My Mother's Cooking - French Fries and Croquettes
French Fries and Croquettes
My Mother's Cooking
What are croquettes?
Paula Deen's Potato Croquettes
- Potato Croquettes Recipe : Paula Deen : Recipes : Food Network
Get this all-star, easy-to-follow Food Network Potato Croquettes recipe from Paula Deen.
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French Fries and Croquettes
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My mother didn’t make French fries very often because they are a lot of work to make and they require using a lot of oil to fry them in. I seem to recall her making them occasionally on Friday nights with fried or baked fish as an Americanized version of fish and chips.
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She generally cut the potatoes into relatively slender strips, rinsed them in cold water, dried them and then fried them in hot oil or lard. She didn’t use a thermometer. She just tried one first to see if the oil was hot enough.
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You can cut your French fries thick or thin, crinkled or flat, waffled or plain. Just remember that the thicker they are, the more difficult it will be to make them crisp.
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Basic French Fried Potatoes
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Difficulty:
Easy
Preparation Time:
40 Minutes
Cooking Time:
30 Minutes
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Ingredients:
4 Large Russet Potatoes (one per person) peeled and cut into ¼ by ¼ inch thick strips
Oil, Lard or Crisco (enough to fill your fryer or cooking pot about 1/3 full.
Salt to Taste
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Cooking Instructions:
- Soak the potatoes in cold running water until the water runs clear.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander and pat them dry on paper towels.
- Heat the oil to 350 F if you use a thermometer or try one test fry if you don’t have a thermometer.
- Cook the French fries in small batches so that they don’t stick together and so that they don’t cool the oil too much.
- Dry each batch on paper towels being certain to salt them immediately. Keep them warm in a 200 F oven while finishing the rest of the potatoes.
- Some people like to use a two stage frying method. First you blanch them at 325 F and then you finish them at 350 F. I don’t have the time or the patience.
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Basic Croquettes:
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Croquettes can be any paste like balls or patties that are then dipped in beaten eggs and bread crumbs and finally deep-fried. The simplest example would be left over mashed potatoes mixed with a little milk, an egg and some chives. Scoops of this mixture are formed into balls and then flattened into patties. Each patty is then dipped into beaten eggs and bread crumbs and then deep-fried in oil.
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The fun begins when you vary the ingredients that you mix with the potatoes like cheese, hamburger, ham, sausage or whatever else appeals to you. The following recipe uses sautéed ground beef and onions.
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Difficulty:
Easy
Preparation Time:
30 Minutes
Cooking Time:
30 Minutes
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Ingredients:
4 Cups of Mashed Potatoes
8 Oz. of Ground Beef
1 Small Onion minced
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Egg beaten
2 Tablespoons of Flour
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Cup of Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs beaten for coating the croquettes before breading them
Oil for deep-frying
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Cooking Instructions:
- Brown the ground beef and onion in the butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Drain off any excess fat.
- Mix the mashed potatoes with the beaten egg and the ground beef mixture. Add the flour to make the mixture dry enough to work with.
- Divide the mixture into eight portions and form small cylinders out of each one.
- Dip each cylinder first in the egg mixture and then the bread crumbs.
- Arrange them on a plate and let them chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before deep frying them in oil.
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Suggestions:
Instead of hamburger, try leftover ham, beef, pork or chicken.
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Instead of using a meat mixture, just mix the mashed potatoes, egg and flour together and stuff each cylinder with a piece of wiener or sausage before breading and deep-frying them. You now have potato dogs instead of corn dogs.
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Crispy French Fries
Potato Croquettes
Fish and Chips
For additional ways to prepare potatoes, see the other sections of Chapter 6, which are listed below:
Chapter 6 – Potato Dishes
1. Baked, Roasted and Stuffed Potatoes
2. Boiled Potatoes and Potato Salad
4. French Fries and Croquettes
8. Norwegian Staples - Krube and Lefse
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Links to more of my mother's recipes
- My Mother's Cooking - Pork Loin Roast - Two Differen...
My mother made pork loin roast in the traditional way. She used a standing pork rib roast and seasoned it with apples, onions and thyme. By the time my wife started cooking pork roasts for us, there were boneless roasts and everyone was concerned abo - My Mother's Cooking - Baked Ham and Scalloped Potato...
Around the holidays, my mother would bake a half a ham and she frequently served it with scalloped potatoes. Here are the easy, tempting recipes. Both can be cooked in the same oven if you have room. Remember to save the bone and ham remnants to make - My Mother's Cooking - Chicken Stew with Mushrooms, P...
Sometimes, when my mother cooked chicken, she would add her home canned tomatoes and peppers from the garden to make a tasty stew that could be served with rice, noodles or potatoes. We only grew green bell peppers in our garden, but now I like to us - My Mother's Cooking - Baked Beans and Pork Chops
One of my fondest memories is visiting my aunt Anna and smelling the baked beans that simmered all day while our parents sat around and talked. This is my mother's recipe for homemade baked beans which is similar. If you add some pork chops while coo - My Mother's Cooking - Baked Meatloaf
My mother made meatloaf to stretch one pound of ground beef to feed four hearty eaters. My wife continues the tradition and adds her own touches - mushrooms, onions and dijon mustard with a ketchup, corn syrup glaze. She normally makes enough to serv - My Mother's Cooking - Pumpkin Soup and Potato Soup
My mother was raised on a poor potato farm in North Central Wisconsin where her family normally ate meatless meals. In the fall, when the pumpkins were ripe in their garden, they were used to make both pies and soup. Here is my mother's recipe for pu - My Mother's Cooking - Stuffed Cabbage Prepared Two D...
My mother taught me to make stuffed cabbage pretty much like everyone else makes it when I was growing up. Later I learned about a French version which reconstructs the individual leaves to form a whole cabbage when you are done. Both recipes are pre - My Mother's Cooking - Potato Dumplings with Bacon an...
How to make my mother's homemade potato dumplings with bacon and onions (we just called them kluski). You literaly can't stop eating them. Grated potatoes are mixed with flour and a little salt and dropped with a spoon into boiling water. Then they a
North Central Wisconsin where I learned how to cook from my mother
