Cattle Drive™ Air Fryer Fries
Here at Casa M (v2) we are big fans of fries, but I"ll be honest and say I'm a little intimidated by deep frying things. Seeing various videos of Thanksgiving turkey frying incidents for many years starting with my time in New Orleans in very tight housing quarters makes me want to explore other prep methods for things that typically get fried. Two big exceptions are chicken and fries. We adore fried chicken and will likely do a recipe for Uncontrolled Chain Reaction™ fried chicken at some point since it is amazingly good, but when we started hearing about "air fryers" they made us wonder if we could finally get decent fries at home without the setup, risk, and mess of deep frying. We are super stoked to report that is indeed the result that we got. Golden brown, crispy, and while not exactly the same as fried, very, very good and with Chain Reaction™ (think salt) and Cattle Drive™ (think black pepper) in the mix, these fries pack some serious flavor! We hope you love them as much as we do. Spice Confidently!
ingredients
FOR THE FRIES
- Casa M Spice Co™ Cattle Drive™ or Uncontrolled Cattle Drive™
- Casa M Spice Co™ Chain Reaction™
- Salt (optional, to taste)
- 2 Large Russet Potatoes
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
FEATURED QUOTE
If you're unsure how much seasoning to use, go lightly, you can always add more once the fries are finished cooking when you taste to determine if they need salt!
- Mike HernandezLET’S GET COOKING
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1.
Wash the potatoes well, then, leaving the skin on, julienne (cut into thin, even strips) the potatoes into French Fry sized strips of similar height and width to help ensure even cooking.
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2.
Immediately place the cut potato strips into a bowl and cover them with water, then place into the refrigerator for an hour or more. This helps remove excessive starch at the surface of the cuts, prevents the fries from sticking together during seasoning, and since we want them to be golden-brown from cooking not premature oxidation, stops them from turning brown due to oxidation. The middle photo below shows what our potatoes looked like after this step.
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3.
Drain the water and lay out the potato slices into a single, even layer, then dry them on all four sides to remove all water. This is an important step since wet potatoes won't coat evenly with oil nor hold the seasoning well.
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4.
Once dry, put the potato slices into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and gently toss to coat them evenly with a very thin coating of oil.
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5.
Shake on Chain Reaction™ first, then add Cattle Drive™ or Uncontrolled Cattle Drive™. Reference the bottom right photo on this page for how the potatoes looked when we were finished with this step. If you're unsure how much seasoning to use, go lightly, you can always add more once the fries are finished cooking when you taste to determine if they need salt!
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6.
Put the potatoes into your air fryer like adding spaghetti to a pot of water such that the potato strips, as much as is possible, aren't touching each other. Set the air fryer to 400°F and 25 minutes.
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7.
Turn on the air fryer and let it run for 5 minute increments before pulling the tray and "shaking" the tray to help re-distribute the fries to get them evenly browned and crispy..
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8.
Since more potato means more time and each air fryer cooks slightly differently, toward the 15 minute mark, start to watch the progress carefully. Ours were nicely browned and crispy at 25 minutes on the dot, but depending on the size of your potatoes and air fryer capacity, you might find they are ready slightly before 25 minutes or need a bit longer.
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9.
Remove the fries from the air fryer tray, taste them and add salt or more seasoning to taste, and serve immediately with your favorite condiment(s)!
