How to Make Grilled French Fries
Frites, patates frites or pommes frites in French, French fries in McDonaldish or “More please” in my house if they are grilled in the barbecue. Many of you may know them as “Steak Fries”, deep fried till crispy then salted to taste, perhaps a big glob of ketchup next to it.
The humble history of the original “French fry” is somewhat ambiguous and varied according to many online sources. Somewhere in the process someone must have grilled their french fries without deep frying them, right? Who decided to and how they grilled the first French fry may remain a mystery but I extend my thanks to a true pioneer.
Grilled French fries is an oxymoron, as they are not actually “fried” in this technique, the French fries will be roasted on the grill to an incredible crispiness that defies having just one. This recipe and technique is adapted from the American Test Kitchens “Crisp Roasted Potatoes” recipe, though they probably did not develop the technique with a grill in mind it works amazingly well.
What captured my interest in this technique are the pre-grilling preparations and the results these extra steps produced. Crispy, crunchy, salty, you can’t eat just one, French fries that you do not deep-fried in oil. I nearly exploded eating these French fries, constantly sneaking another French fry long after dinner was over and the fries were cold. Still tasty with richness only an earth grown edible tuber can provide, crusted with a sprinkling of coarse salt and devoid of greasiness.
Ideally, you will need a griddle, skillet or a stone to grill your French fries. I used my Island Grillstone this time around with very good results, the secret being “pre-heat” for at least 15 minutes at 450° F not matter what you choose to use in your grill.
Choice of potatoes will make a difference in this recipe as well; I have had great success with Yukon’s, Sierra Gold’s and Idaho potatoes, high starch content is best.
I am using 2 1/2 lbs of Idaho potatoes for this recipe.
Wash and scrub your potatoes. Leaving the skin on is optional but cut a bit of the ends off to square up the potato so you can get some nice size fries.
Here are the fries cut at about 1/2″ thick. They need to be a sturdy size for the next phase.
Place your cut French fries into a pot, add cold water to cover by 1 inch and add a teaspoon of salt.
Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes.
At this point, you need to start pre-heating your grill (450°)
Test to see if your potatoes are done sticking by a fork or paring knife into the potatoes, the outside should be soft and the middle giving resistance.
Drain and place your potatoes into a large bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Gently toss your potatoes with a rubber spatula until coated.
Repeat, adding 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mix till a starchy paste forms all over the potatoes. This takes about two minutes.
Some of the potatoes will break up during this process but mixing gently will prevent this from happening to most of them. (Safe those small pieces for latter)
Apply a light coating of Olive oil to your skillet, griddle or Island Grillstone and place your potatoes down to cook, keeping about 1″ open of space around each potato.
After ten minutes, flip to continue cooking.
Cooking time is approximately 20 minutes.
Remove from grill and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning or just more salt.
- 2½ lbs of potatoes
- salt
- olive oil (not extra virgin)
- seasoning salt (optional)
- Wash and scrub your potatoes.
- Leaving the skin on is optional but cut a bit of the ends off to square up the potato so you can get some nice size fries.
- Cut your potatoes in half, then cut in to ½" x ½" x 1" fries.
- Place your cut French fries into a pot, add cold water to cover by 1 inch and add a teaspoon of salt.
- Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes.
- At this point, you need to start pre-heating your grill (450°)
- Test to see if your potatoes are done sticking by a fork or paring knife into the potatoes, the outside should be soft and the middle giving resistance.
- Drain and place your potatoes into a large bowl.
- Add 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Gently toss your potatoes with a rubber spatula until coated.
- Repeat, adding 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt and mix till a starchy paste forms all over the potatoes. This takes about two minutes.
- Some of the potatoes will break up during this process but mixing gently will prevent this from happening to most of them. (Safe those small pieces for latter)
- Apply a light coating of Olive oil to your skillet, griddle or Island Grillstone and place your potatoes down to cook, keeping about 1" open of space around each potato.
- After ten minutes, flip to continue cooking.
- Cooking time is approximately 20 minutes.
- Remove from grill and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning or just more salt.
You probably have some small broken pieces leftover. Cook those now and make yourself some “French fry Burnt Ends”. Those little crispy pieces of potatoes are just too much to resist!
