Apr 07 2010
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How to make perfect sweet potato fries
Last month my friend Ruza and I tested various combinations of sweet
potato fry cooking methods. Here are the results of our experiments.
I was hoping to post this as an instructable, but I forgot to
photograph the fries that won the experiment (they got eaten too
fast). Most optimal: very crisp outsides of 90% of fries, with fully cooked
middles. Only about 10% burnt. I wish I had a final photo of these
ones. You won’t find any sweet potato fries as good in any
restaurant.
1. Slice a sweet potato into fries of variable length x 5/8” width x
3/16” depth.
2. Soak uncooked fries in water for 30-45 min.
3. Bring salt water to a boil, then add fries and boil them for 7-10
min or until tender enough to eat.
4. Drain cooked fries and transfer to a pan containing 3 tbsp hot
olive oil. Cook on low heat roughly 10 min or until they transform
from floppy to crisp, flipping as needed. Very delicious and interesting low-fat, extra-sweet (due to
caramelization in oven not added sugar), chewy fries:
1. Same as above.
2. Same as above.
3. Coat baking sheet with olive oil spray. Lay uncooked fries in a
single layer on baking sheet. Coat top surface of fries with another
light layer of olive oil spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake at 250 F for 2 hours. Far less tasty variations: Pan-frying the fries without boiling them first results in crisp but
40% burnt fries. The fries’ insides take longer to cook through,
leaving the outsides to burn in the meantime. Pan-frying over medium-high heat rather than low heat results in 66%
burnt, 34% undercooked fries. Burnt fries still taste great, but they
could be far greater. Soaking uncooked fries overnight, then boiling and frying them removes
most of their sweetness. Unsweet sweet potato fries are disgustingly
inedible. They look good, but it’s false.
Baking fries at 375-400 F for 40 min without any pre-soaking results
in well-cooked but non-crispy fries. They become floppy and fall
apart from their mushy floppiness. They taste great, especially when
eaten with a fork like typical oven-roasted vegetables. In contrast,
regular potato fries cooked in this way become crispy. Other notes: I don’t know if the 30-45 min of soaking makes a noticeable difference. Smaller sweet potatoes are easier to handle while slicing.
potato fry cooking methods. Here are the results of our experiments.
I was hoping to post this as an instructable, but I forgot to
photograph the fries that won the experiment (they got eaten too
fast). Most optimal: very crisp outsides of 90% of fries, with fully cooked
middles. Only about 10% burnt. I wish I had a final photo of these
ones. You won’t find any sweet potato fries as good in any
restaurant.
1. Slice a sweet potato into fries of variable length x 5/8” width x
3/16” depth.
2. Soak uncooked fries in water for 30-45 min.
3. Bring salt water to a boil, then add fries and boil them for 7-10
min or until tender enough to eat.
4. Drain cooked fries and transfer to a pan containing 3 tbsp hot
olive oil. Cook on low heat roughly 10 min or until they transform
from floppy to crisp, flipping as needed. Very delicious and interesting low-fat, extra-sweet (due to
caramelization in oven not added sugar), chewy fries:
1. Same as above.
2. Same as above.
3. Coat baking sheet with olive oil spray. Lay uncooked fries in a
single layer on baking sheet. Coat top surface of fries with another
light layer of olive oil spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake at 250 F for 2 hours. Far less tasty variations: Pan-frying the fries without boiling them first results in crisp but
40% burnt fries. The fries’ insides take longer to cook through,
leaving the outsides to burn in the meantime. Pan-frying over medium-high heat rather than low heat results in 66%
burnt, 34% undercooked fries. Burnt fries still taste great, but they
could be far greater. Soaking uncooked fries overnight, then boiling and frying them removes
most of their sweetness. Unsweet sweet potato fries are disgustingly
inedible. They look good, but it’s false.
Baking fries at 375-400 F for 40 min without any pre-soaking results in well-cooked but non-crispy fries. They become floppy and fall
apart from their mushy floppiness. They taste great, especially when
eaten with a fork like typical oven-roasted vegetables. In contrast,
regular potato fries cooked in this way become crispy. Other notes: I don’t know if the 30-45 min of soaking makes a noticeable difference. Smaller sweet potatoes are easier to handle while slicing.
