Sweet Potato Fries

Today I went to Whole Foods, or as my dad calls it - Whole Paychecks. HA! I have a $100 gift card there which is the only reason I went... otherwise I dunno if I could afford it. Actually it is not that bad because I try to only buy produce. If I bought half of the crap they sell there I would have burned through that $100 by now, but shockingly I have gone twice and STILL have money left over. Boo ya!

While I was shopping I realized I was getting a little hungry and I was in the mood for some sweet potato chips. I grabbed the least expensive bag and held off til I got back to my car to chow down. Mmm they were yummy. Then I thought, why don't I just make my own fries at home? I have a sweet potato at home leftover from another recipe so I thought it would be a piece of cake. So I read a bunch of recipes to make chips that all said the chips had to be cut super-thin. Then I decided since I suck at cutting things that I should try to make fries instead.

The commenters on the recipes for fries all bemoaned the fact that the fries never quite got crispy enough, even after various creative changes to the recipes. I had wanted to bake the fries, but everyone said they just turn out mushy so I decided I'd have to give in and use the deep fryer. Someone suggested that you soak the fries in ice water before you put them in the fryer because it removes some of the starch, which I guess means that starch = no crispy. However, if you do this MAKE SURE you dry the fries off before you put them in the fryer. Water + hot oil = big mess.

Chillin... heh heh.

I remembered that my uncle Blake gave me a tip recently that I had totally forgotten about. He said the trick is to fry the sweet potato fries once at 350 for a few minutes, remove them, then fry them again for a few minutes at 375. I couldn't remember what times he said so I kind of just played it by ear. My fries turned out browner than I would've liked, but they were crispy. I think next time I will have to cut them a little bigger and adjust my fry time.

I ate them with some salt, ketchup, and malt vinegar. They were pretty tasty. I'll try this again and update with the results if they turn out any better.