Homeland of French fries - Belgium

It's not necessary to go to McDonald's fast food restaurant to treat yourself and friends to such a dish as French fries. It's quite easy to cook it yourself, at home. Even if you do not have special tools (for example, deep fryers), the usual pan will be suitable for frying, and the result of labor, so to speak, can exceed all expectations and will even be more delicious than in a fast food restaurant. Deep-fried potatoes are good as a treat for children and as a snack for a beer mug for adults. You can use it and as a side dish to many meat and fish dishes of European cuisine.

Homeland of French fries

Some countries - Belgium, France, Britain, the United States - had previously fought for the right of primacy. According to the European tradition, the homeland of French fries is Belgium. And not the US, as one might suppose. According to the Belgian National Museum, crispy French fries appeared already in 1700! In those years, Belgian fishermen fried a small fish entirely in a frying pan and ate. But when the winters became severe, and the rivers froze, people could not go fishing. Then they cut out from the potato various fish figurines, fried them in oil and ate. The museum also houses a collection of old deep fryers, collected by one of the admirers of the dish, paintings painting the Belgian bistro, photos of pink tubers of potatoes from Peru used for frying.

Legend

And what about "British" chips and "French" potatoes? The cooks-representatives of these countries radically disagree with the "Belgian" version of origin and in every way challenge it. However, the Belgians have in this case a spare, proving that the homeland of French fries is their country. During the First World War, American soldiers, while in French-speaking Valonia (Belgium), tried this dish and mistakenly gave it the name "French".

Ancient recipe

So, the homeland of French fries is Belgium. We will try, paying tribute to the traditions, to cook this dish on the classic old Belgian recipe (as prepared in the bistro).

We will need: potatoes - one kilogram, beef fat - 200 grams, salt. As a fryer, if it is not at hand in the kitchen, you can use a large frying pan with a thick bottom and high sides or a pan.

French fries (photo on the right) are cleaned and cut "straw" (or you can, as in the old days, cut figurines of fish from tubers). Next - melt the beef fat in the deep fryer over medium heat so that it actually boils. Until the golden color fry in the fat pieces, constantly turning them over. Then we take out a special scapula and put it aside for ten to fifteen minutes. Then we make the secondary roasting of the product within a few minutes. French fries (photo below) according to an old Belgian recipe is ready. A characteristic feature of this dish is that the product is fried twice in beef fat. In addition, a special piquancy to the food attached fish figurines, cut from tubers. In a country where you have invented French fries, it is still possible to taste a dish prepared in this manner in an old manner in a bistro.

Deep-fried

Modern french fries are prepared, of course, not on pure beef fat. For such frying, frying (from the French word "frying") is used. The way of cooking, by the way, is called likewise - deep-fried. Usually it uses a mixture of vegetable and animal fats.

The very method of preparation is quite old. Even in China, these dishes were known. The prepared product is kind of cooked in a mixture, which must completely cover it. The total weight of fat should exceed the mass of potatoes approximately four times. The potato for deep-frying should be cut into strips, not more than one centimeter thick (better - thinner). When frying, pieces of potatoes must move freely in the pan (fryer or saucepan replacing it).

Recipes of mixtures

Here are some recipes for making potatoes for frying deep-fried:

• 50 percent of vegetable oil, 50 percent of beef baked fat;
• 40 percent of vegetable oil, 30 percent of pork, 30 percent of beef;
• 50 percent of vegetable oil, 50 percent of cooking oil.

As a vegetable oil, it is recommended to use sunflower refined, corn, peanut oil. Olive is best.

Not suitable for mixtures of butter (sometimes, however, is used melted, for donuts) and margarine.

A modern recipe at home

In a deep fryer or a thick-bottomed pan, heat the deep-frying mixture (use the formulation formulas given above). It should almost boil. Potatoes are cleaned and cut into strips. Solim, let's dry up. Some chefs dry the pieces with a cotton towel. In any case, there should not be any water on the potatoes, since when it comes in contact with the deep-fryer you will get a "firework"! When the mixture boils, lower the straw into it so that the fryer covers the product completely. Fry three to five minutes until golden brown. We get out of the pan using noise. We let the oil drain off the potatoes. We serve hot, traditionally with ketchup.

The recipe for ketchup

Sauce for French fries can be prepared independently at home. In any case, it will be much more delicious than a shopping store.

We need: a kilogram of tomatoes, two large spoons of sugar, salt, garlic, spices - to taste, freshly cut fresh herbs, pepper ground, a little table vinegar (you can use lemon juice).

We chop the tomatoes finely. All the ingredients are put in a blender and mixed until a homogeneous mass is formed. Delicious ketchup for French fries is ready! Have a nice appetite!