Frying french fries fast

[Kenny202]

Mrs has a little mobile restaurant and shes making fries to order. Cant seem to find a way of cooking even small batches in under 10 or 15 minutes. Shes gone to shoestrings and only has a couple of cm oil in a small aluminium pot. Shes using a standard low pressure gas regulator / single burner. Shes mobile so no electricity.

Too sporadic to make batches...need to cook to order. Do the thais do them in a wok or high pressure burner or something?

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

[Anythingleft?]

Parboil them and carry them whole (cold) cut them as required and that will reduce the frying times

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Get Real]

As a former restaurant, pub and nightclub owner I will tell you that it´s very positive to be mobile. That means you are using gas for cooking, which is the best way of cooking food.

With the right temperature of around 375F/190C degrees you should be able to get the cooking time for shoestring down to around 3-4 minutes and regular 10mm cut around 6-7 minutes. However, this is if you already have the temperature on the oil, which your wife probably turn off everytime to save gas. Also you can not have that temperature on with an empty pot or basket, due to that it will burn.

The best thing you can do is to invest in a gas driven fat fryer. You will find then for prices between 3000-6000 baht. There she can also regulate the heat lower when empty to save time by not turning off.

Lazada have quite a lot of them in Thailand. Below is the link:

https://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=gas+fryer&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4m.home.search.go.1125719cFrjN6h

 

I hope that will help you and your wife with her small kitchen. You are going to have the best french fries in the area anyway. Cheers!

[Get Real]

3 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

Parboil them and carry them whole (cold) cut them as required and that will reduce the frying times

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, okey, you can do that for a picknick out in the woods. It´s unfortunately going to be like reheated food, and that is not the quality anybody wants to be associated with running a small or big restaurant. 

[Anythingleft?]

Yeah, okey, you can do that for a picknick out in the woods. It´s unfortunately going to be like reheated food, and that is not the quality anybody wants to be associated with running a small or big restaurant. 

Erm, I disagree. Most better kitchens now pre cook the spuds, cool them to dehydrate them in a fridge then fry them.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Get Real]

23 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

Erm, I disagree. Most better kitchens now pre cook the spuds, cool them to dehydrate them in a fridge then fry them.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Please, Dude. Here it doesn´t matter how much you disagree, due to that you are in my kitchen now. The high class kitchens you are trying to put down in the dirt, prefer to only use fresh ingredients. Therefore they will never touch a product that has been pre cooked and then refrigerated. In that case they could just buy frozen food and re-heat it in the micro.

Todays medium to a little bit over that class kitchens usually use pre-made frozen french fries, which I would never touch with a stick. What they should do is soften up the potato cut in Pomme Chateau style with the outside left to keep the fantastic flavour of the potatoes. When they then get an order they quickly between 1-1,5 min run it in the fryer.

[Anythingleft?]

Please, Dude. Here it doesn´t matter how much you disagree, due to that you are in my kitchen now. The high class kitchens you are trying to put down in the dirt, prefer to only use fresh ingredients. Therefore they will never touch a product that has been pre cooked and then refrigerated. In that case they could just buy frozen food and re-heat it in the micro.

Todays medium to a little bit over that class kitchens usually use pre-made frozen french fries, which I would never touch with a stick. What they should do is soften up the potato cut in Pomme Chateau style with the outside left to keep the fantastic flavour of the potatoes. When they then get an order they quickly between 1-1,5 min run it in the fryer.

Haha read the wording in my post, no mention of using outsourced precooked products or denigrating kitchens of any kind. Enjoy your kitchen and have a great weekend.......

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Get Real]

37 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

Haha read the wording in my post, no mention of using outsourced precooked products or denigrating kitchens of any kind. Enjoy your kitchen and have a great weekend.......

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Thanks! It=s going to be a perfect weekend. You said to pre-cook the french fries or potato. Its ok though. You are a home cook, and I am a professional chef. I guess we will never agree, but feel free to ask the guess in any half descent restaurant in any place in the world what they prefer.

[notmyself]

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 10:23 AM, Anythingleft? said:

Parboil them and carry them whole (cold) cut them as required and that will reduce the frying times

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

 

Yep and you also get a better result when the potatoes have a high water content like most found in Thailand. When dump all the fancy words and can't do this and can't do that, you realize it is just an example of food preparation. Take rice as another example which is almost always parboiled rice. Is it precooked or simply prepared?

 

 

 

 

 

[KittenKong]

The proper way to cook chips has always been to do it twice, or even in three stages.

