Long Overdue but Not Overfried Potatoes

Pretty embarrassed it took me this long in life to learn this about frying potatoes.


January 5, 2022

I suppose the first order of business is, what the hell happened? I was supposed to be doing one new potato dish every week for a year. Last year. I did...seven. Seven whole weeks before life went off the rails for us late February / early March 2021 and let me tell you, folks this project was the first thing to slip out of sight and out of mind in the ensuing chaos. But briefly: we discovered dangerous mold in the house we rented here in San Diego, ended up staying in temporary housing for a couple months until the dust settled (literally), decided to buy a (different) house, accidentally went to Grenada (this is a true, fantastic story), did much remodeling of the new house in time for the baby, who arrived in September, and then we stopped sleeping for these many months hence. Anyway, that's why.

But now that the figurative dust has settled, I do wish to update this well-designed web site with new potato recipes somewhat more consistently. Probably not regularly, but definitely sometimes.

Which brings me to Long Overdue but Not Overfried Potatoes. If you've ever wondered why your fried potatoes suck compared to restaurant fried potatoes, which I have lost sleep over personally at times, the answer - and remedy - is below. "Long overdue" is both a reference to me learning this trick way later in life than I should have, and also because this update to my potato web site is bonkers behind schedule.

For Christmas, my wife got me Samin Nosrat's SALT FAT ACID HEAT, a book I've been wanting for a while because I'm a huge fucking fan of hers. When I watched the series on Netflix, I turned to my wife (or maybe I just said this in my head, I really can't remember) and said, "She's the new Bourdain." This is less trite than it sounds because I fucking loved Bourdain. A lot. Anyway, Samin is charming and smart and writes and instructs in such an accessible way that even a dingbat like me can understand the concepts she articulates. She's the inspiration for the recipe below.

In her section on the importance of cooking with fat, she makes an offhand remark about potatoes being absolutely delicous when fried in duck fat. What she literally wrote was, "Few things are tastier than potatoes fried in duck fat."

Well guess fucking what? I had duck fat in the fridge! I bought it a week ago for a brussels sprouts dish, as suggested by the NY Times Cooking Section. Probably the reason I never used it before is because the jar costs $12. But I'm 41 now and I can afford a jar of duck fat from time to time.

So I cooked the potatoes in duck fat and yes, can confirm, this is how you make crispy, perfect fried potatoes. I'm sure Samin can do a much better job than I did, but this is my web site and I'm in charge here, goddamit. Served alongside baked salmon and garlicly green beans. Nice.

Good to reconnect with you all. And by "you all", I mean the bots and algorithms that visit this site, but good to reconnect nontheless.

Ingredients


  • Some potatoes (probably red would be best, I used Russet because that's what we had on hand)

  • DUCK FAT

  • Herbs

Preparation


1. Cut up the potatoes into sizes you like. I quartered mine, as these were small to medium sized Russets.


2. I like to steam the potatoes first to get them near-cooked, but not fully cooked. It'll cut your time in half, and for some reason I just really love steamed potatoes.


3. Heat up some DUCK FAT in a pan!


4. Season, fry and finish cooking the potatoes until they're nice and perfectly crispy, just like you had at a restaurant.


5. Optional: Toss with herbs. I actually cooked some sage down in the duck fat first, then I tossed the finished potatoes with dill and parsely. The herbs freshen up the potaotes and the greenery is really pretty, IMHO.