When it comes to burger night (yes, we have a burger night) in my house, the default side dish is french fries. Almost everyone loves burger night with the exception of my daughter. As she once loved burgers, she now refuses to eat them, and that’s fine. My wife and son are a plain cheeseburger group, while the my other son is a plain burger stacked with bacon. Me, it doesn’t matter. I typically go with whatever I have around me whether it is bacon, caramelized onions, raw onions, Greek olives, whatever. But there is one thing that we all agree on, and that is the homemade french fries.

Now if you have never made homemade french fries before, I think you should. Sure, the store bought frozen kind will always work when you are in a pinch, but trust me, there is a major difference between hand cut fries, and frozen fries.

Lets get started.

Ingredients:

• 3 large russet potatoes, washed, cut into 1 inch wide strips
• 3 cups of canola oil
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt, to taste
• cracked black pepper, to taste

I toggle back and forth with skin on and skin off on the potatoes. I’m a big fan of skin on fries, but my kids can be picky at times when it comes to that matter. As pictured above, I went with skin off for my kid’s sake.

Begin by adding the cut fries to a large bowl of cold water, and keep them in there for about 20 minutes. This helps remove a bit of the starch from the potato.

Now you have a couple of options here as well. You can drain the potatoes at this point and dry them on a large towel, getting them ready for the oil, or you can par-bake them. I also toggle back and forth on this one, and they both yield to making great potatoes. On this one, I par-baked them in a 350 degree oven, on a wire rack on a baking sheet, for approximately 15 minutes.  During this time, add the oil to a medium-sized pot, along with one sprig of rosemary, and bring that up to about 300 degrees.

Take the other sprig of rosemary, and pull all of the needles off of it. Finely chop that into the minced garlic, and set aside.

Remove the rosemary spring. In small batches, add the fries and cook them only for about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, and set them aside on some paper towel. Repeat with remaining potatoes.

When the potatoes are par-cooked, and drained, bring the oil temperature up to 350 degrees, and once reached, add the potatoes in small batches, back to the oil, cooking for another 5-7 minutes, or until they are golden brown, and crispy on the exterior. Again, remove with a slotted spoon, and set on some more paper towel to drain.

Repeat.

Add the fries to a mixing bowl, and generously season with salt and pepper. Toss in the rosemary and garlic paste, breaking it up, and mixing that into the fries, tossing along the way. I’m a big fan of rosemary and garlic fries. If you do not prefer either, simply discard that process.

What you end up with are perfectly crisp french fries that are nice and tender on the inside.

Give these a shot, I’m certain you will love them as my as my wife and kids.