Good French are hard to do. It is also known to a restaurant professional.
How to get good French at home? The Friends & Brgrs burger chain operations manager provides a solution to this eternity question Isak Fagerholm.
He knows firsthand that the French are difficult to prepare.
In the home kitchen, we tested how to make French fries with a restaurant recipe. The test results are at the end of the story. Eeva Paljakka
– When we opened our first restaurant in Pietarsaari in 2014, we tested different methods of making French. We got the best results by first cooking the french fries in water and then twice in oil, Fagerholm says about the beginning of the burger chain.
The tests went really well and a suitable recipe was found, but it no longer worked when hundreds of doses had to be taken a day.
Fagerholm says bluntly that the first summer was awful for the French.
– The French were not homogeneous. We started doing new tests, changing potatoes, cooking times, methods many dozen times during that summer.
Isak Fagerholm is responsible for the quality of Friends & Brgrs’ French. Friends & Brgrs
Although now the French recipe has been honed and the quality is in order, testing continues all the time. The potato variety of Friends & Brgrs’ French fries changes many times during the year.
We are now living in the most difficult time for potatoes, when the old harvest has been stored for a long time and there is no new one yet.
During storage, the amount of potato starch increases and when cooked it turns into sugar. The sugar, on the other hand, burns easily when the potatoes are fried. This, in turn, means that in a fryer, the potato darkens before its surface crumbles properly. A dark and soft-skinned potato is anything but good.
Every month, every couple of French fries, the potato variety changes.
– This is made particularly difficult by the fact that the same variety from the same farmer may be completely different the following year. That means we’re constantly looking for a new variety and doing tests.
In the first stage, the potato sticks are boiled in water. Friends & Brgrs
Friends & Brgrs has 6-7 different potato suppliers. A chain of 14 restaurants buys potatoes either wholesale or directly from the farmer.
– We always buy the best variety, which is also available in large quantities. We need about 400-500,000 pounds of potatoes a year.
What does Fagerholm think is a good French fries?
– It is golden brown on the top and the potato peel is crispy. The potato in the middle is like mashed potatoes, with an airy texture, Fagerholm describes.
The size of the potato depends on the preferences of the eater, but the potatoes of Friends & Brgrs are a bit thicker than normal, the width of the sticks is 12 x 12 mils.
Potatoes do not need to be peeled, as the peel has a good taste.
According to Isak Fagerholm, salting can only fail if it is put in too much at first. The French he eats with mayonnaise. Friends & Brgrs
Make home-style French fries at home
Fagerholm reveals how French fries, which have become popular with Friends & Brgrs, are made.
The only raw material is domestic potatoes, rapeseed oil and salt.
1. Cut 1-2cm sticks from floury potatoes. Potatoes do not need to be peeled.
2. Boil water well in a large saucepan and place the potato sticks in boiling water for about 5-7 minutes.
The potatoes should be softened and almost ripe, but they will not break.
3. Drain the cooked potato sticks through the hole and allow to dry at room temperature for about 30 minutes and the water to evaporate.
Then put the potato sticks in the fridge or freezer to cool for at least an hour. Cold air dries potatoes, because moisture is the enemy of crunchiness.
4. Preheat rapeseed oil in a saucepan or deep fryer to 150 degrees.
5. Deep fry the potato sticks at 150 degrees for about 5 minutes until the potato is slightly colored.
6. Remove the potatoes from the oil using a sieve or bucket and allow to cool first at room temperature for 30 minutes and then in the fridge or freezer for at least one hour.
7. Preheat rapeseed oil in a saucepan or deep fryer to 180 degrees.
8. Deep fry the potato sticks at 180 degrees for about 3 minutes until the potato sticks rise to the surface of the oil and the color is a beautiful golden brown.
9. Season the french fries with sea salt and serve immediately.
Friends & Brgrs’ French potato varieties change several times a year. Friends & Brgrs
Tips!
- Buy floury potatoes, such as Rosamunda.
- The best result comes with the help of a small deep fryer, which can be purchased for home use for about 50 euros.
- Boil and fry the potatoes in small enough portions to make the result even.
- You can prepare the French in advance. After steps 1-6, the potatoes remain covered in the refrigerator for up to a day before the final steps.
- One kilogram of potatoes is enough for 3-4 people.
- Potatoes do not need to be peeled, but you can peel them if you wish.
The reporter tested at home
I think the first step works well, although I value how I cut thick sticks.
I leave the boiled potatoes in my opinion as a suitable aldent. I was afraid to cook them for the mousse, but all the chopped potatoes stay in the pile.
Since I start cooking too late in the evening, I put the chilled potatoes in a box with a lid and refrigerate overnight. I no longer have time to do another cooking today, even though it would be desirable according to the instructions.
Day two. I don’t have a deep fryer, so I cook the potatoes in a saucepan. The frying thermometer shows that the oil temperature is less than 150 degrees. I bun the first potatoes in a saucepan. The oil temperature drops immediately.
Fry the potatoes in several batches, but once the temperature is not ideal, even if I change the temperature of the hob. Alan understands why Isak Fagerholm recommended the fryer. I don’t calculate the frying time exactly, but I trust that the potato is suitable when the surface starts to brown. Big mistake.
Again, the boiled potatoes are allowed to rest on kitchen paper on a cutting board. I’ll put them in the fridge again for the night.
Third day and third cooking. The surface of the potato clearly looks moist. Fagerholm warned that moisture is the enemy of crispness. Dry potatoes with kitchen paper.
Now I pick up the stopwatch and measure the cooking time accurately.
Result:
The potatoes are suitably crunchy on the surface, but in the middle they are not a soft muse (except for the smallest of them all).
I certainly made several mistakes: too thick potato sticks, too short the first cooking time (maybe), too short the second cooking time (maybe), the oil temperature fluctuated too much. There could also be too much starch in the potato.
Some of the potatoes are already close to the taste you are looking for. It is comforting that making French fries is not easy even for professionals.