Cookbook:French Fries (Belgian)

Ideally, Belgian fries have a golden to golden-brown appearance, and a bite through the crispy outside should reveal a soft inside. The ratio of crispy exterior to soft interior is determined by the thickness of the fries, which can range from 10–13 mm and as thin as 5 mm.

Ingredients

 * Potatoes (those with a high dry matter content such as Russet or Maris Piper work best)
 * Cooking oil
 * Salt

Procedure

 * 1) Prefry potatoes for about 7–12 minutes in 130–186 °C (275°F–365°F) fat to cook the inner part without burning the outside. When the fries are added to the oil, the oil at first cools quickly and is kept at low temperature to prevent the potatoes from burning. The fries should stay a pale beige to yellow color and not be too dry.
 * 2) Remove fries from oil, toss to avoid clumping, and allow to cool down and dry for at least 30 minutes to make the fries more crispy and less greasy later. This intermediate product can be either frozen for 'instant' deep-frying later, or as several batches of 'pre-fried' fries prepared for rapid frying and almost serving later.
 * 3) Deep-fry for about 2–5 minutes in 175–195 °C fat, depending on the initial temperature of the fries. Work in small enough batches to keep the oil at 125–160 °C for the first 30 seconds of frying. You want to have enough cooking time (7–16 minutes) without allowing the fries to become too greasy.
 * 4) Cool and dry the fries for at least 25 minutes to make them more crispy later. Cooling the fries may help precipitate the oil making it less greasy later.
 * 5) Sturdily toss, centrifuge by spinning around in a container, and toss a second time to remove excessive fat.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * You can prevent greasiness by cooking fries at high oil temperatures at the start of the pre-cooking; once this stage has been achieved, the fries will not get much greasier during longer cooking later.
 * In a good professional friterie stand, the cut is done in a single action by driving the whole peeled potato standing vertically, through a horizontal raster of crosswise sharp blades. This easily removable (for cleaning) and exchangeable set of blades defines the thickness of the frites.
 * Some potatoes like Bintjes or Russet potatoes can produce a fried fish, beefy and pastry-like fragrance after being fried for over 10 minutes above 118 °C.