French fries just right, crisp and tender at the same time

French fries are one of the king dishes of the kitchen for children. That delicate and salty flavor, the crunchy touch, the power to eat them with your hands and the fact that they are accompanied with a sauce such as ketchup mean that few children do not go crazy for French fries.

French fries as a garnish they tend to make the dishes they accompany more attractive, such as meat, fish or even some vegetables, whether they are grilled, in sauce or battered.

Although it may not seem like it, some good fries require know-how throughout the recipe process, from cutting to plating. In this post we are going to teach you some tricks so that you can be the kings of French fries.

To begin with, the potatoes have to be peeled and washed. It is recommended to wash them with skin to remove the dirt before peeling them, since this way we will wash them less once they are peeled. When it comes to peeling them, there is no need to take half a potato next to the skin. A potato peeler or sharp toothless knife will make it easier for you to remove the skin.

Now it's time to cut them. We can give it the cut that we prefer, either sliced, sticks or tacos. But what you do have to take care of is that they are not too thick and that all the potato wedges are the same size, to avoid that some come out cruder or more fried than the others.

Below is advised wash them well and leave them to soak for half an hour in cold water so that they release the starch and are looser in the oil when fried and come out harder. Finally, they should be drained and dried very well before frying. We can do it with the vegetable centrifuge or kitchen paper. If we let them air dry they can start to blacken.

Now comes the process of cooking them, that is, frying them. We will use a deep frying pan or deep fryer with enough capacity so that the oil is abundant and the potatoes do not become caked. We let the olive oil heat up to about 150 degrees. Then we put the potatoes little by little in the hot oil and fry them until they are golden brown, always stirring them from time to time to avoid them sticking together. This is the first fry, who will allow the potatoes to become tender and lightly brown.

However to give it the crispiness, a second frying is necessary at a higher temperature, about 190 degrees. To do this, we remove the potatoes from the oil and let it heat up to this temperature, at which point we turn the potatoes over to fry them for a few minutes so that they brown a little more and become crispy on the outside but tender on the inside.

The final touch, but not least, is the draining. We let them drain for a few minutes and sprinkle them with salt. It is important that we add the salt at the end, since doing it when you fry them will make them release water in the oil and they will come out less crispy.

Let's try to make some french fries like that and see how it goes… The children are the jury.

Image: Nutrition, Goodhousekeeping