Home-Made French Fries

When we first reviewed the Ambiano Stainless Steel Deep Fryer, we couldn’t help but notice that the instruction manual came with a recipe for “Home-made French Fries.” We certainly cooked our share of other things in the fryer, but we were also intrigued by the idea of cutting up our own potatoes to make French Fries.

The Recipe:

Directions:

1. Heat oil in deep fryer to 340 degrees.
2. Cut the potatoes into uniform French Fry sticks (about 0.2 x 0.2 inch).
3. Dry the potato sticks completely and thoroughly.
4. Add the potato sticks into the basket and fry in small batches. Cook for approximately 3 minutes, remove, and drain on layers of paper towels.
5. Increase the oil temperature to 375 degrees.
6. Add the potato sticks to the basket and fry in small batches for a second time, for approximately 4 minutes.
7. Once they are golden and crispy, remove the French Fries and drain on layers of paper towels.
8. Season to taste and serve immediately.

Chef’s Thoughts:

We made a couple of batches using the recipe. For the first batch, we followed the time instructions exactly. For the second batch, we reduced the cook time of the second round by one minute.

Shortened cook time (left) and recommended cook time (right). (Click to enlarge)

The ones cooked at the recipe instructions were edible, but they definitely came out on the cooked side. (Not all of our family members would eat them.) The ones cooked a minute shorter were a little less crispy but also had a better taste. In other words, cutting down cook time seems to sacrifice a little texture for taste.

After the fact, we looked around online for other homemade French Fry recipes using a deep fryer. One highly reviewed one came from Allrecipes, which emphasized the need for cooking the fries twice, as the Aldi recipe does, in order to properly crispify them on the outside. However, the Allrecipes recipe calls for cooking them first at 275 degrees for 5 minutes, then removing them, cooling them, and cooking them at 350 degrees until golden brown, or about 5-6 minutes. That’s a lot longer and lower than the Aldi recipe … and when we tried it, the fries came out much better.

The Verdict:

Homemade French Fries are a fun way to put a deep fryer to use, but we’re not sure the recipe found in the Ambiano Deep Fryer manual is ideal. Instead, cooking for longer and lower (like here) is definitely the better course.