Air fryers use a fraction of oil compared to frying the fries, and they result in fries that are crispy and browned to perfection. Is peanut oil or beef tallow better for frying homemade french fries? When the oil's hot, start frying the potatoes in batches again, cooking until the fries are golden and crisp. It would achieve 2 goals: slightly longer fat life & slightly less high heat activities – foam over. https://www.foodsforbetterhealth.com/best-oil-for-french-fries-32963, Best Oil for French Fries: Know Which Ones to Use, https://www.foodsforbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Best-Oil-for-French-Fries-1-150x100.jpg, Warner, J., “Corn Oil Used Most Often for French Fries,” WebMD, January 19, 2010, “Oil, vegetable, industrial, canola for salads, woks and light frying Nutrition Facts & Calories. I love it for stir-fry dishes in particular. A larger pot could fix the problem, but judging by the amount of foam-up, it would need to be significantly bigger. It varies by specific oil, but pressed oils can have a lower smoke point—making them more apt for quick and flavorful saute. Transfer to a flattened brown paper bag that has been lined with paper towels, and let cool for a few … First, a consistent temperature. Use a medium high flame throughout the cooking process. Coconut oil is a healthy choice. Homemade French Fries: Choosing the Best Oil. At the outset, we have a decision to make: what oil should we use to fry our fries? Heat and temperature are not the same thing! Thx. Next, heat the oil to 300°F in a pot and fry them for four to five minutes. Twice-fried potatoes make the best French fries. Stir to keep the potatoes separated for a minute or two, then fry until crispy. Home > Food Advice > Best Oil for French Fries: Know Which Ones to Use. And as it turns out, fresh oil isn't the best oil to use for french fries. If you're going to make french fries at home, you're probably going to use fresh cooking oil straight from the bottle. Does tallow have more heat in it and can it therefore cook the fries a little more quickly or thoroughly before they begin to get soggy? In a recent article, I break down my take on the best oil to fry frozen french fries in (yes, they work great in a deep fryer!). The youth know not what they miss. Try adding 1/2 cup bacon fat to the peanut oil as recommended by Cook’s Illustrated to give the fries the meaty flavor the beef tallow gives. Additionally, restaurant fries are so crispy because, among other things, they use old oil continuously. Thus, the oils that best meet that test are canola oil, refined peanut, sunflower, or corn oil. Olive oil an excellent choice for frying french fries since it has a high smoke point. Our Review of the Best Cookware Sets on the market Our Cookware Buyers Guide . Buying guide for Best deep-fry thermometers. I would not be surprised by a high smoke point, I just have no idea where the average consumer can get the stuff. I actually recommend 325° in both posts, but as you saw in the graph, things got a bit hectic in the kitchen and one pot got up to 350° for the initial fry. Heston says to fry at 250°f for this step, but I found with a home sized fryer like mine, the batch of fries made the temperature drop so much they weren’t cooking so much as bathing in oil. Double-fried french fries give you the best of both worlds. We like using heart-healthy oils like safflower oil and rice bran oil (which can be heated to almost 500° F). “…the very dangerous possibility of burning your house down if your tallow were to bubble over into the flame when you add the potatoes means I cannot do anything but recommend the peanut oil—at least until the foaming problem is resolved.”. However, be sure to check if it is pomace oil in case you want to heat it. You know how a can of peanuts has a little warning on the back that says something like “allergen information: contains peanuts” or how even something without peanuts might say “processed in a plant that also processes peanuts”? But if it works for you, then good man! See my answer above to Kenyoni. I realized this was why commercial deep fryers immersed the heating element in the oil, rather than heating the pot. It may not be the most convenient oil—though expensive, it is readily available on Amazon— and people will take that into account. In your Jan. 10 “Golden and Crisp” article you suggest an initial low of 325 but in your Jan. 19 “Choosing the Right Oil” you suggest a low of 350. This provided most of the flavor benefits of beef tallow with none of the drawbacks. But I have never personally seen refined avocado oil. Pressed oils like extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and nut oils are made by squeezing the oil from these luscious foods and are therefore excellent for dishes where robust flavor is desired. I recommend looking at a good smoke-point chart like this one from Serious Eats. Great experiment and article. Happy frying! Thanks for sharing and happy cooking! Use a mandoline to slice the potatoes thinly. Good to know! I’m afraid duck can’t quite handle the high heat for the deep fry! With this in mind, the healthiest fat for deep frying is a little different to the best oil for stir-frying or general cooking. They contain high amounts of monounsaturated fats, good ratios of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids, and have a high