The French Fry Secret Weapon
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- The perfect crispy yet creamy french fries at home DO exist. You just have to know the right method and the secret weapon that I'll tell you about in this video. Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel🎉. Get up to 60% off your subscription ➡️Here: go.babbel.com/t?bsc=1200m60-y...
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro, potato choice & how to get it
2:03 Prepping and soaking the potatoes
3:48 Frying round 1
4:30 Learning new languages (ad)
5:30 Finishing frying r1, starting r2
8:21 Eating all the fries
#frenchfries #fries #homemadefries
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If you’re able to get kennebec potatoes, comment below to share where you got them. Also, if you’re in the UK, there’s a similar variety called Maris piper. Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel🎉. Get up to 60% off your subscription ➡Here: go.babbel.com/t?bsc=1200m60-youtube-brianlagerstrom-jul-2023&btp=default&CZcams&Influencer..brianlagerstrom..USA..CZcams
I get better potatoes right from the farm: czcams.com/video/YML_DDLouOk/video.html
Move to Maine. I live on a hill just above the Kennebec River and I can get Kennebecs all year long! 😎
When I was in the service, I was station near Belgium. I was addicted to their fries. They're secret is beef tallow. They fry their fries in beef fat. Just an idea to make life easier. Big fan, keep up the good work. Peace
@@samgrant83 Everybody in the room: "They are on another level." IYKYK
Oh my goodness! I just saw these on sale this weekend from my local tractor supply and wanted to give them a try because I've never heard of them before. I'm so excited. I'm in the South, and we have a long growing season so I wanted to plant some since I still have time before 1st frost. What luck
Great video. A little potato science from my husband who grew up on a potato farm… the reason why the russet is darker than the kennebec is that it was stored (after harvesting) in a colder potato storage than the Kenny. Potatoes raised specifically for fries are kept at a warmer temperature in storage in order to keep the starches from turning to sugars. Spuds raised for table use and grocery store bags are stored in colder temperatures in order to keep them from sprouting and breaking down. Whenever they would bring a truckload to the processors they would have a potato sliced and dropped in oil, called a fry color check. That would tell them where to unload because the processors wanted like fry colors together and not mixed. Just thought I’d add that info coming from the grower perspective- they grew kennebec as well as russets.
Thank you.. love the extra knowledge
It ain’t much, but it’s honest work
Came here to say the same thing! I’m a potato Agronomist for a large French fry processor. Most people don’t know that there’s a grocery store russet type and specific russet types used for French fries and they are managed very differently all the way from planting to storage.
@@justinwilcox2936 thank you! Phew, I’m glad I didn’t make any glaring errors on my explanation! Thanks for the additional information. Actually probably most people don’t know there are more than two varieties of potato.😂baking and boiling. 😂love that Brian has so many food followers who know and care about foods. Brian is a wealth of knowledge and so are his friends and fans!
Fascinating! Thx for sharing
Bri, I'm so sorry you had to suffer through that bowl of fries, we appreciate the sacrifices you make for our education. You a real one.
I'm glad that you can understand my struggle
My french fry secret weapon: you can deep fry oven fries.
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoes That is a completely ridiculous claim. If it was _at all_ possible to mount a class action lawsuit for your being obese, there wouldn't be a fast food chain left alive today. Don't be hysterical.
And I guarantee ya they’d come out practically equivalent to 99% of people. Hell you might even be able to fool Brian especially assuming he’s correct they use that potato variety. So why the hell are we going to all this effort for practically the same thing. Most of it is just in our head and we feel like it’s better if it’s hand made even when it doesn’t really matter. Literally the coveted restaurant fries are usually freezer fries, they come already partially prepped and frozen. Guess it’s like planting a garden though cuz that’s almost never the easiest best way to get that done but you enjoy it
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoesdude that is only just barely coherent. I can’t tell if it’s funny or sad, maybe you we’re just really drunk when you wrote that lol
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoesridiculous
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoessure bro
One tip people trying to fry some russets - boil in a combo of water/vinegar, this will keep the potatoes from crumbling and falling apart (see Kenji's recipe).
that's how I do it plus a double fry. they come out perfect every time. I just want a good method for frying waxy potatoes. The flavor is so much better but they will never get crispy
@@clashwithkeen give them a batter. A little sprinkle of corn starch or something.
That's a very good idea regardless of whether you double fry or use the cold oil technique. (Big Kenji fan here who does the vinegar/pectin thang.)
who's kenji? where can I see his recipe? Edit: serious eats on google I gather?
btw, I saw that he doesn't do the keep in cold water for 8hrs thing, is it not necessary with his method?