1. Fry in good quality oil suitable for deep frying (that is where most Thais go wrong) at 130-140C for about 6-7 minutes, but dont let them brown.
2. Then fry them again in hot oil at 180-190C until golden.

It's important not to do too many at one time as that will cause the temperature of the oil to drop too much. And dont overcook them in the initial stages.

Some people like to do an extra initial blanche in lightly boiling water for 2-3 minutes, in which case the next first stage in the oil can be shortened to 2-3 minutes. Others do a longer (5-6 minutes) first stage in water and then go straight to the final stage in oil at 180-190C. That is the way I was taught 50 years ago.

Either way, if you do the first step(s) properly then the chips can be transported cold like that and simply given the last fry at 180-190C immediately before eating, and they should be pretty good.

Lots of videos on the web that show exactly how to do this, with minor variations in the temperatures and timing, and the thickness of the chips will affect this also. The only real problems here are finding decent potatoes and decent oil. Most shops dont even say what variety the potatoes are, and it makes a big difference.

[worgeordie]

Some of the suggestions here are what a high class restaurant would do,

the OP's wife has a little mobile unit,and her customers are not expecting

haute cuisine,so the only way she can cater to the demand is pre fry the chips  

and pop them into the hot oil for 1-2 minutes,job done. P.S. OP tell her Makro

have a special on frozen chip 3 sizes 2 Kg  89 Thb, cheap as chips

regards worgeordie

[Kenny202]

Some of the suggestions here are what a high class restaurant would do,
the OP's wife has a little mobile unit,and her customers are not expecting
haute cuisine,so the only way she can cater to the demand is pre fry the chips  
and pop them into the hot oil for 1-2 minutes,job done. P.S. OP tell her Makro
have a special on frozen chip 3 sizes 2 Kg  89 Thb, cheap as chips
regards worgeordie

Yes what wordgeordie said :-) I am careful and take pride in my food but it is a roadside restaurant and thais seem to like shoestrings cooked very crunchy. We were doing crinkle cuts but they prefer the horrible thin ones...crop crop...

That said pre frying sounds like a great idea. Storage through the day would you put them in the cool box or???

What about if we have some left over. Pre fried left in the fridge for the next days use ok?

Appreciate all the info. Thanks guys

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Kenny202]

Btw...whats the best reasonably priced oil to use? I use peanut at home but overkill for thais.

Do some oils heat faster than others? I have used Canola for the last 10 years but read recently its pretty nasty. I never liked the palm oil and soya oil they use here but reading up on google it sounds pretty good

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[worgeordie]

16 minutes ago, Kenny202 said:

Yes what wordgeordie said ? I am careful and take pride in my food but it is a roadside restaurant and thais seem to like shoestrings cooked very crunchy. We were doing crinkle cuts but they prefer the horrible thin ones...crop crop...

That said pre frying sounds like a great idea. Storage through the day would you put them in the cool box or???

What about if we have some left over. Pre fried left in the fridge for the next days use ok?

Appreciate all the info. Thanks guys

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

If you do it that way the frys will be crunchy,and its good they want shoestring,as

quicker to fry,and a portion looks a lot, i would not  dump a load in a box,as the could

stick together,put them on some sort of trays to keep the separated a bit,pre fried is

the way to go,as nobody want to hang around 10-12 mins every time you fry a new batch.

Just do a test run to see if it works,

regards Worgeordie

[notmyself]

9 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Yes what wordgeordie said ? I am careful and take pride in my food but it is a roadside restaurant and thais seem to like shoestrings cooked very crunchy. We were doing crinkle cuts but they prefer the horrible thin ones...crop crop...

That said pre frying sounds like a great idea. Storage through the day would you put them in the cool box or???

What about if we have some left over. Pre fried left in the fridge for the next days use ok?

Appreciate all the info. Thanks guys

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

I wrote lots last evening but managed to lose it all.... here we go again.

 

I researched chips a few years back for a friend with a stall at the local market. She wanted to do pretty much the same as your partner though obviously in a static environment which makes it easier. Anyway.

 

Most of the potatoes found here have a very high water content which needs to be reduced and the best way I found was to steam the potatoes whole, and in the skin before cooling them for 24 hours in an airconned room. This helps maintain the structure while also slowing down the blackening. It also allows the spud to be peeled by hand meaning you throw away less of the flesh. What else? Take care of them because bruising can be an issue and avoid cooling to below 5C because both can cause blackening. Errr. Only hand peeling the skin leaves more of the cortex which contains much of the flavour and is why baked potato skins taste so yummy.

