3 days Ago By [email protected] (Shaun Melady)
Getting crisp, golden homemade french fries usually starts way before the oil gets hot. It really begins with how you prepare the spuds. For this job, a good chef's knife is crucial.
For standard, top-notch fries, an eight-inch blade gives enough length to slice cleanly through bigger potatoes without feeling awkward or hard to handle. The heft of the knife and how it balances in your hand matter too. A knife that feels right makes repeated cutting motions much less tiring and easier to get into a rhythm.
Naturally, the sharpness of the blade is a key factor, as you want the edge to slice cleanly through the potato's dense exterior instead of mashing it. It also means you use less muscle, which actually makes the process safer. Getting potatoes ready for classic fries requires just a few steps to get them all looking alike.
Start by cleaning and peeling them. Then, chop the potato through the middle to make a flat surface for it to rest on, making it studier for cutting. As you cut them into long, thick strips (or thin, for shoestring style), you'll want to aim for an even pattern throughout because the thickness affects how the fries will cook.
Once you slice all of your potatoes into the right shape and size, put them into a bowl of cold water to keep them fresh (it also helps with achieving a crisp texture). While it might take a little longer than a , it's definitely worth your time making them from scratch. Getting creative with homemade fries A classic french fry is excellent, but you can also get creative with how you cut the potatoes.
A chef's knife lets you easily switch up the shapes and sizes. If you're wanting heartier steak fries or potato wedges, you can split the potato in half down its length and put each half flat-side down on your cutting board. Now slice lengthwise one more time, creating quarters.
These pieces are then perfect for making into wedges, ready to fry or roast. You can also cut the potatoes into smaller chunks to resemble tater tots which you can season and fry using oil or cook in an air fryer. Using a good chef's knife gives you the ability to play around with the thickness of homemade fries by giving you more control of the motion.
Now all you need is a . Thinking about how a shows how intentional focus is important with this particular knife. A mandoline slicer can make truly consistent planks.
Some models even have attachments for julienne style, which are thin cuts of potatoes. There are also automatic or manual fry cutters, which work by forcing a potato through a grid to make perfectly polished fries. Using a chef's knife does often come with imperfections, but the lack of uniformity highlights the homemade finesse.
If you really don't like imperfections, though, you can mask them by making your creations, just sayin'. Recommended.
