Did you all know that July 14th was Bastille Day? And can you think of a better way to celebrate all things français than to make some French Fries? Just kidding! French Fries are as American as mom and apple pie which is why this recipe came from Martha’s All-American section on page 37.
Martha notes that some home cooks are intimidated by making their own french fries. For me, this is where my restaurant experience comes in handy. While many of my young classmates were working in Michelin-starred restaurants making things like fois gras mousse with truffle shavings, I found myself working in a lot of bars with high-end comfort food. On my very first real cooking job, I found myself working as the fry girl at a hot, newly opened beer bar in Gramercy Park, making a whole lot of french fries. So you can say it’s something of a specialty of mine now.
The chef at this bar taught me so much about the art of frying. I remember my first week, when I really had no idea what I was doing and I needed to blanche all the fries for that evening’s service. Blanching is the first stage in making fries, frying them initially at a lower temperature. Then they’re taken out and put back in with the hot oil raised to about 360° for about 2 – 3 minutes until they’re golden brown and crispy. Well, I ended up slipping and dropping an entire tray of newly blanched fries to the ground! In culinary school that was the kind of thing that would get you flogged if flogging were actually legal, since it’s not, it would result in a lot of screaming and cursing. I was nearly in tears muttering “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” over and over again. My chef just laughed, picked up one of the ruined fries and nodded approvingly and he said “You blanched these perfectly! Accidents happen, don’t worry about it. I’d much rather see these fries cooked perfectly and get dropped by mistake than have you cook them badly and not drop them.”
After that, perfect french fries became something of a passion of mine. This talented young chef passed away before his time. I think the best way to honor him is to always cook the perfect french fry. I arranged them in a glass, just the way we used to do at the bar for this picture. This one’s for you, Sansev!