Hey Bri - Two things that upped my fry game:
- Use peanut oil, super tasty for fries (even better is beef tallow, but that's a whole thang)
- Use popcorn salt, tinier granules that stick well and have that classic fry taste (big fast food places use this)
Animal fats for the win
And you don’t even need to buy popcorn salt. Just take it for a spin in the food processor to get that saltiness powdery
yep, I would never ever use canola or sunflower oil for deep frying again.
Please use beef tallow instead of any plant oil.
Peanut is great! The cost is not :(
Found the Kennebec at my local farmers market yesterday. Made your fish and chips recipe with them and the wife was blown away. Thank you for the tips!
I've seen these types of potatoes at my local farmers market in St. Catharines, Ontario in Canada. I haven't seen them this year yet but I think they are in season later in the summer if I remember correctly. I will definitely try this out when I can get my hands on some!
Looks so good!
Благодарю за мастер-класс, обязательно приготовлю ! 👍Thanks for the tutorial, I'll definitely make it!
Feels like this video was made for me through the ether... been experimenting for months, and this was just fantastic. Thank you as always!!!
THANK YOU. GREAT VIDEO
Something tells me it'd probably just be easier to go with frozen fries from a restaurant supply store. :D I don't have to worry about eating all those potatoes before they go bad that way too.
No boil with vinegar? That step is a huge win in the overall process. It'll prevent the fries from breaking allowing you to use russets no problem
My secret weapon for really great fries have been triple cooked chips (UK). Cook in water + vinegar first, 2nd fry low temp, 3rd fry high temp. Delicious!
I've turned countless thousands of pounds of potatoes into french fries and this is the process we'd always use. No other way to do it
Phew, thanks for weighing in.
I really appreciate how methodically you talk through every step. I'm guilty of more than a few failed experiments and the edumacation as to why I may have erred is awesome.
Congrats on getting a million subs man. Been here since Weeds&Sardines. ❤❤❤
Thanks for still being here 👊
Russets can be improved by parboiling 10min w/ a little vinegar - the lower pH will slow the maillard reaction upon frying such that you use a slightly hotter temp for longer too cook the water out without the fries burning
Interesting tip! When you say "a little" vinegar how much do you mean, approximately?
@@davidf2281 i used a 1/2 cup for a pretty bug russet (2 cup), which was a little much, leaving the final fries with a little vinegar taste (not bad though); I’d say for parboiling 2 cups of potato shoestrings use between 1/4- 1/3 cup of vinegar
the parboiling does leave you with wet shoestrings, which need to be dried before frying; you can also freeze them to alter the starch crystallization upon frying, but that’s better for when you have to fry a lot and the parboiling and storage ahead of time minimizes the fry time of the day of… not super revelatory or practical for home equipment
@@hellfish2309 Cool, thanks dude 👍
also i feel like his comparison was a little unfair, he was cooking the russets the same amount as the other potatoes when they were clearly done already. So you're comparing one potato that was cooked the right amount of time to the other which was clearly a bit overcooked.. and then being like "see? the russets are so much worse!"
@@EB-bl6cc i haven’t tried kennebecs, but the technical tricks to optimize russets and their availability are just a different point all together than the one he’s making, and in fairness to him the vinegar blanche + freeze + 2x fry is featured on other cooking YT creators’ channels
Thx for sharing,
Congrats on the 1M subs!!
Awesome. thanks again!! :)
Brian, we have a lot in common. I may not be a former baker or run a wildly successful cooking CZcams channel, but I sure as hell can smash an entire bowl of fries as well.
Very nice!
Bro ur channel is a gold mine ❤ thx a lot u earned a sub 👍
Thanks! I'll have to see if our local farmers' markets have the Kennebecs. My mom used to make fries at home in the 60s and 70s and she'd do the two-step thing, and they were tasty (probably to a large extent because we ate them while they were still quite hot). BTW, your French accent is charmingly midwestern, mawn-soor!
I have so many of your videos saved to try
Whoa!!! World class!!!
I'm LOLing at the timing of this video. I just made your fish & chips recipe last weekend, so I was rewatching that video in preparation. Today's video is an extended version of the "chip" portion, from the Kennebec potatoes to the method.
Since I was doing the fish batter GF, I followed your advice & stuck to Ore-Ida steak fries in the air fryer so I could focus my attention on frying the fish - which was EXCELLENT, BTW. It didn't stay as crispy as wheat flour but the fish inside was perfectly cooked, and I hadn't had a good, old-fashioned fish fry in years. Really scratched the itch! Thanks for the great recipe & technique.
