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No guilt recipe for healthy french fries cooked on the stovetop using a traditional fat and blanching of the potatoes to minimize starchy toxins. No fryer necessary!
Love french fries? Who doesn’t? The video and recipe below show you a way to make healthy french fries at home the traditional way.
By using this method, you can enjoy them and not feel like your arteries are clogging with each bite like you would if you ate them in a restaurant!
Just be aware that french fries are made from potatoes, which are nightshade vegetables. Some folks with digestive issues can sometimes be sensitive to this category of vegetables.
The great news is that old-fashioned burger joints are starting to pop up all over that are making french fries with healthy fat too!
By the way, if you take the time to make healthy french fries, be sure to use homemade fermented ketchup as the condiment.
Blanch the Potatoes First
One step that nearly everyone omits when making french fries at home is to blanch the potatoes before cooking them.
This greatly reduces the amount of carcinogenic acrylamide that forms during frying.
Anytime starch is cooked, fried, broiled or baked, this chemical forms. This is the case even when a healthy fat is used.
Thus, it is important to take the necessary steps to eliminate it from your food as much as possible.
Below is a picture of heirloom purple potato french fries that I cooked up recently.
Best Fat for Frying
Cooking healthy french fries is all about selecting the right fat for frying.
Tallow, sometimes called beef suet, is the absolute best fat for making french fries!
There really isn’t another traditional fat that comes close to the crispiness and flavor of tallow-cooked french fries in my experience.
You can either render tallow (suet) at home or buy it to make the french fries recipe below. You will typically receive chunks of tallow when you split a cow with a friend from a local pastured beef farm.
If you wish to buy, this brand and this brand of tallow are both excellent.
No Guilt Stovetop French Fries Recipe
No guilt recipe for french fries cooked on the stovetop using a healthy fat for frying. Includes traditional scalding of the potatoes first to minimize the formation of acrylamides.
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes preferably organic
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup tallow
- filtered water
- sea salt
- ketchup optional
Instructions
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Thoroughly clean and chop potatoes into finger size pieces. Leave the skin on.
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Place cut potatoes in a pot and add filtered water to cover.
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Place uncovered pot on the stovetop and turn on the heat to medium-high. As the water begins to simmer, lower the heat to keep the water just barely simmering.
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Remove the pot from the heat after 10 minutes, and drain the water.
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Dry the potato pieces thoroughly.
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Add tallow to a small fry pan and turn on the heat medium-low. Make sure the tallow is about 1/2 to 1 inch in depth in the pan.
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Add a handful of blanched french fries to the hot oil and let cook for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
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Remove the cooked french fries with a stainless steel slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with a paper towel. Sprinkle on sea salt while they are still hot.
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Top up the oil in the pan so that it is the proper depth if necessary and then repeat steps 7-8 until all the blanched french fries are cooked and lightly salted.
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Serve immediately.
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Refrigerate any leftovers after coming to room temperature.
Recipe Video
Janet, just scrape out the tallow that doesn't have mold on it and you can use that just fine (kind of like cutting mold away from cheese). It should last 6 months in the refrigerator easily.
I have a question about tallow – I rendered some a few months ago (from grass-fed beef from our Amish farmer) and put it in a quart jar and it's been sitting in the very back of my refrigerator. I just noticed what looks remarkably like MOLD growing in threads down the side of the jar and on the bottom. What do I do with this now? How long is freshly rendered beef tallow supposed to keep in the refrigerator? Can someone please email me? [email protected] I'm SO sad.
Hi Lym,
The fat you are talking about from the beef stock is just beef fat, I think, not really tallow. And, yes, I have noticed quite a difference making french fries with beef fat versus the tallow. For some reason and I can't explain it, the fries never crisp up when I fry them in the beef fat. They get all soggy and fall apart. I don't know why this is but it doesn't happen with tallow which is that special fat between the kidneys.
What a nice video making it not seem too overwhelming! My question – do you know about the practical differences, if any, in using kidney tallow vs. tallow skimmed from the broth when making beef broth? Every time I get a cow from our farmer, I make broth and get just tons of tallow from the broth, and use it for browning chuck roasts, etc. I do the same with my pork. But I don't know if there are any practical differences, other than the fact it's not great for a pie crust unless you're making beef pie! (The fat retains a meaty taste when it comes from the broth.)
Hi! I am new to your site and when I saw this post, I knew I had to make them for my daughter's sleep over tonight! I only had rendered lard though…but they turned out GREAT! Thanks for the tips! Kelly
Hi Tammy, stovetop works too. I have just found it a bit easier in the oven in a big pan.
Sarah, thanks for the info. Yes, I meant the chunks of tallow right from the cow. I have a couple huge pieces in the freezer and was thinking it is something I should do pretty soon while I can still open the windows and let the house air out because it seems I remember reading that it kind of stinks up the house. LOL But I thought they did it on the stovetop? not sure but your way sounds pretty easy. It will be worth it to be able to enjoy some yummy healthy fries through the winter though 🙂 Thanks again!
Tammy
Thanks Coconut Mama. I have to say that once you taste homemade french fries made with beef tallow .. restaurant ones just aren't much appealing anymore! What a great way to teach your kids about how to enjoy quality food without the downside.
I have yet to get my hands on some beef tallow. This video making me want some now! Your french fries look delicious!
Great post!
We always use beef tallow for french fries, except when we use unhydrogenated real lard. It tastes and feels so good that we just cannot stand the factory oil fries anymore.
We get our tallow from US Wellness Meats.
Stanley