French Fries from a jar !

13 years ago

Ok, I read this online. If you can potatoes, cut with a French fry cutter, in strips. Process in the pressure canner as required. Open, drain well, and fry in oil for French fries. It looks like a good idea to try. Add some Pickle Crisp to the jars, and they should stay more firm.

May be worth a try.

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Comments (14)

digdirt2
13 years ago
Do you think rinse before cooking as per usual??

Dave
Linda_Lou
Original Author
13 years ago
Yes, I would rinse and then drain well. Perhaps lay them out on a rack or broiler pan to drain for a bit.
Pat dry and fry.
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Hey, I actually know the answer to this one -- my mother used to do a lot of these for the freezer when I was little, and she always waited a while after they were dug before processing them -- I remember this as being a fall activity, something she tried to do after Halloween but before the holidays hit. Of course, with a house full of kids, we used a lot of french fries, hash browns, etc back then. Now, times and diet have changed, and I hardly ever have a french fry, most potatos are eaten either baked or boiled or in other dishes. The main reason for waiting a month is that freshly dug potatos have a higher moisture content, which results in a lot more danger of bubbling up when they hit the hot oil, and also causes them to not brown as well. A month of storage results in them losing a fairly significant amount of stored moisture under appropriate storage conditions. You can, of course, fry them right out of the ground, but they are better if you hold off a while.
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That cold oil method is something I saw on America's Test Kitchen, and I tried it, but wasn't particularly impressed. The fries weren't awful, and weren't particularly good either, but I didn't use frozen fries, so maybe that was a problem. Like others, I do not generally use frozen fries, I slice and soak, then dry, fresh potatoes. I haven't gotten that "4th of July" effect either, although if I dump a bunch in at once I can get a pretty good boil-up. I fry twice, that makes them nice and crispy. I do freeze potatoes for fries occasionally, when I have a huge excess in the garden. I used to freeze them every year so the girls had frozen fries as a snack they could just put in the oven after school, but now I don't expend freezer space since I have no teenagers at home. Here few McDonald's workers are black or Hispanic, but the McDonald's nearest us is next to the college campus and they have a rotating door of mostly bleary eyed, hung over, uncaring, gum popping and rude college aged Caucasian females who can never get an order right and heaven forbid you might actually order coffee, you'll get the evil eye in spades AND cold coffee. Whatever, I seldom go there, except for coffee and occasionally to feed the dog, and I've learned to go inside, not through the drive through. That way when the coffee is cold, I hand it right back to them. By the way, their new muffins? They are truly awful, bad enough that I have not been inclined to give them a second chance. Annie
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dgkritch
13 years ago
I wonder if most of the starches would remain in the canning water. I think I'd still rinse.
It does sound like a good idea!
And I happen to still have potatoes dug up last fall.....

Hmmmm...may have to try a few! I usually bake rather than fry, but I would think that would work too as long its done hot and quick.

Deanna
trh701
12 years ago
So . . . did anybody try this? What were the results?
digdirt2
12 years ago
So . . . did anybody try this? What were the results?

Way too soon. Potatoes won't be ready for harvest for a couple of weeks, then they have to dry and age, then be canned before this can be tried. Unless someone wants to use store bought potatoes but that would be a waste of time and energy.

Dave
dgkritch
12 years ago
Most of mine sprouted before I got to them so they became this years seed potatoes instead of canned. They were too wrinkled to peel! I should have a huge crop this year if the plants are any indication. A full 4 x 8 bed and looking wonderful.

Deanna
trh701
12 years ago
Sorry about the earlier post - I got so excited by this idea I didn't even look at the date the thread was started! Looking forward to hearing about this later in the season.
digdirt2
12 years ago
These do fry up great. But some canning tips we discovered between batch 1 and batch 2.

Batch 1 was mixed reds and yukons, aged 30 days from our garden, cut with the large size FF cutter and all the pieces packed - unfortunately over packed in the jars. Ended up with fair amount of mushy potatoes and many broke during processing. When opened, drained, rinsed and fried they were great but about 1/3 of the quart were broken into smaller pieces and so wasted.

Batch 2 was with store-bought Russets that had been matured well for several months in storage. Peeled, cut with FF cutter but this time we didn't include the slivers, edges, and small ends that the cutter leaves. Just the best fries pieces. And the jars were more loosely packed too. They processed great. No mush, no breaking, just several quart jars of nice looking french fries suspended in clear hot water with a bit of salt added.

They fry up a nice golden brown, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Definitely worth doing but with home-grown potatoes we suggest Russets and only after storage for a couple of months.

Hope this info helps.

Dave
val_s
12 years ago
Okay, my potatoes have matured and I'm ready to try the french fries with what I've learned but my question is:

Are you blanching the potatoes before you cut them into fries or after? And if you're blanching, how long? Or are you blanching at all?

Val
digdirt2
12 years ago
This is one of those situations where you choose. You are supposed to blanch, yes. Did I? Yes with the first batch. No, with the second batch.

Second batch was much better but whether that was from the different variety, the looser packing, leaving out the slivers or the not blanching I can't say. Probably a combo of all.

I will say that if these are potatoes you grew this summer then they are not nearly sufficiently aged yet. And that makes a BIG difference. They can be canned in quarters now but they won't hold up as french fries IME.

Dave
val_s
12 years ago
Okay - I harvested the Pontiac Reds on August 10 and the Kennebec (white) on the 22nd of August.

How long do I have to wait? I've been waiting for it to be a month like you told me in another post and now I've got to wait even longer if I want to do fries....I think I'm going to cry! :-)

Val
digdirt2
12 years ago
Maybe in January? :) Seriously, it all depends on air temps/humidity in the storage, etc. and it is a lot drier and hotter here. But try doing a few jars of the Kennebecs now and see what you think of the end result. You might be content with the results.

If not let them age till say Thanksgiving then try them again. Either way they will still be usable since you can always boil and mash them or slice and fry them.

But the best results I have had with the fries is using store bought which means they were last year's harvest and stored for 6-8 months before going to market.

Dave
pqtex
10 years ago
Dave, can you clarify the blanching issue with the French cut potatoes? Since it is recommended to hot pack potatoes for canning, how did you do these if you didn't blanch them? I want to do the French fries in a jar again, but I don't want them as soft as they turned out last time.

Thanks...

Jill
diane5770
10 years ago
Hi All,
So who tried this and had success? I'm a French Fry freak so this would be my dream come true. I mean can you say comfort food? ;) What kind of potatoes worked for everyone? Did you find early potatoes worked better or worse? Russets or Reds?
I can food for my parents, my two sons and their girlfriends and of course my husband and myself and the occasional friend. So these type of outside the box canning ideas really appeal to me.
Would love some feedback so please feel free to email me.
Thanks,
Diane

French Fries from a jar !

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Linda_Lou
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French Fries from a jar !

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Linda_LouOriginal Author

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Linda_Lou
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