smoke point. That’s a fantastic journey! Home rendered fat has a lot more proteins left in it than the stuff purchased through, well, rendering companies. I would make 20-30 pounds at a time for parties, holding the fries in water until they were ready to be fried, and keeping the cooked fries under a commercial warming lamp. French fried potatoes fried in refined peanut oil taste like frenchfries. I kept my old commercial fryer on a wheeled stainless steel cart that also held the warming lamp. All the rendered animal fat I’ve ever used to fry will foam up at first, but after a few rounds it will stop. Cottonseed oil has a high smoke point of 450°F and is low in trans fats. According to the USDA, refined peanut oil is not a peanut allergen—and you know what sticklers they can be about safety and labeling! This is a thought I have considered! We lower fried chickeninto oil that’s about 350°, which leaves a nice cushion between the oil and its smoke point. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. The double-fried method is a two-part episode: Instead of just tossing them into the fryer at high heat and hoping for the best, you “blanch” them in oil at 325 degrees for five to seven minutes (or until they’re starting to show color around the edges). Slice the potatoes into thin sticks. Also, if you continue the research, the tasters should not know which fries were fried in which oil. Bring oil temperature up to 375 degrees F. Return the par-fried potatoes to the oil in batches and cook a second time for 4 minutes until golden and crispy. Pioneers fried in beef fat, Mcdonald’s used to fry in beef fat—shouldn’t we try frying in beef fat, too? Serve as soon as possible So why would you settle for average, oven-baked, store-bought, crinkle-cut fries? The Best Oil for Deep Frying French Fries The best oil for deep frying french fries is any neutral oil with a high smoke point. Those fries were the bomb, way better than anything in recent memory. The best oil for frying frozen french fries is one that can take high heat & doesn’t alter the flavor of the fries. I don’t use the french fry cutter any more, now that I no longer make fries for large groups. One time, the pot caught fire when the fries were added and the oil started spitting. Heat capacity is the amount of heat energy that a substance can hold. Just thoughts, and maybe a suggestion for future article? After 10 minutes, the heat was re-ignited under the oil. If only, if only! About this time, I also switched to fresh-cut fries. I’d really be interested in the results using avocado oil. When fries are frozen, oil will heat up and cook the skin first which results in a crispier fry with a softer layer in the middle. Now people don’t have to try it themselves and burn themselves down. It is a bit more expensive, but will do a fine job. What was most interesting is how much better refined oils work than unrefined. These were rinsed, dried, and tossed with a little cornstarch to ensure crispness. Read more about the best oils for frying. If you find some, try it out and let us know! But because of the burners being turned off for a few minutes each time, the temperature data on the beef tallow became skewed.When we killed the heat and moved it off the burner, the temperature was allowed to fall quite rapidly, as it was not supported by the flame without interruption as was the peanut oil pot. All rights reserved. If the beef tallow makes the better fries, then it is the better oil for making fries. 2. Cut the fries to the correct size and shape. This enormous 1lb+ bag of chips costs only $1.68 and provides highly moreish fries. When you re-test the tallow could you include duck fat in your test? Of all the oils, flaxseed oil contains the highest ratio with of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids (1:0.3). That process could hinder the bubbling over as well. Since I missed the whole Instant Pot® train, I had to make at least one air fryer recipe while they're still hot. Maybe you can have a French fry tasting party. The fries were removed and spread on wire racks, and the heat turned off under the oil. But not you—you are not average, and neither is your food. Oils that consist mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fats are best for deep frying because they’re the most stable at high heat. Rather than use the tiny 3¾ ounce shaker, buy the one pound box and pour it into a Cambro shaker with a green (96SKRLF407 superfine) or beige (96SKRLD406 fine) lid. Nowadays, I no longer buy the blended shortening. For frying thicker cuts, see "Make French Fries," under Related eHows. Fry for only 2-4 minutes, or until they have reached desired level of brownness and crispness. Thawing fries out, on the other hand, will make the fries soggy before being placed into the oil. If hydrogenated oils are bad for health, then what’s the best oil for french fries? What about using refined avocado oil? According to the Food Republic blog, the best oils to use are the ones called neutral-tasting oils, and they include refined versions for peanut, canola, vegetable, sunflower, safflower, and a … Russets make the best french fries. Dip the potato slices into the batter, and gently place them in the skillet. While I wouldn’t recommend eating French fries and doughnut holes seven days a week, properly deep fried foods may not be as bad