How do you like your French fries ?

[DaveB]

Does this increase or decrease the water content?

A problem with chips IMO is the high water content, which means they take ages to cook. Has anyone tried microwaving them to get them up to temperature before frying?

It increases it, frying drives a lot of water out of the chips, where do you think the steam comes from when you cook them?

And good food takes time to cook. Even chips.

[realityhack]

Northern curry sauce - WTF is that.

It's thicker, more viscous than the stuff down here - generally. Tastes about the same though.

[miffy]

I like mine made with fresh potatoes stolen from the nearest allotment

Crispy, with plenty of sea salt and a splash of vinegar.

[EternalOptimist]

I like mine made with fresh potatoes stolen from the nearest allotment

Crispy, with plenty of sea salt and a splash of vinegar.

watch it , bunny face

[Board Game Geek]

I like my french fries served with a Big Mac.

[NickFitz]

Does this increase or decrease the water content?

A problem with chips IMO is the high water content, which means they take ages to cook. Has anyone tried microwaving them to get them up to temperature before frying?

It doesn't make much difference to the water content (potatoes are very watery anyway) but it leaches the starch out. Rather than just draining them, you should also rinse them under cold running water after soaking, just to wash away any starch left on the outside.

The crucial part is the drying of the outside before the first frying. This is absolutely essential, otherwise they'll never become crisp.

Oh, and it's worth absorbing any excess oil once they're done using kitchen roll - helps keep them crisp

Also worthy of note is that they can be left for quite some time after the initial frying. So they can be started and left to cool, then given the second fry once the rest of the meal is ready - handy if the latter stages of preparing the meal involve a lot of fiddly stuff, as you don't have the additional hassle of keeping an eye on them during the initial frying.

[TimberWolf]

It doesn't make much difference to the water content (potatoes are very watery anyway) but it leaches the starch out. Rather than just draining them, you should also rinse them under cold running water after soaking, just to wash away any starch left on the outside.

The crucial part is the drying of the outside before the first frying. This is absolutely essential, otherwise they'll never become crisp.

Oh, and it's worth absorbing any excess oil once they're done using kitchen roll - helps keep them crisp

Also worthy of note is that they can be left for quite some time after the initial frying. So they can be started and left to cool, then given the second fry once the rest of the meal is ready - handy if the latter stages of preparing the meal involve a lot of fiddly stuff, as you don't have the additional hassle of keeping an eye on them during the initial frying.

Doesn't make sense to me. Potatoes are mostly water with starch the next greatest ingredient, so the benefit of leaving chips to soak and drying them etc. would have to be tested under controlled conditions if I'm to believe it Incidentally if you grate potatoes and collect the gloop together it acts like liquid that goes hard when you move it suddenly, or compress it. Can be fun to play with while you wait for the chips to cook, unless microwaving speeds the process up which also has to be tested...

[NickFitz]

Doesn't make sense to me. Potatoes are mostly water with starch the next greatest ingredient, so the benefit of leaving chips to soak and drying them etc. would have to be tested under controlled conditions if I'm to believe it

I tested it the night before last, and will be testing it again shortly - it works perfectly

Incidentally if you grate potatoes and collect the gloop together it acts like liquid that goes hard when you move it suddenly, or compress it.

Funnily enough, I made rosti a few nights back - the key thing with that is to wrap the grated potato in a clean teatowel (or you can just about get away with paper kitchen towels) and squeeze it mega-hard to wring as much water out as possible. It's surprising the amount of liquid that comes out of two small grated potatoes

[ArthurBigot]

Shame on you EO for this crass posting... it may have slipped under the admins radar but to joke about the slaughter of two young French students is over the mark no matter how well disguised

Shame on you

[BrilloPad]

Shame on you EO for this crass posting... it may have slipped under the admins radar but to joke about the slaughter of two young French students is over the mark no matter how well disguised

Shame on you

Have you reported it? I had to re-read the original several times before I understood what you are going on about(but I am slow) - I guess it was before the news that they were tortured?