Literally made homemade fries last night and complained to my husband that they never seem to come out right 😅 definitely gonna try this cutting and cooking method next time!
Right off the bat I think you have the absolute right idea about the precook. In my younger days, I worked at a famous fast food hamburger place that is famous for it's huge portions of home made French fries. And their procedure was a much shorter precook, in a much hotter oil...The same temp oil they did the final cook in. And in my own personal quest for perfection, I learned to do it almost identically to yours. I concluded 290 (splitting hairs), but also did 5 minutes. So MUCH MUCH more cooking in the precook than at 5...erm, that famous Hamburger place. The procedure you are using is PERFECT for serving the public in my opinion. it will yield a fry that most people will think is perfect. I would suggest an added step that people could use if they like those random straggler fries that got either overcooked in precook due to being smaller than average, or just got broken after precook and before final. And that is a 60 second blanch in boiling water prior to precook. This does 2 things, it cooks them more and weakens the surface so they get a more penetrated crunch, and it also helps them get drier prior to precooking in hot oil. When you take them out of hot water, the moisture on the surface tends to self dry as it is hotter and evaporates more aggressively. Again...This is only for people that like something a little more crunchy, broken down, and a tad greasier, due to the surface not being as secure. Also, one last tip...in the early process of rinsing, if you have the time, rather than rinsing 3 times at once, wait 30 minutes between rinses, and agitate them multiple times during each 30 minute period.
Also this method will help mitigate the difference in results from a Russet to a Kennebec. As you said, nothing will replace the Kennebec, but this will get the Russet closer.
Hey Bri - Made your Apple Galette over the weekend. HUGE HIT!
delicious
THANKS! That was a sleeper vid last fall, not a lot of views, but I really liked the recipe. Thanks for trying.
I've made it 4x, its incredible 🍏
Must be a complete coincidence that in my area Kennebec potatoes are common, especially potato seeds. For years I've just stuck to Yukon potatoes because they're good all around and I love mashed potatoes. I might give these a try next year.
Happily, I live in Maine - which is a great potato-growing state - and live less than an hour's drive from Kennebec County. We stocked these as seed potatoes when I worked at any Agway and they can be found at farmers markets, like the vid said. I never appreciated the differences in the kitchen between these and Russets. Thanks.
That crunch!
That's good information. I love Fries
Happy New Year and thank you for the useful hints. Finally someone to eat French fries with ketchup like me. Greetings from the heavily coated mayo Europe 😅I like your channel. Blessings.
Thanks for the video. Unfortunately we don't get that kind of potatoes in our supermarkets in Trinidad and Tobago (in the Caribbean). We get only russet. Those fries look so delicious.
The Operative Word is they make me "HAPPY" 😊 😋😊
What's your opinion of a pre-boil with water and vinegar to remove excess sugars before the frying?
Never heard of Kennebec potatoes before and will have to find them in my area if I can.
Really good info about the science/process as I’m trying to step up my french fry game. I’ve noticed if I let my russet potatoes soak overnight I tend to not get an overcooked brown color on my fries either. Thanks for the 18-36 hour refrigerator tip since I’ve only been doing 8 hours, maybe my russet potatoes will be less brown if I let them soak longer
Would this same process produce a great sweet potato fry, or do you think that would require a different technique?? Love your channel, thanks for all the great advice
Definitely gonna look for these at the farmers market
congrats on a million subbies!
I’m really looking forward to seeing if you get any dope recipes from Alaska
I remember when I first found your channel a billion years ago (Weeds and Sardines) and I was so happy to find both gardening and cooking in one place. Sigh. Good times.
I do mine with russets but I cheat by coating them with a small amount of corn starch. Double cook as well and they're absolutely perfect!
I’m from St. Catharines Ontario Canada. Thx a lot Todd didn’t know If we can get here in St. Catharines 👍🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Thanks for this. Did you experiment with freezing the fries after the first cook to rupture the cell walls and make them fluffier?
Our preference is using yukon gold for most of our potato dishes. We also rinse the starch off of the fries and soak them.
Love the content , since we are neighbors and this is the Show Me State ,well I'm south in the Ozarks and have been having a heck of a time perfecting Navaho Fry Bread . Used to get some from a small local restaurant that is no longer around and the bread was one of my go to comfort foods . You should be able to crack this nut with your impressive baking knowledge ! Keep up the videos ! Your take on crab ragoons or General chicken/ sweet & sour / cashew chicken would be a good episode the Ozarks Chinese food has its own thing vs the NW and their tempura batter fried versions and cashew chicken well that's a local thing and if the chicken is not breaded the same , it just aint right lol .
Hey Bri! Do you have any other recommendations for other recipes that kennebec potatoes are particularly good for?