 

 

Using the method/s suggested by member KittenKong along with above will make smashing chips but is there a market for them? Seems to me that most SE Asians prefer the shoestring type fries as found in KFC or McDonald's.

 

On another note... I drive a saleng myself and wouldn't fancy sitting next to a pan of heated oil. TiT

 

 

 

 

 

[Kenny202]

Im using frozen shoestrings which i think are already precooked to some degree. Frozen or thawed theyre tuff as old boots. My problem is how to cook them fast and keep them crispy but thanks for ur reply

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[KittenKong]

10 hours ago, notmyself said:

Using the method/s suggested by member KittenKong along with above will make smashing chips but is there a market for them? Seems to me that most SE Asians prefer the shoestring type fries as found in KFC or McDonald's.

That's a good question. I've also seen Thais happily eat cold half-cooked chips, which I would not touch with someone else's bargepole.

However, the other day I came across this place in Siam Square, which was doing a roaring trade with entirely Thai clientele as far as I could see. I watched the stand for about 10 minutes and the queue never let up. They apparently do cook the right pototoes the right way:

 

 

[notmyself]

57 minutes ago, Kenny202 said:

Im using frozen shoestrings which i think are already precooked to some degree. Frozen or thawed theyre tuff as old boots. My problem is how to cook them fast and keep them crispy but thanks for ur reply

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

Keeping them crispy was spoken about here

 

These (as in what is found in Makro etc) type of frozen fries are almost totally cooked so the last fry is just heating them up and creating a crisp finish. After they are chipped they get immersed in an oily liquid with various flavours before being coated in sugar of some kind and then fried and flash frozen. All that is required is to fry them with the only variables being in what oil, how long for and at what temperature. Any oil you have mentioned will do and not really affect the outcome. How long depend on heat penetration which for frozen shoestring fries should be 2.5 - 3.5 minutes. Temperature should be between 170-180C and you need to be careful to keep the oil pretty close to that range because if it goes too low the fries absorb the oil and get leathery. If it gets too hot then the fries just massively overcook on the outside which gets chewy. 

 

Appliance integral thermometers are notoriously unreliable so maybe check with a kitchen thermometer? If that doesn't work then it's the product itself so try another product. Try out a couple and give them away for free one day to see which people prefer? Might be worth a punt and if the missus puts it down to market research it could be tax deductible.

 

To keep them crispy (in addition to above link) means keeping them away from moisture both in the atmosphere and the steam they will be emanating after being deep fried. Using a wire rack helps with the steam and something like an oven suspended over a few coals will give a dry and warm environment.

 

Something about fries in general. Fries are a huge market with huge investment yet you still often have to wait for fries in a KFC or McDonalds. Even they, with all their backing, can't keep fries crispy for long. 

 

 

 

[notmyself]

9 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

That's a good question. I've also seen Thais happily eat cold half-cooked chips, which I would not touch with someone else's bargepole.

 

Some hungry people out there lol

 

However, the other day I came across this place in Siam Square, which was doing a roaring trade with entirely Thai clientele as far as I could see. I watched the stand for about 10 minutes and the queue never let up. They apparently do cook the right pototoes the right way: [/quote]

 

Good location. How much?

 

 

 

 

 

[KittenKong]

Actually quite good value, I thought.

They do a large bag (900g) of chips, with a choice of 20+ free sauces, for 129B. Smaller quantities are also available for 80B and 100B.

 

I didnt try them as I was on my way to a dinner appointment, but I will certainly try them next time I'm there. Seems to be geared up as a franchise so it may appear in Pattaya before long, and I would expect it to do well there in the right location.

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with this business or anyone involved with it. I just think it seems like a good idea.

[notmyself]

I was joking going to ask in my previous post if you were a secret sponsor not paying TV to advertise.

 

Will likely be a franchise, as you say. I wonder where they get their potatoes from.

 

 

[KittenKong]

Their Facebook page mentions northern Thailand. I saw the bags of potatoes and they looked fresh and firm and good quality. Dont know about the variety though.

[notmyself]

8 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Their Facebook page mentions northern Thailand. I saw the bags of potatoes and they looked fresh and firm and good quality. Dont know about the variety though.

 

Yeh. I only got so far researching it but central or rather northern central and northern Thailand was the spot and would likely produce water laden potatoes. Cypriot and Egyptian potatoes are super opposite so the method of cooking is totally different because you want to retain much of the moisture.  The cortex is also much thicker but that is another thread.

 

Moisture ridden potatoes potentially make a better chip because it is easier to take away the water and create a crispy texture by doing so..... if you do it right.