Fried or Roasted Taters

[Suvir Saran]

I have been recreating the dishes that my friends Grandmother served us in West Virginia.

One morning she made her famous "Fried Taters" that my friend remembered her as having made when he was a young boy. This time though, she made them with margarine and not the bacon fat that she used when he was young.

Her recipe was very basic and simple. She boils potatoes in their jackets. Boils them almost well done. Cools them in some cold tap water and then peels them and slices them in half. In a skillet she adds margarine and with that the taters. She then fries them covered with a lid. Half way through the frying process she added salt and blackpepper.

They came out a nice dark golden brown and also very crisp.

What is the traditional way of making these? Is her way the traditional way or is she doing something different in her self professed diet restricted period?

Does one need to boil the potatoed before frying? Does it make much of a difference? Is it better that way or should one simply peel (if one needs to, I often love new potatoes fried with peel on) and cut in half and fry?

[Sandra Levine]

These are basic home fries. You can either boil or not, but the result will different each way. If you do not par-boil, you will need to cook the potatoes longer at a lower temperature to avoid burning the outside before the insides are cooked. My grandmother always boiled the potatoes first, and added paprika as well as salt and pepper. Alan calls these "fish potatoes" because in his childhood home, they were always served as a accompaniment to...fish.

You can add some chopped onion half-way through. With chopped pepper in addition, you have the home fries served in Greek diners alongside eggs on the breakfast special.

The choice of cooking fat also changes the taste of the end result, as well as the texture, but there is no one "right" way.

[Suvir Saran]

These are basic home fries.  You can either boil or not, but the result will different each way.  If you do not par-boil, you will need to cook the potatoes longer at a lower temperature to avoid burning the outside before the insides are cooked.  My grandmother always boiled the potatoes first, and added paprika as well as salt and pepper.  Alan calls these "fish potatoes" because in his childhood home, they were always served as a accompaniment to...fish.

You can add some chopped onion half-way through.  With chopped pepper in addition, you have the home fries served in Greek diners alongside eggs on the breakfast special.

The choice of cooking fat also changes the taste of the end result, as well as the texture, but there is no one "right" way.

Interesting you posted what you did.

Last night, I added chopped red onions and chopped green bell peppers half way through the cooking. I did not boil the potatoes first, but cooked first at a high flame. To get some color outside. And then on a very low simmer. The potatoes get very crisp and also tender inside. The onions get a nice caramel color and the peppers almost ready to disspear but not quite.

I began with evoo and when I added the onions and pepper I added some butter.

In the past I have added paprika and rosemary to the potatoes.

[Sandra Levine]

Sounds good to me.

[Fat Guy]

We had a pretty good home fries thread awhile back. Since then I've done some additional cooking and I'm currently a firm believer in pre-cooking the potatoes. In my opinion they should be just a little undercooked at the end of simmering, though. This will get them cooked just right after their additional few minutes in the skillet. I'm also leaning towards cooking the onions, peppers, etc., separately to their optimal points of doneness and combining everything at the end for just a few turns. Half butter half olive oil is my current preference but that doesn't take into account duck fat, lard, bacon grease, and other possibilities that are no doubt wonderful (though I wouldn't use 100% of any of them; I'd probably cut them with some neutral vegetable oil so as to be able to taste the potatoes). I'm too lazy to clarify butter very often but I bet that would work wonders as well.

[Peter B Wolf]

Pre-cooking in their jacket, is a must for me also. But more important is, that this is done the day ahead. 'Cold', not just cool, potatoes slice better and definitely will fry better and turn crispier. Slicing or dicing is personal, slicing is my method for "Bratkartoffeln". Sauteeing in goose fat is desired, and a few crushed carway seeds brings out the UUUHS and AAAAAHS, even from myself. I am proud.

[Suvir Saran]

Pre-cooking in their jacket, is a must for me also. But more important is, that this is done the day ahead. 'Cold', not just cool, potatoes slice better and definitely will fry better and turn crispier. Slicing or dicing is personal, slicing is my method for "Bratkartoffeln". Sauteeing in goose fat is desired, and a few crushed carway seeds brings out the UUUHS and AAAAAHS, even from myself. I am proud.

That is what we do in India. We boil the potatoes the day before. They then slice better and also brown before breaking up too soon.

I am glad that somethings are common across cultures and continents.

[torakris]

I used to use boiled potatoes but I follow the cook's Illustrated version and get perfect results every time.