as you think. Canola oil can lower triglycerides and cholesterol levels. I’ve read that McDonald’s used a 93% tallow, 7% cottonseed oil mix. Drain them on paper towels. Having a great oil pump spray is fantastic to help lightly oil foods and keeping them healthier and less greasy. Now that you are aware of the best oil for french fries and easy recipes to make them, you can try these at home and enjoy them every occasionally. Cut the potatoes into thin slices and soak them in cold water. Peanut oil has a good amount of omega-6 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and monounsaturated fatty acids, and thus, takes good care of cardiovascular health. We prepared two equal weights of cut potatoes that had roughly the same surface area. Peeled or unpeeled? Plus, when an oil starts to smoke, its flavor changes, tasting burnt, and it transfers those flavors to your food. The smaller quantity of oil they used only took five or ten minutes to reach 350° and recover the temperature after fries were added. The whole point is to make fries that taste good, and a boil over with peanut oil is just as dangerous. Fry them twice. Directly related to this: If you haven’t already, I highly recommend two episodes of the most recent series of journalist Malcolm Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” podcast, which are all about McDonald’s – and others’ – abandonment of beef tallow for fries in the US, why it happened, and how it’s recently been discovered that, while their move was well-intentioned, it may have been about as dubious as it gets. We quickly turned off the flames under the tallow pot each time the bubbling tallow threatened to reach the top of the pot. Also, none of the testers knew beforehand which fires were which. Although sunflower oil contains both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, refined sunflower oil is high in monounsaturated fats and oleic acid. A quality deep-fry thermometer is an absolute must to make sure the oil is always at the right temperature. The final color of the cooked french fries was similar, as was the crispness of the two versions. When people talk about oils, they often refer to them as having a “neutral” flavor, and that’s what we want: a flavor that will not taint the potatoey goodness of the french fries. How healthful an oil is for frying depends on when it breaks down and how long a person heats it for. There are many frying oils on the market, all of which claim to be the best for healthy deep frying. To test the thermal, we quantitatively measured the heat capacity of the oils to determine which will cook our french fries faster. It also doesn’t hurt to get one that is reasonably priced too since deep fryers use a lot of oil. To one we added a weight of rendered beef tallow (1,597 grams), to the other we added an equal weight of peanut oil. Food Allergy Research & Education website, touted by aficionados as being far superior. Duck fat fries using russets are really good.I do not deep fry just shallow saute. When you make homemade french fries, you have lots of options: what type of oil, what type of vegetable, baking or frying. (Let me say that I am being polite in this post.). Thanks. Hopefully my Walmart carries the fryer you going to report back on. It all comes down to proper frying. One man’s lifetime journey through the world of french fries. Drain on paper-towel lined baking sheets, and salt immediately. Interesting story, isn’t it! Like other healthy oils, soybean oil is also low in saturated fats, contains good amounts of polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, and has no trans fat. Then, drain the potato sticks and allow them to dry off completely. I’ve only used home-rendered tallow. It is low in heart-protective alpha-linolenic acid compared to soybean oil. Let’s talk about all these important details to make your air fried foods delicious and successful. So, while you can enjoy this versatile tuber deep-fried, remember that there are healthier ways to eat potatoes. This fryer held about 20 pounds of fat and took a half an hour to reach 350°, a decided disadvantage. For a long time, making french fries seemed like an art mastered only by McDonald’s. I see that you “dried” your fries, but insufficient drying could be the cause of your tallow foaming issue. So if your allergist says it’s a no-no, try substituting corn oil. We should. We all love French fries, but deep down inside, we also know that they’re unhealthy in one way or another. It is not only one of the best oil for french fries, but also the best one for cooking and sauteing, or just add it to your salads. We got hold of an oil scientist, Dr. Oscar Pike of Brigham Young University, and posed this quandary to him. So, to settle the question for our future posts, we’ll try a batch fried in the modern standard, refined peanut oil and a batch fried in standard of yore, beef tallow. Using this method, they do turn out to be crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle, but it also adds a lot of time to the process. What about the comment above regarding allergies? Regional favorites are fried and seasoned with chili, cheese, garlic, rosemary or malt vinegar. Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Knowing your frying oils will help you make an informed decision. Flavor is actually really good but crisp texture is lacking. