Any Day Can Be Fry-Day! (Berkshire Eagle Column)
Hank’s father used to say that in retirement, it’s like every day is a Saturday! (And our family and friends who are rabbis say, “Please, no!”) It is true that sometimes I lose track of what day it is, as I no longer feel like I am running a race every week, trying to reach the Friday finish line.
But with this week’s Berkshire Eagle column, any day can be fry-day! The recipe itself is rather short and straightforward, but with the helpful hints in the narrative, a good mandoline, a convection setting on your oven, and a bit of practice, you can easily make delicious French fries at home any day of the week!
TGI FRY-DAY
by Elizabeth Baer
My husband and I recently celebrated our anniversary! But since he is still recovering from knee replacement surgery, going out for a special dinner was out of the question. Instead, we had friends over, and made steak frites and served a side salad with garlicky croutons for a French-inspired dinner! And our friends brought dessert, the Basque cheesecake recipe from NYTimes Cooking, which was fantastic!
As much as the dinner menu was decadent, it was also easy! We have a gas grill, so the steaks were a breeze, and I think I’ve gotten to the point where my oven fries come out consistently delicious! It’s a pretty easy recipe, yet there are a lot of tips and pointers.
I’ll start with a caveat. I usually try not to write recipes for this column that use esoteric ingredients or specialized equipment, but these are so good I just had to share. Duck fat is the magic ingredient here, and it is getting easier to find. Mazzeo’s at Guido’s sells it in plastic tubs in their freezer section, and other brands are available elsewhere. You can even buy a duck fat spray these days, which is an optional ingredient here.
The other trick is using the convection setting on your oven. This basically turns your oven into a large air fryer, although the difference in size means that the results can be quite different. I do not, in fact, have an air fryer, mostly because I don’t want to find a place to store it! But more and more ovens now have a convection feature, as several friends discovered during November when they called me for turkey advice, and I recommended the convection setting. (Some people had never noticed it!)
Another hack to make clean-up a breeze is lining the sheet pan with heavy-duty foil. It’s important NOT to use non-stick foil – I tried once – which seems to prevent them from getting crispy.
For cutting the potatoes you can do it by hand or use a mandoline. But for years, and over the course of more than one mandoline, I never had one that could manage to cut potatoes into French fries. I resorted to using the mandoline to cut slices, and then cut the slices by hand into batons. However, I recently bought a new kind of mandoline. I didn’t believe it would be any better, but, miracle of miracles, it cuts potatoes into French fries perfectly! This one uses an entirely different design where, instead of moving the potato against the blade, the potato goes into a small hopper, and you press the blade down to cut. (It’s also safer!)
Finally, as I often do, you can experiment with different dipping condiments. In Europe they often eat fries with mayonnaise, and a couple of my favorites are chipotle-maple (mix mayo with adobo sauce from a can of chipotles and a little bit of maple syrup) and ramp mayonnaise. They are in season right now, but I’ve also used ramps I froze in ice cube trays last year.
With a bowl of fries, instead of take-out, you can make-in, whether with steak, with burgers, or make it poutine with some good gravy and cheese curds!
DUCK FAT OVEN FRIES
Serves 2, can be doubled if you have two half sheet pans
INGREDIENTS:
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, about 10-12 ounces each
2 heaping tablespoons duck fat
Duck fat spray (optional)
½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425°F using the convection setting. Line a rimmed half sheet pan with heavy-duty foil. Place the duck fat on the foil and leave it near the oven to soften. It may not melt entirely, but it should become soft enough to mix with the potatoes.
Meanwhile cut the potatoes into French fries. Place them on the pan with the duck fat, and toss to coat. Try to arrange them in a single layer as much as possible (but don’t obsess about it) making sure that there is duck fat under the fries to prevent sticking. I like to do this wearing a disposable food prep glove on my working hand, but you can also more gently spread them out if you don’t want to have your hand coated in duck fat. Spray lightly with duck fat spray, if using. Sprinkle with about half the salt.
Cook for 40 minutes, checking at 20 minutes and 30 minutes, turning the pan and flipping the fries with a metal spatula, if necessary. It is a hassle to make sure every fry gets turned, so just make sure most of them get tossed.
Once they are mostly brown, remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining salt. Serve immediately.