The method
The double fry
Low and slow first, then hot and quick, with a rest in between. It is the whole secret and it isn’t a secret.
Why twice
A single fry can’t do both jobs. Hot enough to brown the outside, and the middle is still raw when the colour arrives. Low enough to cook the middle, and you get a limp, greasy chip that never crisps. My childhood, basically.
The first fry, at a low temperature, cooks the potato through and leaves the outside soft and pale. While they rest, the steam escapes, the surface dries and sets into a thin skin. The second fry, short and hot, turns that skin into a crust. The middle is already done, so the second fry only has to deal with the outside.
How I do it
- Peel and cutSticks about 10 to 12 mm square. Keep them the same size so they finish together; the odd little ends go in a last batch for the cook.
- Rinse, then dryRinse in cold water until it runs clear, then dry them properly in a clean tea towel. Wet fries spit, and they steam instead of frying.
- Heat to 150–160 °CUse a thermometer if you have one. The dial on a home fryer is a suggestion; mine was ten degrees out.
- First fry, 5 to 7 minutesSmall batches, basket no more than half full. They should be cooked through and floppy, with no real colour. A few blisters are fine.
- Rest, at least 20 minutesSpread out in one layer on a tray, not piled on kitchen paper where they sweat. You can stop here for a few hours, or until tomorrow in the fridge.
- Heat to 175–180 °CAnd wait for it to get there. Cold fries into fat that isn’t back up to heat is how you get grease instead of crust.
- Second fry, 2 to 3 minutesUntil golden and crisp. Shake the basket: finished fries rustle, unfinished ones thud.
- Salt and eatInto a big bowl, salt, toss. Salt away from the fryer, because salt is bad for the fat. Eat standing up, ideally.
A timer for the kitchen
Press the button when the basket goes in. It counts down each stage and tells you what to look for. The times sit in the middle of my ranges; your fryer, your potatoes and the size of the batch will move them about.
The timer needs JavaScript; the same times are in the table below.
Double-fry timer
5:30
- first fry
- rest
- second fry
| Cut | First fry | Rest | Second fry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thin, about 8 mm | 4:00 | 20 min or more | 2:00 |
| Standard, 10 to 12 mm | 5:30 | 20 min or more | 2:30 |
| Thick, 13 mm or more | 7:00 | 20 min or more | 3:00 |
Get a thermometer
A probe thermometer clipped to the side of the pan costs less than a sack of potatoes and has settled several arguments in this house. Measure in the middle of the fat, not at the edge.
If you have nothing at all: a fry dropped in should bubble steadily straight away at first-fry heat, and fiercely at second-fry heat. It’s rough, but it is how Rik did it for forty years.
Small batches
Every handful of cold, damp potato knocks the temperature down. A full basket can drop it by twenty degrees or more, and then the fries sit in warm fat soaking it up. Half a basket at most, and let the fat climb back between batches.
Doing it ahead
Frituren do the first fry in the afternoon and the second to order, and you can too. Blanched fries keep for a few hours on the tray, or a day covered in the fridge. They freeze well: spread out on a tray first, then into a bag, and fry them straight from frozen at 175–180 °C. That is more or less what a bag of frozen fries is.
Please be careful
Never fill a fryer above its line, or a pan more than a third full. Fat and water don’t mix: dry the fries, and never throw water on a fat fire. Turn the heat off and cover it with a lid or a fire blanket.
A solid block of tallow has to melt slowly, on the lowest setting or cut into pieces. Heat it hard and the element overheats inside the block, which is how fryers catch fire. Keep children and pets out of the way. We only have the cat.