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). It was one of their signature dishes. Conventional wisdom here prevails, and we can safely say that high-heat peanut oil is the best oil for frying your homemade french fries! Don’t use unclarified butter as it can release moisture that can cause your fries to get soggy. I will continue to learn about it and see if we can’t clear this up even more! If you can find refined avocado oil, I’m sure it would work great, but most avocado oils—valued for their flavor as well as their nutritional worth—have a smoke point right at 375°F (191°C) (depending on manufacturer and process). But alas like many good things the old McDonald fries and this fine eatery are gone. Popcorn salt is also best for french fries. Dissolve the sugar in warm water and place the potato sticks into the bowl. From French fries to onion rings, chicken fingers to chicken wings, many of the tastiest foods are deep-fried. Fries fried in peanut oil are delicious and everything we expect from a good fry, homemade or not! I imagine the McD’s mix was based on cost more than smoke-point alteration. Related: Is Canola Oil the Same as Vegetable Oil? Long accepted as a standard deep frying oil because of its neutrality, high smoke point, and ready availability (on the bottom oil shelf of most grocery stores), peanut oil is the choice of home fryers as well as chains such as Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Things You'll Need * tongs * potatoes * long cooking forks * peanut oil * deep-frying thermometers. Yields: 8 servings Prep Time: 3 hours 0 mins Cook Time: 0 hours 30 mins Total Time: 3 hours 30 mins Ingredients. Available in fifty pound cubes, it was 50% beef tallow and 50% vegetable shortening, and solid at room temperature. I love fries, I love frying food, I love my thermoworks instant read thermometer, but I suck at it. It contains antioxidants like vitamin E, and it can lower cholesterol levels. Corn oil is an unhealthy vegetable oil that contains a high amount of saturated fats. Why NOT place french fries on paper towels. Do you ever do deep fried steak or pitch fork steak if so what oil would you try or mix of oils for flavour. The oil you use should not change the flavour and aroma of the fries. Place it in the pan, turn the heat to medium-high, and wait until the temperature reaches the desired setting according to the chart below. (As a matter of interest, pure peanut oil is so free of impurities—i.e. Here are seven of the best oils for french fries. I have often used corn oil for a fish fry, and recommend it heartily as a backup for peanut every time. The smoke point is a little too low for my liking. Sprinkle fries with sea salt and dive in! If you were to touch them both, they would both start to burn you rather quickly, but the water would do far more damage, because water has a higher heat capacity than stone. To accomplish this, we cut equal length pieces out of potatoes and cut those into 1 cm x 1 cm fries. Plus, I don’t know if duck fat will have the same foaming reaction when used for the initial blanch. Amazon.com shows all 4 types, (Pure, Virgin, X-Virgin, Refined) ranging from USD $35-$60/gal. If I do and the results are newsworthy, you can be sure I’ll write it up on the blog here! Cook for 15 minutes. Crisco Pure Canola Oil. Any highly-flavored seed oil will not work well either, as their impurities lower the smoke point. By adding the peanut oil, we lowered the surface tension of the overall batch enough that the foam was NO problem! This is the best oil for deep frying because it adds a bit of flavor and has a high smoke point. #RecipeoftheDay: @guyfieri‘s Double-Fried French Fries It is wonderful stuff, but hard to get in gallon jugs, at least where I shop! Suzanne, With high omega-3 fatty acids, canola oil is an unsaturated fats oil. Crisp on the outside, soft in the middle. Such a great article! Have you tried rice bran oil? You want to deep fry foods at 350-375°F. Best Oil to Fry Frozen French Fries. well, we did recommend against using the more dangerous oil. Nice catch, though! See the reply above to Kenyoni. What we hope to find is whether or not the beef tallow has a higher, lower, or equivalent heat capacity when compared with peanut oil. We need to consider smoke point and flavor profile. What we don’t want from our cooking oil is something that will tinge the fries with an unwanted flavors—I’m looking at you, metal-fish tasting canola oil! Taste from one food does not transfer to another, good smoke point, oil does not boil over, long lasting, and cheaper than peanut oil on Amazon if buying Nutriva Organic by the gallon. All rights reserved. There are lots of different kinds of potatoes, each with unique properties. It has a great smoke point and a good flavor. Potatoes are cut, chopped and fried as hash browns, french fries, steak fries, sliced potatoes and stir-fry cubes. We lower fried chicken into oil that’s about 350°, which leaves a nice cushion between the oil and its smoke point. The homemade french fries were strained, salted, and set out for tasting. Drain the excess oil on paper towel. I would think mixing the two might be an excellent compromise, and reduce foaming considerably. The first thing is you need the right potato. The ideal temperature is around 350–375°F (176–190°C). I’m so tired of soggy fries and am