Katherine

I think that many people are intimidated by multi-step instructions and long lists of ingredients that don't resemble the finished product. For most of these people a few cooking classes on basic techniques and the nature of creativity would go a long way toward bringing out their inner chef. I can duplicate most of the dishes I eat out, many of them better than the original. Mind you, these aren't in the same price bracket as the ones you may be eating at. But I'm into simple cooking (how convenient!), Asian cooking, whatever strikes my fancy.

In the pursuit of knowledge, I peeled three different potatoes (red bliss, russet, and Idaho bakers), cut into french fry shapes and blanched them in water for 6 minutes, then drained them, patted them dry, and fried them. They took a long time to brown. (10 minutes/serving) I think that boiling them didn't drive off the water as prefrying does. Also, the sugars which brown on the surface may have boiled off into the water. The surface was porous, and slightly crispy, but not crunchy as a golden brown fry is. Red bliss were the best. They were meltingly tender inside, and brown on the outside, without being soggy. Russets were ok, while the Idaho potatoes were like the worst fast food fries you've had-like cold tasteless MacDonald's fries. Maybe we boiled off the flavor, too. If anyone had said to you that these three were a new type of "lite" fry, you would have agreed, but secretly suspected that there was every bit as much fat as in the regular type.

Fried preboiled or baked potatoes come out different than french fries, and you probably should try the potato and method you're considering to see what the effect is. Good, but not french fries. The "potato skin" we see in bar cuisine is prebaked, have you tried them?

I fry potatoes in pure olive oil, reserved for that purpose only. I reuse it many times, and as no breading or batter goes into the pot, it only occasionally needs filtering, and never tastes "old" or "rancid". It usually gets replaced when it starts to foam when adding fries. Liquid vegetable oil is less stable. If I fry anything in that, I usually throw it out afterwards.

The least romantic thing in the world is serving that last glass of box wine. Open the box, take out the plastic bag...it looks like something from a medical waste container.