Schmaltz French Fries

Ok, for anyone who followed my last post and now has a small container of chicken fat in the fridge- here is a use that will let you die happy. You may note that I am a fan of the Cook’s Illustrated cook book (see my last post). That is because they happily test 15-20 ways of cooking something before putting into the book. As an extra bonus, you get the back story of how they developed the technique which allows a tinkerer like my self to tweak it slightly (in this case replacing the vegetable oil with chicken fat).

The full details after the break.

Schmaltz French Fries, adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

You will need:

3-4 russet potatoes, cut into wedges

Salt & Pepper to taste

3-4 table spoons of chicken fat

Take potato wedges and soak in a bowl of hot tap water for 10 min. Remove and let dry on a towel. Pre-heat oven to 475. Put chicken fat into a edged pan (sheet pans work well, as do cake pans). It should be large enough to make a single layer of fries on the bottom. Once the oven is up to tempreture toss the pan in with just the fat to melt it. After a minute remove and then put wedges on the pan. Toss to cover with fat and then cover pan tightly with foil. Place in oven for 5 min, remove foil and then let roast another 20 min or so. Turn them at 15 min if they are too brown. Remove fries to a rack or paper to drain, salt well and serve immediately. Enjoy!