an absolute fry nut. BUT BE SAFE. In conjunction with his advice, we diluted the rendered beef fat with 10% peanut oil. We’re here to travel with you through the realm of critical temperatures to a glorious, golden-brown fry-vana. The superfine is REALLY fine and hardly anything comes out even with vigorous shaking, so I use the beige lid and shake carefully. Drain, season, and serve. We hit an unexpected problem with the beef tallow. This means your oil would be burning at the same temp as your fry cook. When you make homemade french fries, you have lots of options: what type of oil, what type of vegetable, baking or frying. And it doesn't get more classic than For the fries to absorb the right amount of oil and fit well … Also, use a light dusting of popcorn salt on the chips rather than regular salt. If they're cut thin enough, they can be fried once to a golden crispness. But butter contains dairy sugars and proteins, which can burn at high heat and this makes it a poor choice for deep frying. Add to the safety issues the fact that peanut oil is easy to find, whereas beef tallow must either be purchased from a specialty vendor (or a very well stocked butcher), or rendered at home—a time-consuming process, the smell of which will only make you want a cheeseburger the whole time—and peanut oil is the clear winner. You’ve got to be kidding. I, of all people, am not one to shrink from a better tasting oil, but the safety is important here. Way to go! Good writeup. )”, Great info on fried Drain the water and let them dry off. A shame, because pan fired duck fat potatoes really are great stuff. No wonder I like Five Guys french fries best. Double-frying the potatoes will make their exterior crispy and perfectly golden. Per the internet, Americans consume 29lbs of French … What is the best oil to use for pan fried potatoes? Meanwhile, sift flour, garlic salt, onion salt, regular salt, and paprika into a large bowl. Plus, with a 90% beef fat ratio, there was no lack of good, rich tallow flavor. This uses the entire potato with no waste, and all slices are the same size, which ensures even cooking. Happy cooking! You don’t want the fry to colour. It just has to form a crust. The ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 in canola oil is 1:2. Next, heat oil in deep-fryer to 375°F. I personally think that canola oil, while neutral at room temp, tastes (and smells) terrible when cooked at high temps, so I wouldn’t use that one, but that may be subjective. The first fry is at 290F for around 5 minutes, until the fries start to appear dry, then I freeze for a minimum of 1 hour, and then I fry for just under 2 minutes at 375F. Everybody enjoys a plateful of hot, yummy french fries. Case in point: cold pressed peanut oil can hardly be used for cooking at all before it starts to smoke and burn, while refined peanut oil has a smoke point of 450°F (230°C). Some of the more healthful oils include olive oil, avocado oil, and canola oil. Old Oil . Here's what you should know. What was most interesting is how much better refined oils work than unrefined. You can also use canola or safflower oil. You can buy it from local butchers, at farmers’ markets, or online. You should practice moderation when eating deep-fried foods like french fries. It should also be able to withstand heat. If true, what was the reasoning? We need an oil that can handle the high heat of deep frying and that will give us good tasting fries. A cardiologist in Minnesota searches through the basement of his childhood home for a missing box of data from a long-ago experiment. Sort your potatoes, setting aside the high moisture potatoes to be used for another dish that isn’t fried. How to make these french fries your own: Experiment with potato varieties. Benefits of Canola, Peanut, Corn and Sesame Oil, McDonald’s Fries: Ingredients, Nutrition & Recipes, http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100119/corn-oil-used-most-often-french-fries, https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/7947/2, Figs: Nutrition Facts, Health Benefits, and How to Eat Them, Healthy Christmas Cookies: 5 Christmas Cookie Recipes, What Is Cherimoya? I’ll pay much closer attention to my temperature control during both fry stages and I think it should pay dividends. Stir in some water gradually. I’m not going to lie, I’d never heard of the pitchfork steak fondue. This was now perfection. This is the best-frozen fries. Some fresh fry chains use olive oil (Elevation Burger comes to mind) and peanut oil (Five Guys). 5 lb. Added a unique taste to their fries. When cooking foods in a deep fryer, its best to use high temperatures to prevent oil from penetrating the food, which will yield super greasy grub. One of the important thing in choosing the best oil for deep frying is getting one with a neutral flavor. (Don’t try that at home!). But home fryers of the time still had the heating element in the base, so they heated the pot, which then heated the oil. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Maybe get the good properties of both? The Flavor Well, actually, it’s the lack of flavor. But that much tallow is going to cost. We started with two cast-iron pots of the same size from the same maker. But….. they are just as yummy as dad’s. Why not compare more normal oils against peanut oil – such as Vegetable oil, Canola, etc., etc..?