Deep frying in olive oil

[Dina]

I drench my seasoned, sliced up potatoes with olive oil before roasting them. They are tastier than using any other oil.

 

[BigDog]

Interesting topic. I'm interested because a large grocer here has a house brand of chips where the ingredients are olive oil, sea salt, and potatoes. I'm trying to figure out how they do it, because my first go round failed miserably. I think there were a few reasons for that . . . . .

First, I couldn't get the chips uniformly cut. I don't own a good mandolin (sp?) and the more I try, the less straight my cut is free hand.

Second, I use an electric range (rental property = no chouce) and controlling the temp I find very difficult. I was aiming for around 350 degrees F, but this browned the bejeebers out of the potatoes long before the inside was done. Caused a burnt tasting chip, perhaps due to both the oil being near or beyond smoking point and the length of time to try to get the chip cooled through.

Third, I used VOO, which is second press, right? I'm hearing everyone here say at least third press (light/extra light OO).

Fourth, I went from cut to pan. I fortunately didn't have splatter as some have mentioned, but reading the comments here suggests that at a minimum, the spuds have to be rinsed/blanched to remove some of the starch. As for the double frying at different temps, that surprised me.

Having read this topic, I'm going to give it a go again and try some of the things learned here.

BTW, chips in my post are referring to thin "round" slices of potatoes.

 

[Andy M.]

Potato chips (not fries) should be cooked at a higher temperature than 350F.

English chips (french fries) are put through the process of cutting, soaking, drying and double frying.

For potato chips, use russet potatoes. Slice them uniformly and wash or soak to remove surface starch. Dry and fry once at around 390-400 F

 

[Caine]

Price has to be a consideration -- olive oil ain't cheap in the U.S. I recently found some decent extra virgin olive oil from Italy at Von's, which is owned by Safeway, under Safeway's house brand Verdi, for $14 for 2 liters. I usually pay about $30 for a 3-liter can of Colavita. Seems a little expensive for making French fries, but maybe mixing it with a less expensive oil would give good results.

Try Smart & Final in Redondo Beach or Torrance, whichever is more convenient to you. They sell all kinds of oil, including olive, in large quantities at a much more reasonable price. In fact, you will probably find, as I did during the grocery strike, Smart & Final has a lot of things at a much better price than Vons, Ralphs, or Albertsons, The only time you'll see me at Von's now is to pick up Lucerne light yogurt, 700 ml bottles of Propel on sale 12 for $9.00, or Cassandra, who usually works the quick check.

 

[Caine]

I believe OO and pure OO is good for 410 F.

400 would kinda be pushing the envelope then, wouldn't it?

 

[Snoop Puss]

OK. Well I've now done chips (French fries) in olive oil twice. Absolutely delicious and a great success. Perhaps not as good as the restaurant's that prompted me to start this thread but I guess they've had a lot more practice than me!

Thanks for all the advice, especially Andy M.

 

[Gretchen]

I'd rather use peanut oil for frying homemade fries. Love the taste. However, I usually roast them in the oven with olive oil.

I would not think there would be any taste of the oil discernible from vegetable/peanut oil. At least I can't taste it.
but if you have ever had potatoes done in olive oil or duck fat, it is a sublime event!!

 

[FraidKnot]

I drench my seasoned, sliced up potatoes with olive oil before roasting them. They are tastier than using any other oil.

I make "oven fries" by rubbing quartered baking potatoes with olive oil. Season simply with a little salt, pepper and some dried thyme. Roast the quartered potatoes at 425F for about 45 minutes, up to an hour. Delicious. But I don't deep-fry in olive oil. It's too heavy for that, in my opinion. But then, I rarely deep-fry anything. I'm not much of a "southern gal" when it comes to frying since I do it so rarely.

Fraidy

 

[Lynan]

At my kitchen, we use canola for any deepfrying, would never consider using olive oil. At home we never deepfry at all but I have to say the best fries I ever ate were at my sis's house in Italy when she used pork fat as the frying medium. I can tell you that I was NOT medium after that...lol. The flavour was superb and I am grateful for my memory.
Next best thing is spuds shallow fryed in duck or goose fat.

 

[piemixersdotcom]

I luv potatoes

 

[Snoop Puss]

The only thing I can say to the sceptics is try Andy M's method in the second post in this thread. Works a treat. It pays not to have the chips/fries too thick. I use a mandolin with 7 mm julienne blade.

 

[Snoop Puss]

To the sceptics: if you can afford it, try Andy M's method in the second post in this thread. Works a treat.

Here in Spain, peanut oil is sold in 100 ml bottles at a dollar and more a time. Canola isn't available. Corn oil is about the same price as buying a blend of refined and extra virgin olive oil. Sunflower oil is about a fifth of the price of blended olive oil and that's what I'd been using till I posted this thread. Having tried olive oil, I won't be going back to sunflower oil despite it being so cheap in comparison.

Edited: sorry about the double post. Not sure what happened there. I submitted the post above a few hours ago but it didn't appear so added this one. Oh well. The vagaries of the Web...

 

[Gretchen]

Frying temp is about 375* usually.

 

[buckytom]

clive, the thicker chips as you've described are called steak fries in the nyc area, and the thin little lacey ones are called shoestring fries.
i prefer steak fries, or the thicker chips as well.

i love the chips (crisps), fried in good spanish olive oil, that you get in spanish/portugese restaurants here. they're mostly crispy around the outside, like a regular american potato chip, but are slightly soft in the center, like a french fry.

has anyone tried bertolli's or berio's extra light olive oil? it has a higher smoking point (468 degrees) than regular olive oil. i use it often for high temp browning or frying, even in my wok. it doesn't have much of an olive flavor, so it can replace most oils without changing the taste. on the other hand, i often add a little evoo to the dish at the end if i want that olive oil flavor.

 

[FraidKnot]

has anyone tried bertolli's or berio's extra light olive oil? it has a higher smoking point (468 degrees) than regular olive oil. i use it often for high temp browning or frying, even in my wok. it doesn't have much of an olive flavor, so it can replace most oils without changing the taste. on the other hand, i often add a little evoo to the dish at the end if i want that olive oil flavor.

I use Bertolli's but not the extra light, just virgin olive oil. It's tasty but again I don't use it for deep frying or wok cooking. For those I use peanut oil which has a high smoke point. I do use Bertolli's for pan frying, particularly something like veal milanese or piccata.

Fraidy

 

[shpj4]

I have used Olive Oil for many things but I have found other oils that are just as good and not as expensive.

 

[Robt]

Cooks Illustrated for their Nov-Dec edition rated Olive oils, not in my opinion a good test but still, likely fair, however limited.