They dice the potato then add it to a pan adding water to cover by 1/2 inch and bring to a boil over high heat. When it comes to a boil remove from the heat and drain. They are then ready to be sauteed, usually for 15 to 20 minutes.

[maggiethecat]

Torakris: There is a great Pepin recipe for Pommes de Terre Savonette that sound much like yours. He thick (half inch) slices potaroes and trims them into little oval soap-shaped "savonettes." Into the pan with some butter and a little water. Cook as with yours.

Fried potatoes? Definatey boil first and chill. And that is BOIL. His Handsomeness likes to nuke them but the texture is wrong.

[John Whiting]

FG writes:

I'm also leaning towards cooking the onions, peppers, etc., separately to their optimal points of doneness and combining everything at the end for just a few turns.

The classic method of making all the veggies in a ratatouille cook to precisely the optimum degree (whatever one considers that to be).

[Spoonful]

I also boil them in their jacket, the day before. The frying medium is usually good olive oil and butter (clarified if it's available).

In a separate pan, I sautée some onions (in olive oil and butter) and towards the end, I add a few cloves of garlic, minced and add this mixture to the potatoes when they are almost done.

No paprika for us, just finished with fresh thyme.

[Wilfrid]

I agree with all the above about "home fries", or "left over fried potatoes" as we called them in the "old country". But I would never parboil potatoes intended for fries - in the sense of pommes frites or chips - or for roast potatoes. I have been roasting new potatoes - well, I don't know how new they would be, but they're small - quite a lot recently, usually out of their skins. One of those small, sturdy Le Creuset skillets, dab them generously with oil (duck or goose fat if you have it), perhaps some fresh rosemary, then about forty five minutes in a hot oven. Using the skillet, I turn them halfway through, because the heat of the pan is crisping and browning the bottoms of the potatoes.

Drain on kitchen towel and do the Emeril thing with good salt. This method gives me a thick, crunchy crust and fluffy centers.

[Suvir Saran]

I agree with all the above about "home fries", or "left over fried potatoes" as we called them in the "old country".  But I would never parboil potatoes intended for fries - in the sense of pommes frites or chips - or for roast potatoes.  I have been roasting new potatoes - well, I don't know how new they would be, but they're small - quite a lot recently, usually out of their skins.  One of those small, sturdy Le Creuset skillets, dab them generously with oil (duck or goose fat if you have it), perhaps some fresh rosemary, then about forty five minutes in a hot oven.  Using the skillet, I turn them halfway through, because the heat of the pan is crisping and browning the bottoms of the potatoes.

Drain on kitchen towel and do the Emeril thing with good salt.  This method gives me a thick, crunchy crust and fluffy centers.

Wifrid I did what you do to make my rosemary roast potatoes. I also use Le Creuset skillets. The weight works perfectly and I actually enjoy using them. I oftn also make the baby red with their skins on. Have you tried that? Is that too peasant of me to not remove skins all the time?

But in India we do either par boiled or raw depending on recipe and region. I was not sure what the tradition is here. It seems like for making the traditional fried taters like the ones made for me by Grandma Hayes one definitely needs to boil them.

[Suvir Saran]

I had some foodie friends over for dinner last night. I wanted to be naughty and was reflecting on this thread. I made two skillets of fried taters, corn bread, frittata and sautéed peas for dinner.

The reason I made two skillets of the potatoes was to see if any of the "consummate and talented and well traveled foodies" would be able to tell me which skillet was made with parboiled potatoes and which with raw. None could. I had timed the cooking such that both skillets had the same browning of the skin. Same ingredients and same amount of potatoes and salt.

For I knew which skillet I had used for the raw potato method, I was able to find a difference. Very slight though. I found the raw ones crispier and less starchy. More to my taste. But it really was a very slight difference. Maybe I would have never known it if I was not aware of what I had done. My knowledge may have colored my understanding.

Personally I find using raw and cooking at high heat first and then at very low heat till the taters are done a more convenient way of cooking this recipe. I am happy not having the extra step of boiling first. Grandma Hayes used large potatoes and cut them in halves. These halves were still very big... and so I can well imagine that cooking taters like she cut them would be a problem without having them parboiled. But cooking them as I do, halves of regular red potatoes seems to be a non-issue.

