Go to the Recipe: Crispy Potato “Croissants”
Wow! What a delightful spin on the Potato Pavé. Cannot wait to serve these to guests.
Would there be any downsides to taking this up to the "chill out in the fridge" stage and then frying them a day or two later?
What is the volume of the muffin tins you used for your tests that the weight of potato stacks are associated with? What weight/volume of room temp water do each of your cocotte, standard muffin, and jumbo muffin vessels carry? Knowing that will help me scale my potato stack weight accordingly for my first try.
No downsides. They can hang out in the fridge for up to two days, no problem!
Do yourself a big favor and buy some gloves before using a mandolin:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MXUHHGK
I agree a great spin on potatoes. Look forward to trying it (maybe at Christmas dinner) If I use a 12 cup tin is the cook time the same? Seems the smaller pinwheel will take lest time to cook. Target temp? Thanks.
the video is down
Thanks for pointing this out, Daniel! Should be all fixed.
I’d also like to know the volume. Just a guess: It seems like standard muffin pans hold about 1/2 cup of water in each cup, and jumbo holds about 1 cup.
Can these be fried and then held for a couple of hours at room temperature and then reheated in an oven for service? I'd like to try these for a dinner party and it would allow me to pay attention to the other elements of the meal, a la minute, if I didn't have to be deep frying at the time of service.
I haven't tried this, but I imagine that par-frying or pre-frying, then refreshing in a hot oven would work. I can't speak to the degree of crispiness compared to deep frying, but I'd wager that you would get pretty close. I would look to this activity for initial guidance on reheating: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/air-fried-frozen-french-fries
I would even dial the temperature down slightly (to say, 425-450F) to account for the larger size relative to a frozen french fry. My best advice is to do a tester and see. If refreshing in the oven doesn't work for whatever reason, then picking these up in a fryer takes roughly 2 to 3 minutes (which isn't ideal for your situation, but also isn't too bad).
Good luck!
Hi Steve,
Yes, a smaller size will take less time to fry. I'd estimate 6 to 8 minutes for a 12-cup tin size. As for target internal temperature, I don't really specify one in the recipe. But if I had to give one, I would say at least 190F internal, which would guarantee that every part of the "croissant" is warmed through.
Hope this helps!
Here are the muffin tins I used for testing: https://www.usapan.com/texas-muffin-pan-6-cup-1265tm
The cup dimensions are listed as 3.688 x 2.5 x 1.781 inches in each cup. That gives us roughly 16.42 cubic inches, or 1.12 cups (9.09 oz). So you're looking at roughly a little over a cup per tin.
Unfortunately I can't provide room temp water weight data for you right now. But hopefully this gives you enough of a start.
Do the potatoes go covered or uncovered in the fridge?
No one in my family deserves this amount of work
So freaking good. I was slow in my process the first time because of scale and issues with the mandolin. The trailer was slightly thicker slices that crinkled in the water bath. That may have made it more difficult to roll, but the wavy look was an impressive improvement I think.
You need an audience who don't mind dinner being a little late due to technical fussiness. Fantastic recipe, but wouldn't recommend one person make this alone. We really needed two to properly roll the rosettes and keep them from coming apart; one person north and south rolling, another person east and west to keep from springing apart. I had all the equipment, will say that our le Crueset Wok wasn't so great on the Control Freak because the contact foot is too small for the volume to have good heat transfer, had to switch to a Saucier which worked a lot better. Visual stunner though and super tasty. My son, whom I tasked with this part of the Xmas meal (with plenty of my help) said the next time He's going to try the plain "pavè"...seems easier to complete. I'd make it again, but understand better the labor involved. Oh and don't use a serrated knife to split, much better and easier with a thin meat slicer in a single motion against the grain of the potato leaves.
Oddly I don't have a muffin pan, lol. So I used a mini-loaf pan. I was actually surprised at how easy these were to do. Had to play with the thickness a little, but once I got into a rhythm it went smoothly. Would absolutely recommend.
Hi Tim, thank you very much for the detailed answer and the link to the bakeware used! I couldn't ask for a better response. Your listed dimensions are better, because they give me the volume I need and know I know what the cross section of the cookware you used is so I can troubleshoot and problems as quantity vs. cross-section.
Nice one! Going to give it ago go for sure. One thing I'll do that's not in the recipe is add a little sodium bisulphate to the soaking liquid. It's a crutch I've been using a long time now when working with potatoes to take the fear out of that browning you mention. Going to also try taking each oll before cutting and wrap in plastic wrap to keep thing tite before cutting them in half. Can't wait to try this.
I opted for the smaller 12 cup muffin pan and cut the potato portion in half and they came out well, one unraveled on me, but it was delicious as a snack. This size worked well for a starter. One tip I learned from this was just before cutting them in half, look at the sides and use your finders to center the smaller slices of potatoes in the middle, otherwise you can end up with disproportional pieces.
Tim, love this recipe. It adds sophistication and wow factor at any dinner party. Like other dinner party worthy recipes on this site, they and this service would benefit by a “do-ahead strategy section”, to accommodate home chefs that need to pull these amazing meals off on their own. I’ve tried the recipe three times now and it seems to be somewhat forgiving with some patience. I experimented with a do-ahead strategy: (a) un-mold the croissants and kept in air tight container in refrigerator for 2 days; (b) par-fried croissants for 4-5 minutes; (c) let cool and drained and placed in air tight container for 8 hours; (d) they are bit soft at this point and put them into the fryer for two minutes to crisp back up and served immediately. Very crispy and tender! Conclusion: anything you can start 2-3 days ahead is great for a multi course meal. Doing the first par-fry in the morning or night before, reduces the active cooking time at meal time to 2 minutes which is just fine. The only thing I noted in my method is that it took 18 minutes for my wok setup to come to 325F. In my case, I would have to turn the burner on the deep fry wok at the start of the previous course to preheat to cooking temperature . Not a big deal. Thank-you Tim for great contribution.
Is duck fat instead of clarified butter ok?
I have found the Breville Control Freak to be useful in getting fry oils to temp so that they are standing by while I do other things. And has the benefit of not occupying the stove — if you have counter space. For ventilation/grease removal, I’ve added a countertop AirHood to manage the air-grease, at least a little. (Shown here managing fine dust from grinding wheat.)
Yes, duck fat will work great!
