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Cut from russets, soaked in cold water, fried once at 325°F to cook them through, then again at 375°F to glass them up. Salt while still wet from the oil.
A real french fry has two textures at once. Outside it shatters. Inside it's pillowy and steaming. You can't get there in one fry. The starches need to gel first at a lower temperature, then dehydrate at a higher one to form the glassy crust.
Food Network Kitchen's double-fried french fries walks both stages cleanly. The Hurricane Bay HB-4 makes the temperature swap easy because 4 gallons of oil holds heat through a basket of cut potatoes without crashing the way a kitchen pot does. Two batches feed a backyard.
★ The Right Potato
Russets are the right potato for fries because they are high in starch and low in moisture. Yukon Golds are creamier but won't crisp the same way. The 5 lb bag at Walmart gets you four servings of fries with leftovers for hash browns the next morning. Pair with peanut oil for the cleanest fry.
Member's Mark Peanut OilPeel the russets if you want, leave the skin on if you don't. Cut into 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch sticks as evenly as you can. Even cuts cook evenly.
Drop the cut potatoes into a bowl of cold water with the vinegar and let them sit at least 30 minutes. The soak pulls out surface starch so the fries don't stick together, and the vinegar firms up the cell walls.
Pour off the water, lay the potatoes on clean towels, and pat them as dry as you can. Wet potatoes hitting hot oil will spit and steam.
Fill the Hurricane Bay HB-4 with 4 gallons of peanut oil and light the burner. From cold, you'll hit 325°F in about 10 minutes. Don't rush it.
Lower the basket with about 1.5 lb of the potatoes into 325°F oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes. The fries should be limp and pale, just barely starting to color. Pull them onto a sheet pan and let them rest at room temperature.
Open the burner and bring the oil up the last 50 degrees. Roughly 2 minutes. The first-fry potatoes can sit out the whole time without hurting anything.
Drop the rested fries back into 375°F oil for 2 to 3 minutes. They'll go from pale to deep golden and the surface will look glassy. Pull them as soon as they are the color you want.
Dump them onto a tray lined with paper, hit them hard with kosher salt while they are still wet from the oil so it sticks, and serve immediately.
The Hurricane Bay HB-4: 4 gallons, 90,000 BTU, 12-gauge American steel, V-drain. The fryer this recipe was tested in.
Get a Hurricane Bay HB-4