before deep frying, but it never occurred to me to do it before baking them! It’s like a lightbulb went off in my head! I know what I’m doing with the potatoes from my CSA box. =)

    Reply ↓
  26. sara

    Salve sono una signora italiana, ma questa ricetta a base di patate, non è una ricetta italiana. noi non cuciniamo le patate in questo modo. SOlo per precisare, distinti saluti

    Reply ↓
  27. julieann

    the Butter: Am thinking Jillee meant to say that once you sprinkle the dried herbs and cheese and parsley, evenly over the potatoes, you can scatter the cubed butter around the pan. Probably to make it buttery?

    Reply ↓

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