My friends, I am here today to blow your ever-living, ever-loving mind. I have stumbled upon this method of making french fries on the stove that is complete and utter genius. It’s pretty well-known that I am not a big fryer, as frying times and oil temperatures {and boiling hot oil spatters…ouch} basically baffle me. But this technique is so easy and almost impossible to mess up, and it yields fries that are perfectly fluffy and tender on the inside, while being crisp and crunchy on the outside. You ready for this? You dump your fries in cold oil. Nope, that’s not a typo. COLD oil. Here, let me explain.
You know how they say the secret to really great fries is the fact that you have to fry them twice? You’re supposed to fry them at a lower temperature first, to cook the actual potato, and then again, in really hot oil, to crisp them up. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can do that in one pan, with a single cooking process, by starting off with cold oil. The genius to this method is that as the oil slowly heats up, the potatoes cook all the way through. Then, by the time the oil is boiling hot and spattering, the inside of the potatoes is cooked, so they are ready to be crisped up. So easy! So good! Who needs fast food french fries, anyways?
I have always been a big fan of baked fries, and my mom makes some roasted fries like you wouldn’t believe…but sometimes, you need a good, old fashioned french fry, and this is basically the best recipe ever. The only downside is that you are a bit limited by the size of your pan, and since these take a good 15-20 minutes to cook, making batch after batch isn’t really ideal. But if you’re willing to have multiple pans going at once… then totally go for it. These fries are worth it!
I, personally, cannot lay claim to this genius technique, but for the life of me I just cannot remember where I read about it! It might have been somewhere on Pinterest, but to be honest, I’m thinking it might have been in Bon Appetit or another cooking magazine, back in the pre-Pinterest day. Yes, children, my blog is actually older than Pinterest. I’m practically a senior citizen in blogging years. When I started, we had Facebook and we had Twitter. That was pretty much it. No Pinterest, or Instagram, or Google Plus, or any of the other {complicated and ridiculous} networking websites. “But I don’t like change!” Yep, I definitely sound like an old lady.
- 2-3 potatoes
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Wash and peel your potatoes, and cut into french fries.
- Place the fries into a cast iron skillet, making sure that they are in a single layer and not overlapping, and pour just enough oil to almost cover them completely {it may or may not be the whole cup, just go with the visual}.
- Turn heat onto medium-low, and let the potatoes cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep them from sticking together. The fries are ready when they are golden brown and crisp on the outside.
- Remove the fries from the oil, and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Toss with salt and pepper, or any other desired seasonings, and serve immediately.
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