Many people tell me that although they try to avoid fast food, sometimes they just miss fast food French fries. Now you can have them again, and cook them in your own healthy frying oil at home!
Homemade Fast Food French Fries
Ingredients
- About 2 potatoes per person (note that 2 medium potatoes = 1#) -- maybe more or less depending on your family members' appetites and how much other food you're serving with them. I buy organic potatoes because they're always on the Dirty Dozen list. *Try sweet potatoes for a delicious variation!
- 2 Tablespoons – 1/3 cup sugar
- Order beef Tallow for frying here or get some pastured lard here.
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Optional step if you remember to start ahead of time (to make them even healthier): Here's a way to ferment potatoes to reduce the starch content and reduce the formation of acrylamides. Just slice them and soak the night before with about 1/2 cup of whey or vegetable starter culture and enough filtered water to cover. The next day, drain and continue with recipe. It's easy but just takes thinking ahead a little, which I actually rarely do! So if you don't start the night before, just continue with the next step...
- Slice potatoes for frying — I usually leave the skins on after cleaning well. (***I use my Bosch with the attachment that cuts them into perfectly shaped fries in a matter of moments!) Dissolve 1/3 cup sugar in 2 cup warm water. Place potato strips in water for 15 – 30 minutes. (This reduces cancer-causing acrylamide formation at least some, even if you didn't soak them overnight.)
- Heat tallow or lard to 350*. (I like this kitchen thermometer.) Drain and dry potato strips. When thoroughly dry place in oil for 1 minute. Remove from oil. Bring oil back up to 350*. (It will have cooled down when cooking the first batch.) Place potatoes back into the oil and cook until golden brown. Remove from oil, drain and add sea salt to taste.
- Note that nowadays we use deep fryers instead of a pan on the stove (it's safer and makes me feel better, especially since we had a kitchen grease fire when I was a kid and the sound of bubbling grease still freaks me out), read more in this post: Recipe for Deep Fried Heaven. There are links there for beer battered fish, onion rings, homemade chicken nuggets, and more! These are the fryers I wish I had. But I see they're out of stock, so then I found this bigger fryer with a stainless steel interior! It also has a nice temperature control and a handy basket -- whatever you do, don't get one with Teflon. (Read about when I ditched my Teflon electric frying pan too.)
Notes
- Try serving these with this delicious garlic ketchup recipe!
- Or with this yummy garlic aioli!
- To keep from wasting any of my precious tallow I drain the fries into a strainer over a glass dish I use to store it in the fridge.
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“Yummy! These are very crisp on the outside, but have a creamy potato center. It really does make a difference rather than just frying once in the oil. Tastes just like fast food fries!”
Note that if you're like me and still don't have time to cook them twice, or to ferment or soak them beforehand, they're still pretty darn good, and waaaaay better than eating them from a fast food shack, but if you eat them too often, you should still consider the acrylamide risks.
Thanks, Jeanne, for sharing your recipe.
Jeanne says
April 25, 2014 at 1:49 PMI haven’t made these in a couple of years… Thanks for the reminder!
Lynne says
April 25, 2014 at 10:37 AMI made these last night, not exactly as you did but close enough. They were delicious. My husband said that frying them in beef tallow is the way french fries were made to be fried! Oh, I made my own tallow from bones.
KitchenKop says
April 26, 2014 at 6:26 AMHi Lynne?
Did you mean you made your own tallow from beef fat (by rendering)? You can make bone broth from bones but not tallow.
For anyone who wants to render it themselves, here’s a post on how: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/05/4-steps-to-rendering-fat-for-a-healthy-frying-oil-how-to-make-tallow-how-to-make-lard.html
Although as I explain in this post: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/10/u-s-wellness-meats-giveaway-99-95-value.html – it’s actually cheaper to buy it if you’re getting a large quantity.
Kelly
Kelly
Marina Velius says
March 17, 2014 at 1:40 AMKelly,
I looked at the nutition label on the US Wellness website for the beef tallow you recommended and it says it contains 7g of trans fats per serving!
I thought trans fats were bad and not found in natural products only those partially hydrogenated.
Can you explain?
Thanks,
Marina
US Wellness Meats says
March 17, 2014 at 12:50 PMHi Marina!
You are not the first to inquire about trans-fats, and we now have a full blog post on this subject alone, that you can read here: https://blog.grasslandbeef.com/bid/78200/Can-Trans-Fat-Be-Healthy
We believe that the natural trans fat found in our products comes from the higher levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a nutrient found in the milk and meats of grazing animals. CLA is derived from green plants, which is why grass-fed animals tend to have higher levels vs. animals that are finished on grains.
Chris Kresser does a great job of explaining the difference here: https://chriskresser.com/can-some-trans-fats-be-healthy.
If you have any other questions please let us know. We are happy to help!
jody harrett says
May 19, 2011 at 2:29 AMi need some recipes for young kids. iam just staring a new a new job part of of that job is making quick meals for kids .help
KitchenKop says
May 19, 2011 at 11:08 AMClick “recipes” above and you’ll find lots of ideas. Also, there’s a lot more info on feeding kids here:
https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/03/healthy-meals-for-kids-real-food-wednesday.html
Deanna McFarlain says
May 2, 2011 at 6:54 PMThis may be helpful to those who do not know about acrylamides. (You may go into it somewhere else on your site)I needed to refresh my memory so I found this interesting short article on the three things to consume while eating the foods that contain acrylamides that will reduse the health risks.
https://www.naturalnews.com/024942_acrylamides_acrylamide_foods.html
Bee says
January 7, 2010 at 3:05 AMI’m sure tallow fries would be delightful – but since I live in an old house with no extractor fan, I never deep-fry. But if you cut potatoes into thin strips, and slather them with leftover bacon fat (which you can pour into a container and keep in the fridge for at least a month), and roast them at 450 or so, you get a very french-fry-like result!
KitchenKop says
November 7, 2009 at 10:51 PMWednesday! 🙂
elaine says
November 7, 2009 at 11:12 AMWhen do you announce the giveaway, my potatoes are ready for the fryer!! 🙂
Musings of a Housewife says
November 6, 2009 at 1:39 PMI would love to try these. Although after the chicken nuggets the other night, I think I’ll wait for more frying till we have a deep fryer. It was a MESS!