Some of London’s top chefs have shared the secret to perfecting the crispiest French fries, which they happen to serve at their restaurants. Chefs Will Murray and Jack Croft are the brains behind London restaurants Fallow, Fowl, and Roe, and are now sharing some of their behind the scenes secrets directly from their kitchens.
They set up HERD to share recipes and cooking tips home cooks can use right at home, making chef-standard food. In a TikTok video from July, Will shared the chefs’ secret for perfect crispy French fries. The secret? Choosing the correct variety of potato.
The chefs use agria potatoes, a late-season, floury potato that’s incredibly versatile when it comes to different types of cooking. It’s a popular choice for frying, boiling, baking, and of course, mashing.
Will said: “This particular variety has a high starch content and a very low water content, perfect for crispiness.”
When boiling, Will adds a spoonful of baking soda, which will help the fries to fluff up. Adding salt to the boiling water will help season the potatoes and boost their flavour.
Once boiled, Will adds a sprinkling of potato starch, which helps to form the crispy layer on the outside of the chips. To give the fries even more flavour, when frying in oil, add a helping of duck fat.
The video has been viewed over a massive 992,300 times, receiving 45,300 likes and 407 comments. One person said: “I dust mine in cornflour then air fryer they’re full of crunchy tiny bubbles.”
Qalavius wrote: “The secret to crispy fries is boiling them and corn starch, that’s it.”
Rodel commented, “Perfect fries is when u double fry it, traditional way,” while Nikolas said, “The secret to great French fries is the variety of potatoes and good fresh oil.”
Cindy replied: “These look soooo good!! I’ll definitely try the recipe.”
If you want to try recreating these crispy fries at home, this is what you’ll need.
Ingredients
- Agria potatoes
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Potato starch
- Oil
- Duck fat
Method
Peel the potatoes and trim the sides and ends. Cut the potatoes lengthways into uniform fries, roughly one centimetre squared.
Soak them in cold water to remove any excess starch. Wash the fries a few times until the water runs clear.
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add a teaspoon of baking soda and teaspoon of salt. Boil the fries until just tender. You can test one of the fries by breaking them apart without snapping.
Remove and drain the fries from the pan before placing in a bowl. Dust them lightly with potato starch.
Place the fries onto a baking tray and put them in the fridge or freezer to cool completely. Once the fries are cooled, heat the oil in a deep-bottomed pot. Add some duck fat.
Heat the oil to around 140℃. Drop in the fries and par-fry them or blanch them, constantly stirring until they have ruffled edges.
Remove the fries from the pot and lay them on a tray, freezing or chilling them again. For the final fry, heat the oil up to 190℃, frying the fries until golden and crispy.
Finish with a sprinkling of salt. Tuck in and enjoy!
