Go to the Article: Finding Perfect French Fry Potatoes
This looks wonderful. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the sound effects, too! I prefer skinny fries. Do you think it will work if I cut the potatoes thinner - say 1/2-1/3 of the size you specify - assuming I can do the first cook in the SV bath?
You'll just need to cook the fries for a shorter time during the first blanching step.
Is there any technique too get the perfect potatoes for pomme souffle like the floating test?
What does the salt do? Or why specifically 12 and 9%
- originally posted by 5YAF
I know it's an old question, but I'll answer it. Just because.Adding salt increases the density of the water. From the simple Archimedes' principle, that means a stronger buoyant force.A dryer potato will contain less water per volume unit than a wet potato, hence it will be denser.At each salinity level, there will be a certain moisture content for the potato below which it will not float, but above which it will.Assuming you know the desired level of moisture content for the potato, you can determine the minimum water salinity necessary to achieve buoyancy.In this case a good potato achieves buoyancy in the interval (8.25;10.7).I guess the right value was determined by induction, but I would not rule out something more exotic, given the wackoes at chefsteps :)Aaaaand I was bored, so I did the math:For a mean salinity of 9.47 water has a density of 1071.292 kg/m^3 at 20°CThus the perfect potato has mean density in the range of 1071.292 +/- 9.7 kg/m^3After some google-fu I also found the empirical formula for potato dry matter determination, thus obtaining that:perfect potato starch dry matter = 12.21% +/- 2.107%You and I now know too much about potatoes for our own good.
hi, how much does the salinity change for the second tub when you first test with the 9% to the 12%? Can you use a refractometer to measure the starch content, If so what value should the sp. gravity be? Also is it better to buy the 1lb individual potatoe or the 5lb bag medium potatoes, regarding the starch content not the price?
What if I don't have a SV machine? Could I simmer them in a pot?
Yes, but you need to be very careful about the brine and boiling.
that was brilliant )
Absolutely brilliant!
Does this aproach also work for sweet potatoes?
I too would love to know this! I am not sure of the relevance or exactly what this refers to, but in Modernist Cuisine, the recipe for Pomme Soufflée found in volume 4 page 306 calls for aged potatoes with moisture content of 12-18%. I wonder if they actually meant starch dry matter as above.
To much free time on your hands, but thanks.
This is really amazing!! Better than the real thing that is found in Quebec!! By the way pontine is not Canadian but Québécois!! Someone from Vancouver would not even know what this is!!
Pam, You don't have to be from Québec to know what is poutine.
I'm from Belgium, and I know. ;-)
We use to put beef, pork or horse stew gravy on the fries, and top it with mayo.
Did you know French fries are actually a Belgian specialty?
Not sure if anyone noticed this, but there's a typo in the video. It says, "a crisp french fry begins with a potato neither to wet nor to dry". Should be "too", not, "to".
Another annoying French separatist. Pontine is Canadian.
*Too much
Another annoying Belgian separatist!*
*Disclaimer: just kidding
My husband and I are both on low sodium diets so brining is out for us. I will make them the good old fashioned way. Peel, wash, dry a bit and deep fry. Works for us.
You're not actually "brining" the potatoes, you're simply dunking them for a few seconds _in_ brine to bracket them in a range of specific gravity. "Brining" involves soaking in brine for significant periods of time.
I say we shut the site down.
If you are cooking things "the good old fashioned way" I'd venture a guess that this website won't have very many recipes or techniques of interest to you.
I'm from Florida and I know what pontine is..even the variants of it.
Don't speak to loudly on that. I grew up in Limburg and they might differ there. But when it come to pizza you don't go to Italy or New York. You go to a small Pizza place by the market in Liège. Forgot the name but I drove there often to get that ham and caper pizza!
Indeed. There is no coming back from this for Chefsteps. Chefsteps, you had a good run, but this is just to much for me.
I second Russell Whitaker here. You are not brining the potatoes. This is a test for the specific gravity of a potato. Testing the specific gravity allows you to learn something about what is inside the potato. Tests like this are also used to determine how much alcohol is in beer and wine.
Though, if you are strict about your low sodium diet, I doubt you have enough salt in your pantry to make the 12% solution...
Instead of making two brines, just make the first, test all potatoes, sorting out the approved ones. Then add 30g salt to the original brine, let the salt dissolve and test the potatoes approved in the first step.
Oh my God. Crazy over the top but as a scientist I love it. Cannot wait to bore the s$&t out of my kids! You guys are awesome!
How many fluid ounces in 1 kg?
disagree! a Brine is a liquid saturated or strongly impregnated with salt. Is that not what they have?
also the second step in making the French fry is to heat them in a brine once you figure out there brinablity.
No that is not what they have. They have a salt solution of a specific gravity. It's purpose is to provide a specific buoyancy to measure a potato's water content. The purpose is what defines. Here in Florida salt water swimming pools are popular. We jump in and call that swimming. Not brining ourselves.
You could refer to it as a brine solution, but in order to brine the potatoes they'd have to spend from 30 minutes to days in the solution. The potato pieces are not sponges that absorb the salt immediately, it takes time. Here you're dropping in your spuds for only a few seconds, it is impossible for the potatoes to absorb salt to any mentionable degree during that time, just as it's impossible to boil potatoes by dropping them into boiling water for mere seconds compared to 20-30 minutes. Different context, but similar concept.
1 kg of WATER (only water) is 1 litre of water. Basic metric. 1 kg / l of water fits in a 10cm x 10cm x 10cm (1 cubic decimeter) container.
So fries that sink in the 12% brine would be too crunchy and dry and wouldnt work for fries? What if i wait a week, will the potatoes become more dry or more wet?
Could i by waiting some time, convert potatoes that are too wet or dry into potatoes that have the ideal moisture content and then use them for fries?
Amazing videos and recipe guys!!
Thought I might wake this thread up - if anyone is out there!
Problem in the U.S. is lack of diverse food ingredients. Potatoes and apples are two good examples.
If you go into a supermarket in the UK or Europe there will be a choice of varieties. If you've never tasted an oven baked King Edward potato with butter and farmhouse cheddar cheese rammed into it I would dare to say that your culinary experience is limited.
But the real joke is the fuss they make in the States about apple pie. The key to this delicious dessert is cooking apples. They are gut wrenchingly sour. Add just enough sugar to almost balance this sourness and you have apple pie filling. Add a bit of cinnamon if you like. Bavarians are the masters of this. So where do I buy my cooking apples?
It depends on where in the US you live. If you're not in the North East you're likely going to be limited to Granny Smith's. That was a tough lesson to learn moving from Eastern Canada to California.
Air fry french fry how many minutes
There’s an error in the written instructions. “Potatoes that float in the weak brine are to (sic) wet…”. No, they’re too dry.