[Suzanne F]

Pre-cooking the potatoes before frying probably has something to do with "setting" the starch. I mean by that cooking it enough so that it doesn't come loose and stick to the pan. Think about the difference between making risotto and making fried rice: with risotto, you want the surface starch to mix with the liquid; that's how you get that creaminess. For fried rice, though, you want to have a "shell" of cooked starch on the rice grains so that they do NOT stick together; so cold cooked rice is better to use.

And Wilfrid, that's actually what you do when you blanch frites in oil. Cooking the outside starch, so that the inside has its starch and moisture sealed in. Thus the proper flakiness of the inside of a good frite.

[Suvir Saran]

Pre-cooking the potatoes before frying probably has something to do with "setting" the starch.  I mean by that cooking it enough so that it doesn't come loose and stick to the pan.  Think about the difference between making risotto and making fried rice:  with risotto, you want the surface starch to mix with the liquid; that's how you get that creaminess.  For fried rice, though, you want to have a "shell" of cooked starch on the rice grains so that they do NOT stick together; so cold cooked rice is better to use.

Do you think I am doing just that by cooking the potatoes at a very high flam for the first 3-5 minutes. This cooks the outside very quickly. As I do the first 3-5 minutes of cooking, I have the flame on full and I cover the pan with a lid. I shake the skillet a few times, while still covered... and then open to check if the taters are cooked on the outside. Then I turn the heat to low and cook till perfectly crisp and golden. It seems to have worked for years. I did that knowing about how it is important to cook th outside starch while making French Fries. They just happen to be my all time favorite food and I may not be the best French Fry chef but do make them better than most any Frite Shop in NYC. My friend Ed Schoenfeld and I are always having French Fry bake offs... I think we both make ours very well... we do that only so we can have an evening of just fries. Literally all we serve to friends are fries that night.. and tons of them. And just so perfect that no one craves anything else at all.

Could you think that cooking the taters as I described above could do the same thing without having to parboil? I do both ways... it is just simpler to not have to. And as I said in the last post, no one I know.. professional chefs or even hungry and seasoned foodies, will ever be able to tell the difference.

[Wilfrid]

Suzanne, I do pre-fry the potatoes when I am making fries. I just wouldn't parboil them first, because I find that encourages them to break up. And, Suvir, I think with or without skin is entirely a matter of taste. I have reached the stage in my life where I find peeling potatoes soothing!

[Spoonful]

I have reached the stage in my life where I find peeling potatoes soothing! 

What stage is that?

[Suvir Saran]

I have reached the stage in my life where I find peeling potatoes soothing! 

I must agree with you. I find that a very soothing experience. I seldom if ever leave the skins on. This is one recipe where I like it.

In India we had potatoes growing in the vegetable patch. Chemical free and so my mother would ask Panditji to make as many recipes with the peel on as possible. They were always on top of adding more roughage and nutrients to food. Though I think the nutrients would be killed by the time the taters and crunchy and crisp.

[Suvir Saran]

Suzanne, I do pre-fry the potatoes when I am making fries.  I just wouldn't parboil them first, because I find that encourages them to break up.

Wilfrid,

Like you I pre-fry my fries. I too find the parboiled ones just a little tedious to work around. They seem to break easily and need more attention that pre-fried ones.

[Spoonful]

I have reached the stage in my life where I find peeling potatoes soothing!  

I must agree with you. I find that a very soothing experience.

Great, I'm looking forward to 2 answers!

[helenas]

I have reached the stage in my life where I find peeling potatoes soothing!  

Please, please, can i use it as my new signature?

[Wilfrid]

Helena: Feel free.

Spoonful: Never you mind, young lady .

[Priscilla]

Wow Suvir the French Fry Bake Offs sound so great. I like all-one dinners like that from time to time. Mmmm and especially with something as good as frites. Is Canola your frying medium of choice?

When I cook smallish red potatoes in the oven with rosemary sometimes I peel a belt away around each potato's equator. If the potatoes in question seem to indicate, that is. One of those Cheap Cooking Tricks, like strewing seeds atop bread, that affects people at the table beyond what it seems it oughta.

This discussion of cooked/par-cooked/from-raw fried potatoes has been very elucidating and inspiring. Thank you all.

[Suzanne F]

Suzanne, I do pre-fry the potatoes when I am making fries.  I just wouldn't parboil them first, because I find that encourages them to break up.  ...

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was sure that you do "blanch in oil" and not in water. But of course. I can't imagine why one would pre-cook in water, for frites

Sigh. Where are those smug scientific bastards when we need them?