Crispy Smoked Rosemary Fries
I’d like to begin by expressing my deepest condolences to anyone who does not own an air fryer or a convection oven. I’m convinced that it’s truly essential for crispy fries. If you are a wizard, and have methods of which I am unaware, please email us. I’m totally willing to be proven wrong on this one. I must have spent 8 or 10 years, trying every method/recipe you could think of, trying to get crispy fries without a deep fryer—boiling the sliced potatoes first; frying them in grease on the stove before broiling in the oven; baking them on high heat, quickly; baking them on low heat for an extended period of time; etc. Nothing was quite right until we bought an air fryer. The hype is real. Alright… enough air fryer evangelism, here’s the simple recipe.
Crispy Smoked Rosemary Fries
Ingredients needed :
Potatoes : I’ve heard that there are around 200 different varieties in the U.S. We use Russet - cheap and good!
Cooking oil : We use olive or avocado oil. Bacon grease or duck/beef tallow work great, as well, just have to warm it up to liquify them. (Not too hot though, for this method)
Fine corn starch (optional) : This is technically “optional”, but the recipe is definitely lacking without it.
Abraham’s Smoked Rosemary Salt : Of course.
Gallon freezer bag or Large mixing bowl : Using a mixing bowl is less wasteful, but I prefer a freezer bag for reasons listed below.
Prep Directions :
Chop : cut your potatoes lengthwise into your desired width and height of fry. Some prefer steak fries (yuge daddies for dippin’) and some enjoy the tiny shoestring fries, which have more total surface area for flavor and less internal mush. I usually land somewhere in the middle.
Coat with oil : Add fries to your mixing bowl or gallon freezer bag and add a few tablespoons of oil. Mix in bowl, or close the freezer bag and toss/shake the fries to coat them evenly with oil.
Add dry ingredients : Open your bag and add Abraham’s Smoked Rosemary Salt and enough corn starch to coat the fries with a thin layer of starch. Close bag again.
Mix / Shake / Slam : When I mix my fries with corn starch and spices, I like to shake vigorously, and then slam the bag onto the counter top to break up the starches on the outside of the potatoes. They froth up with the oil and corn starch in the bag, and this yields a better final product, with a crispier outer layer. This mixing intensity is difficult to acheive with a bowl, even if you have a lid. And, call me lazy, but I hate trying to wash oil out of a large bowl.
Cooking (Frying) :
Add to fryer / oven : Making sure that the uncooked fries are evenly coated with corn starch and separated as much as possible, add them to your air fryer or convection oven.
Cook : Fry your fries for 15 to 30 minutes at 400°F (205°C), tossing them every few minutes, to make sure that they are separated and that all sides are cooking evenly. Cook time will depend on how efficient your fryer/oven are, how many potatoes you are preparing, and how crispy you want them to be.
Enjoy : Once your fries are browned up to your preferred level of crispiness, wait for them to cool enough to eat, and enjoy!
Once you have perfected these (which won’t take long with this recipe), you will want them all the time. Try them topped with Abraham’s Smoked BBQ Spice or Abraham’s Smoke Steak Seasoning Or, try making a fry sauce with some mayonnaise and the abovementioned spice blends. If you’re really adventurous, and want make a meal out of it, top it with meat, gravy, and cheese curds, and make it into a poutine that would make Trudeau cry himself to sleep at night… (Recipe coming soon!)
