Deep Fried/Chips: Steamed Potatoes &Recipe

Subject: Steamed Potatoes & Recipe
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Serendipity (goaway at spammers.com)
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 13:41:03 -0500
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This was a new one for me despite using the steam method for many vegetables. I've always boiled potatoes for mashed or salads. I was watching Michael Smith At Home and he steamed the potatoes saying the texture was better steamed than boiled. So I tried it using potatoes cut in half for a deep fried potatoes. The result was considerably better than boiling!

Deep Fried Potatoes
(I don't care for regular french fries but like these occasionally)
Select small whole potatoes or cut larger ones into quarters if really large or halves for medium size potatoes. Whole potatoes are the best. Peel. Steam (or boil) potatoes until soft. Allow to drain if boiled. Heat deep fryer to french fry setting. Deep fry potatoes until golden. Remove from fryer and season with seasoning salt or seasoning of your choice.
From: aem (aem_again at yahoo.com)
Date: 8 Mar 2005 12:43:16 -0800
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Sounds interesting. I also like the twice-fried method. Deep fry raw potato strips at moderate temp until lightly golden. Remove and let cool. Raise the heat of the oil to about 370°F and fry them again until they're the color you like. This gives you a crisp and crunchy exterior with a fluffy interior.

But I admit that the most common fries in our house come from an Ore-Ida bag and are baked in the toaster oven with no additional oil. Lots of black pepper, the salt that comes with 'em.
From: Maverick (bmcginty at hotmail.NOSPAM.com)
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 19:51:30 -0700
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aem wrote:
> Sounds interesting. I also like the twice-fried method. Deep fry raw
> potato strips at moderate temp until lightly golden. Remove and let
> cool. Raise the heat of the oil to about 370°F and fry them again
> until they're the color you like. This gives you a crisp and crunchy
> exterior with a fluffy interior.

Making french fries requires a two-step cooking method. First step is at a relatively low temp, if deep frying. This is my gripe. If you deep fry at temps less then 350, the oil can soak into the food. But the boiling method, which I never would have thought of, would replace that low-temp oil step.

Hmmm...Where my copy of Florence Tyler's English fish and chips recipe. The boiling or steaming method makes french fries almost healthy!

Bret
From: Isaac Wingfield (isw at witzend.com)
Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 19:41:10 -0800
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Serendipity wrote:
> This was a new one for me despite using the steam method for many
> vegetables. I've always boiled potatoes for mashed or salads. I was
> watching Michael Smith At Home and he steamed the potatoes saying the
> texture was better steamed than boiled. So I tried it using potatoes
> cut in half for a deep fried potatoes. The result was considerably
> better than boiling!

Take a batch of those small potatoes called "creamers" -- golf ball size or smaller.

Cut in half (the way that exposes the most flesh) or in quarters if larger. Steam, covered, until done through, tested with a toothpick.

Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a non-stick skillet and place the taters in the butter, cut sides down. Cook over medium high heat until the surface is nicely brown and crispy. We like them quite dark.

Makes a good side dish.
From: Maverick (bmcginty at hotmail.NOSPAM.com)
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 19:54:50 -0700
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Isaac Wingfield wrote:
> Makes a good side dish.

Ok, I'm getting extremely hungry now! And I do NOT have any potatoes on hand at all. SHIT! I'm firing my grocery buyer! Wait. That's me. MY BAD! *Mental note. Buy potatoes!*

I just thought of something. This method will also work to make great hashbrowns, right?

Bret