Preparation of Fries

Covering two basic ways of making fries: baked and pan fried fries, the spicy fry recipe is an example of how to be creative with the basics. The fry sauce recipe makes fries an exceptional part of a meal. Potatoes are great because they are a versatile side dish.

Baked Fry Ingredients:
3 Medium Potatoes
1 Teaspoon Vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Now slice potatoes along the length creating half inch sticks. Place them in a bowl that comes with a lid. If you do not have a bowl with a lid, plastic wrap is an alternate solution. Add vinegar, vegetable oil and salt to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the lid or plastic wrap and shake everything together. Place potatoes evenly across a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil. Make sure sticks do not overlap.

Vinegar is an important part of the process, because it makes the outside crisp while leaving the inside soft and moist. There are a wide range of vinegars; each one provides a different flavor. White wine vinegar is subtle, leaving hardly any flavor after being cooked. Balsamic vinegar adds sweetness to fries. Pinot vinegar is pungent vinegar. If you want to taste vinegar use Pinot.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven and let fries cook for twenty minutes. Take them out of the oven to carefully flip all of the fries over with a spatula. Place them back in the oven for another fifteen minutes. They will be crunchy and brown. Turn off the oven and move them onto a plate covered with a paper towel to let them set for five minutes.

Pan Fry Ingredients:
2 Medium Potatoes
2 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
Sprinkle of Salt

Clean off potatoes and pierce four holes on each side of the potatoes and place them on a microwave safe dish. Cook them on high for 3 minutes. If needed, flip them over and cook them for another two minutes. They are soft to the touch when completely cooked.

While potatoes are cooling, pour oil into the frying pan. Turn the stove top burner to medium. It takes a couple minutes to heat the oil. When potatoes have cooled enough to touch, quickly slice them into half inch sticks and place them evenly along the bottom of the pan making sure they are not layered on top of each other.

Let them cook for about eight to ten minutes and flip them over with a spatula. Keep flipping them over every few minutes until they are mostly brown. When the fries look done, transfer them to a plate covered with paper towels. These fries don't get crispy, yet they are more traditional.

Spicy Fry Ingredients:
3 Medium Potatoes
1/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Basil
1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper
1 Teaspoon White Wine Vinegar

This recipe is similar to the baked fry recipe; except, we are adding spices to make them more unique and flavorful. Add additional spice with the oil and vinegar. When transferring the fries to the cookie sheet leave additional juice in the bottom of the bowl. Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, a bit more vinegar and a couple tablespoons of water to make a quick salad dressing.

Cook the fries on the cookie sheet for 20 minutes. Flip them over and cook for another 15 minutes. They turn out nice and crispy. It is tricky to identify additional spices for the fry sauce when making spicy fries because additional spices change the palate when integrated. However, they taste so great on their own they do not need an additional sauce.

Fry Sauce Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Ketchup
1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
Dash of Lemon Juice

Take all of the ingredients and place them into a small bowl or cup. Mix everything together with a fork and serve.

The fry sauce is the easiest sauce to make and it adds so much to a lunch or dinner. It can also be used on hamburgers or chicken tenders. Fries are one of my favorite foods. While prepackaged and fast food fries are wonderful, it feels holistic being able to turn a bag of potatoes into enjoyable compliments to meals.

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