Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
The soaking, Mr. Nasr said, is the secret to the crisp texture of the fries. It draws out the starch, making them more rigid and less likely to stick together. The cooks fry them twice, first blanching them until slightly limp in peanut oil heated to 325 degrees, and again in 375-degree oil to crisp and brown them.
Allow them to soak, 2 to 3 hours. (You can also stick them in the fridge and let them soak overnight.) When you're ready to make the fries, drain off the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels. Blot with paper towels to dry them.
It's best to parboil the potatoes first before pan frying to get cooked tender inside. In my experience, not boiling the potatoes first will result in not well cooked inside but crispy outer potatoes. Unless you are cutting the potatoes extra thin (which makes it like potatoes crips) then it's best to boil first.
Why use salt water for soaking potatoes? There's moisture naturally found in potatoes, and moisture is drawn to higher concentrations of salt. (This is a process called osmosis.) So, if you put the potatoes in a salt water bath, that will help draw out some of their moisture, resulting in crispier fries.
A: Chilling the water or adding ice is a method that helps the cells seal up and makes for a crisper fry when blanched. Warm or room temp water is better for leaching the starches, some operators or manufacturers actually blanch (or boil) the potatoes in water to remove excess starches.
When your water is well salted, there is no need to add any more salt during frying. The potatoes will absorb the salt water and be very well seasoned before you even add them to the skillet to fry.
The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.
A: This sure sounds a lot like potatoes that have been stored too long, in too cold of an environment before cooking. When potatoes are held below 41°F for too long a period, the starches convert to sugar and it changes the cooking chemistry.
Refrigerating potatoes before cutting them into homemade French fry strips and frying is a big no-no.
(If you decide to try soaking the raw potatoes anyway, they can be soaked in water in the refrigerator for several hours without any safety concerns. Potatoes can be soaked even overnight as long as they are in the refrigerator.)
– When the potato is put into the distilled water, it will absorb the water. The water is trying to dilute the salt inside the potato. – When the potato is put into salty water, it will lose water. The water in the potato moves towards the salty water to try to dilute it.
If I peeled potatoes & store them in cold water, will they absorb the water? A: The potatoes are porous and so some water will be absorbed by the peeled potatoes over time.
Soak the potatoes in enough cold water to cover, stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. When you refrigerate the potatoes, the starch will turn to sugar which is a good contrast to the vinegar in this recipe.
Cold Water Soak
A quick rinse under cold water can wash away much of the surface starch. More starch is removed from a cut potato than a whole peeled potato, because a greater surface area is exposed on cut potatoes. Soak them in cold water for as long as a few hours to remove more starch than by rinsing alone.
Soak raw potatoes in a container for up to four hours. The potatoes should be fully submerged to prevent oxidation and discoloration. After four hours, the potatoes should be rinsed with cold water. Chopping, cutting or otherwise slicing the potatoes will excrete more starch.
If your homemade fried potatoes are soggy rather than the crispy potatoes you crave, or raw rather than tender, or even burnt rather than golden brown you are probably doing (or not doing) one of the following: You're using the wrong oil. You're using very starchy potatoes and not soaking to remove some of the starch.
Wonder no more! A potato's cell walls contain pectin, and these pectin chains remain stable when they come into contact with acids. This means that potatoes will remain hard if they are in a dish that has a lot of acid (for example, a dish you've added wine to). Salt is needed to dissolve these pectin chains.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Starch rich potatoes usually turn soft and crumbly, while frying or baking. So, if you are making delicacies wherein you want the potatoes to be crispy and crunchy, then removing starch is the best way to keep your wafers, fries, crispy potatoes, hash browns crisp and delicious.
Restaurants prepare the potatoes ahead by boiling and mashing just the potato, then just before serving, it is mixed into boiling cream (or milk or even broth or a combination thereof) to reheat it and make it nice and creamy.
For most potato dishes it's important to add the potatoes to cold water and allow the water to come to a boil with the potatoes in the water. The potato starch can react as soon as it comes in contact with hot water, which will promote uneven cooking and mealy potatoes.
If you're roasting potatoes start-to-finish in the oven, you should always salt them after cooking. This is to avoid drawing out moisture while they cook and making the outer layer leathery.
Soaking the potatoes after they're cut draws out some of the starch which is naturally present in potatoes. This will result in a crispier fry. A thirty minute soak in cold water does the trick but you may soak them longer if you want. After soaking, be sure to dry the potatoes before you fry them.