Hey Bri, compared to the double fry method how different of a result that Parboiling the potato first?
I understand that variety makes all of the difference. Could par-baking the fry effect a similar result as par frying?
Just wondering if you were still planning a special million subscriber video??
Great stuff as always!
These look way better than most homemade fries, but I still have the best results if I freeze them first. They turn out far crispier for me. (using Russets) I've heard it has to do with moisture content and surface vs interior cooking, but whatever the reason, freezing works for me. I'll have to find some Kennebecs.
@brianlagerstrom; Good technique, as usual. Pro tip from the fry capital of the world -Belgium-:
1st fry in ox white, far more flavourfull. Then freeze the fries. 2nd fry in peanut oil to chrisp up. You're welcome!
That fry crunch asmr 🤤
Yum!
hi Bri first time i heard of kennebec potatoes i will def look for them at my organic store🙏🙏👍👍😋😋😋😋
Great show, Thanks!! What would be the Irish equivalent of those elusive Kennelbacs?
THANK YOU YOUNG MAN...
Where did you get the fry basket from?
Might have to try my hand at truffle & parmesan fries after seeing this.
When I used to live with my parents, I used to make homemade fries as my late night snack after coming home late from work. Pretty sure my mom only bought Russets, which is what I'd use, and all of this tracks with what you said. I was younger and still learning to cook for myself so I didn't double fry. I simply cut my potatoes, heated the oil, and fried. I knew to salt right out of the oil, but they never really crisped, and they never looked nice. However, they were always soft, a little fluffy, and simply delicious as is or dipped in some yellow mustard. Thanks for the info Bri, definitely gonna have to take another shot at my fries of yore with this method even if I can't find Kennebecs! 👍
Nice Fry Bri :)
Finally someone comes out with the truth! I doubt I can manage to get a hold of these potatoes but at least now I know why no matter what I did the previous results were unsatisfactory, even worse most of the recipes/advice I saw made no mention that I wasn't going to get perfect fries so I thought I was doing something wrong.
He fried the russets at too high a temp for too long for them to look like that.
If you're willing to dedicate a couple hours to the process you absolutely can get amazing glassy exterior fluffy interior fries with the lowly russet. The trick is you boil the fries with a heaping teaspoon of baking soda for 5-6 min (pull and drain when you see the smaller fries begin to break in half or small shards flake off the larger ones). Drain and dry on paper towels and stash in the fridge on a cookie sheet until cold. Take them out of the fridge and let them come up to room temp and fry at 375 until you get the browning you desire. Voila. Best fries ever.
Love your channel by the way.
YES!
Kennebec's are a common as muck here is Australia. They are one of about three varieties of potatoes that every supermarket will always have in stock.😀
These are fire! Heston Blumenthal’s fries are the gold standard in my opinion.
BTW if you live in Europe and are looking for a good potato variety you should look for Bintje Potatoes (pronounced bintsh) ! The are probably the best kind of potatoes for Fry making. Every proper fry cooked in belgium is made with this one, and every respectable fry enthusiast in europe uses them. I dont know if this variety is produced in north america but in europe it is for sure.
"je" in Dutch is not "sh" my man but yeah best potatoes for sure
@@Maylolkoi i put the pronunciation that i knew, which is the french one in that case. How do you pronounce it in dutch ?
@@pierre-louislamaze8802use the duh sound, but with a j, so something like bintjuh.
Every year we used to raise 800-1,200 lbs of mostly Kennebecs. Prolific and long-lasting, they were one of our favorite potatoes.
These remind me of English chips. I had some in England last year and what a revelation. ❤❤❤❤❤
I've seen many videos on how to make the best French Fries. Some videos advise you to use white vinegar and parboil them instead of this long waiting period in a container with water. I think both ways work. The double frying is 100% the best way to get the right crunch on the outside and the tenderness inside. Unfortunately, I can't get a hold of any kind of the potatoes you've mentioned. I always used very starchy and mushy boiling potatoes, and it worked the best for me.
What can I say you're the best
Could you brine/season the soaking part of the potato? Or would that be too salty afterwards?
If you only had Russet potatoes would you do the boiling technique first, and then the double fry?
I pretty much do everything you mentioned, except I like the russets better as I like the dark color and texture, and I triple fry about 30 mins apart. I also try to tear the ends a bit before the 3rd frying to get that extra crispiness. Then salt and cayenne pepper. Mmm...
Used to use these all the time in Maine. I think they originated in Presque Isle Maine.
