Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Homemade French Fries (Frugal Food Thursday)


Welcome to Frugal Food Thursday!  If you have a great frugal recipe, please link up below! 

These recipes are also listed at these wonderful linkup parties - thank you to all the hosts for allowing me to link up!

French fries are so yummy... but so bad for you.

I'm not going to say that this recipe for Homemade French Fries is healthy, but it is slightly healthier.  First, I keep the skins on the potato, which adds some nutrients.  Second, there are no fillers or additives as there often are in commercial French fries.  And third, you can control how much salt these have.

Plus, they're so much cheaper than store-bought or restaurant-bought fries.  So when potatoes go on sale (often for really cheap at ALDI), buy some and indulge a little by making a batch.

You'll need to double-fry the fries - fry, then allow to cool a bit, then fry again.  This gets the inside of the fry fully cooked - the inside will continue to cook after you remove it from the oil.  If you fry them only once, when the outside of the fry is golden brown, the inside will still be raw. 

Here's the recipe:

HOMEMADE FRENCH FRIES

4 large baking potatoes, skins scrubbed well
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup canola oil
salt to taste

Slice the potatoes, with skins still on, into several 1/2" slices, and then cut each slice into 1/2" wide sticks.  Place in a large bowl and fill with water.  Add the sugar, mix, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the water from the bowl and dry the potato sticks well with paper towels.

In a large skillet, heat the oil to 325 degrees (use a candy thermometer to check the temperature).  Add some of the potato sticks, creating a single layer on the bottom of the skillet.  Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the fries start to become translucent.  Remove the fries and drain on a tray lined with paper towels. 

Add more oil if necessary and recheck the temperature.  Once it hits 325 degrees, fry the next batch of sticks.  Continue until all of the fries have been cooked once.

Add more oil if necessary and recheck the temperature.  Take some of the fries that were cooked once and fry again until golden brown.  Remove to a different tray lined with paper towels.  Continue until all fries have been cooked twice.

Add salt to taste.  Then eat before they get cold!

There are lots more easy and cheap recipes posted here at Frugal FolliesClick here for the list!

Got a great frugal recipe?  Link below to your actual post, not your main page.  Please only link up recipes and other food-related posts. I'd appreciate it if you would link back to Frugal Food Thursday as well! If you have a linkup party that you'd like me to know about, please leave a comment below.





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6 comments:

Anonymous,  April 25, 2013 at 9:12 AM  

Thanks so much for hosting! We do love homemade French Fries - we usually do ours in the oven and the kids LOVE them! Hope you're having a great week!

Crafts a la Mode April 26, 2013 at 1:51 AM  

Following on Facebook. Have a great weekend and thanks for the party. Would love to have you link this to What to do Weekends Party. Best wishes, Linda

http://www.craftsalamode.com/2013/04/what-to-do-weekends-17.html

Miz Helen April 26, 2013 at 11:08 AM  

Your recipe is fabulous and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Have a great weekend and come back soon!
Miz Helen

a joyful noise April 27, 2013 at 1:37 AM  

Soaking in water with a bit of sugar is new to me. I can see that this might help the cooking process. Twice baked is good too, as you can get them ready and then finish when it is time to eat. Very interesting.

Diane Balch April 27, 2013 at 10:49 AM  

You are so right... make your own, so much better. Thanks for sharing this on foodie friday.

Kathy April 30, 2013 at 12:18 PM  

My Dearest loves fries - I have never used sugar while soaking - sounds intriguing and I do do the second fry - to make them crispy - I bet he'd LOVE fries for dinner - I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy

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