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Pan-fried potatoes

Name: Pan-fried potatoes
Prep time: 42 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 37 min
Yield: 4 people
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 kg potatoes; 3 tablespoons oil; Salt

What could be simpler than fried potatoes? No need of a recipe for that! Quite right, but it's also very easy to end up making fried mash instead. Here are the main pitfalls to avoid.

320 K 4.2/5 (57 reviews)590522

Duration

1 hour 40 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: February 3^rd 2011

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments

For 4 people, you will need:

1 1 kg potatoes
2 3 tablespoons oil
3 Salt
Total weight: 1,045 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation

45 min.

Cooking

55 min.

All in all

1 hour 40 min.

Preparation 45 min.

Cooking 55 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 20 min.

Peel and wash 1 kg potatoes.

Cut into medium sized pieces if you have big potatoes, the ideal size is about that of your thumb.

If you cut potatoes, wash again. This is very important because cutting potatoes releases starch, and that starch will make them stick when cooking.

After washing, dry in a cloth. This is another important point, because wet potatoes can make the hot oil spit dangerously.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 2 min.

Pour 3 tablespoons oil into a non-stick pan on medium heat, and add potatoes. Stir well to coat each potato with oil.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 40 min.

Turn down heat, cover, do not salt and do not touch for at least 40 minutes.

You must resist all temptation to salt because it makes them stick, and to stir them because it is useless and eventually produces famous fried mash.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 5 min.

After this time, uncover, salt, and...

Stage 5 - ⌛ 15 min.

... stir gently so that fried sides of potatoes are on top.

Leave to cook a further 15 minutes, still covered.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 15 min.

Repeat this until potatoes are fried as you like them.

Stage 7

Be careful because once fried, potatoes can't be kept waiting, covered or not they will go soft.

You should serve them without delay.

Remarks

Brief summary of the method: wash and dry potatoes, coat with a little oil, cook slowly without salt and without stirring for 40 minutes, only then should you salt and stir to cook on all sides.

You will get excellent results with rattes (small firm waxy potatoes), they are already just the right size.

My uncle Pierre, a great chef, when he was chef of his own restaurant, used this dish to test new young cooks.

Keeping: Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

Source: My uncle Pierre Barbary, the best self-taught chef I have ever known!.

Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	1 g RDI=3 %	18 g RDI=7 %	4 g RDI=6 %	120 kcal RDI=6 %	503 kJ RDI=6 %
Per person	5 g RDI=8 %	47 g RDI=18 %	11 g RDI=16 %	313 kcal RDI=16 %	1,314 kJ RDI=16 %
Whole recipe	20 g RDI=31 %	190 g RDI=72 %	46 g RDI=63 %	1,255 kcal RDI=63 %	5,254 kJ RDI=63 %