I have no trouble getting Kennebecs, since I live in Maine just south of Kennebecs county
"Unadulterated mouth pleasure" Hahaha! You kill me. Thanks for the tip about Kennebec potatoes, great video.
Where I live the main potatoes sold in stores are the atlantic and kennebec varieties, interchangeably sold as "white" potatoes, and russets are sold as russets, not white potatoes. White potatoes are better mashed, baked, fried, boiled, everything. Never understood why russets are the "default" potato in the US when they just aren't as good.
❤Kennebec - They are delicious and good for anything; I grow them in my garden. Last harvest fries are mind blowing.
Reaction @8:20 - spot on. Not kidding. Russets are preferred by stores and restaurants because of abundance and grow fast, you can get a couple harvests per year. Like imagine the Russet like a 1500 pick up truck, it does the job very well, loved by many. The Kennebec is like a Camaro, you pick your date up with it.
When I married my husband, he was an "only kennebec potatoe" guy haha we grow them in our garden, but we are lucky that we live in an area where we have a farmers market around every corner that sells them as well!
Also in STL, which farmer's market has the potatoes usually? I am a potato girl through and through and I really want to try this now.
We usually leave the skin on and put the bowl in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before frying or baking. The whole potato can be eaten so if you're going to peel them don't throw out the the skin. Fry them up and season them as a side dish. I can't recall the last time I peeled a spud.
I used to prep fries for a major canadian fast food place, and this is how we prepped them. Cut, wash and blanche.
do you mind telling me what range is that? thanks
We’re going on an adventure!!! Is all I could think of during this video 😂
Could you freeze these between the two frying steps?
7:24 "These fries are literally PERFECT" 🤣
those look like the kind of fries I would absolutely DOUSE in malt vinegar. So good!
I grow a lot of potatos, can you freeze them after the first blanch/fry and then fry them later from frozen?
Those look delicious. I've gotta try that thick steakhouse style cut, haven't done that at home yet. I've also worked on an at-home fry recipe for the past few years, it's catered towards reheating/quickly preparing for daily lunches/dinners. Here's what I do
Potato type; agnostic / russet
~1/4" thick cuts
After the starch rinse, they blanch for 10 minutes in a brine made up of water, molasses, MSG, vinegar, and salt. Just wing the quantities, its not that critical
I then let them completely dry out before frying them in a mix of beef tallow and olive oil.
I fry them about 60% of the way to completion and take them out, and freeze them.
For serving I put them in the toaster oven / regular oven at ~300 and they crisp up the rest of the way while simultaneously letting off any excess oil, giving them a freshly fried taste
I assume they are at least as good as your fries because people can devour a bowl of them at once the same way. I would suggest it to anyone who wants to try a method that is very reheat and freeze-friendly. Also, fine salt (like In N Out and the old school wendys packets) is required for fries!
I love how in every video Brian comes in with his first ingredients and looks at them like: “where did this potatoes come from?”
Thanks for all the work Brian. Love the videos.
I've never tried the long soak before. That is a great tip. I wonder if there is a way to get rid of even more surface moisture
Just a thought. I have a salad spinner to get the water out of my greens. Would this work for getting out the moisture in the fries?
Here I sit in the capital of Maine in Kennebec county. Taters are mostly grown in Aroostook though. Still yummy! Thanks!
Kennebec potatoes are what "In 'n Out" uses for its FF. Good stuff.
Greetings from Belgium. You get a lot of things right and a few not so right.
From a health perspective the temperature of your second bake is really too high. You need to avoid acrylamides. 345° F would be ideal for most potato varieties.
Soaking the fries is a waste of time, and you want a thickness of 1 cm, not 1.5 cm. This ensures that you can bake at 345° F, and it only requires 2-3 min., not 7-10 min.
Kennebec is a very good choice because it has a medium starch content and it's the right size.
I have heard that beef tallow is preferred as well??? Is this true? Thank you for the warning on acrylamide, I have some research to do now to make sure I'm doing this safely.
@@dkindig Beef tallow tastes better and is far safer at higher temperature cooking for longer periods of time so you can cook at the higher temperatures safely.
Another alternative is palm oil. It's one of the safest oils for deep frying being able to handle higher temperatures and longer high temperature cooking without breaking down.
Avoid seed oils for deep frying if you can. The worst is vegetable oil (soybean oil), canola oil (rapeseed oil), and while many people like the taste of peanut oil, it does break down over a long period of time at high temperatures, so it's not the healthiest.
yes thats true we use beef tallow in belgium! horse fat is also common
@@Danielle_1234 Yes, peanut oil has always been what I've used for turkeys 😀, good to know about palm oil, I will look into that.
@@xd-me8yr Thanks, that's great to know!