Fried Potatoes-Help!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

How did you heat them up for supper? Microwave?

No fried them today at noon just long enough for the inside to cook but not turn brown at 320F.
I just left them on the stove.
Then tonight I fried them again at around 375 and pulled them out.
They weren't just right so I lowered the heat to a bit below 350 and hit them again.
These potatoes were on the old side but not soft.
I can promise you if you take those grey spongy greasy potatoes and re-friy them at a real hot temp they will be crispy.

Worth

[Worth1]

Microwave kills anything fried.
Never put fried food in oven to keep warm it will kill it to.
The two pieces of chicken fried steak I had left over from last night was flash re-fried today it came out better than the stuff last night.

Worth

[jillian]

Looks good Worth. I was gonna make myself some crispy fried potatoes, had my cast iron on the stove. Got my potatoes out of the bin and they were "spongy". Tossed them in the compost bin.
Another day.....

[Deborah]

Worth, the potatoes sat in oil all day? Gosh, what I wouldn't give for my Mom's tender but browned boiled ones and the crisp on the outside, tender inside raw ones. With ketchup and S&P, a feast !
My grandfather made what he called sticky potatoes. I think they were boiled potatoes fried with bacon pieces and onion.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

Worth, the potatoes sat in oil all day? Gosh, what I wouldn't give for my Mom's tender but browned boiled ones and the crisp on the outside, tender inside raw ones. With ketchup and S&P, a feast !
My grandfather made what he called sticky potatoes. I think they were boiled potatoes fried with bacon pieces and onion.

No they dont sit in oil all day you take them out and let them drain and cool.

If you dont have a digital thermometer you need to get one that goes in alarm at what ever temp you set it on.
Make sure the probe isn't touching the bottom of the pan.
Once the temp stabilizes take note of where your stove dial is setting and always preheat your skillet.
The temps are an estimate every batch and type of potatoes will be a little different.


Worth

[Deborah]

And my Mom made really good gravy too. I tried once-I got gray greasy glumps. Sigh...

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

And my Mom made really good gravy too. I tried once-I got gray greasy glumps. Sigh...

You need to come to my cooking school.
Worth

[imp]

Originally Posted by Deborah

I'm reading these responses with great interest and I know I'll go through them again to "study" what you've all said. I miss my Mom, her cooking, her love and everything about her and so you can imagine how much I appreciate your kindness.
My Mom DID use cast iron ! I hadn't thought of that. And good Russet potatoes. She didn't soak or rinse other than the after peeling rinse.
Editing to add: My Mom always used Crisco. Remember, this was in the 1960's.

I understand about missing your Mom, I still miss mine and it's been a very long time.

My Mom used Cast iron, always Burbank Russets as she said red potatoes were waxy, and often Crisco or bacon grease. Onions went in there too and became carmelized as the potatoes cooked. She cut the slices about 1/4 inch or less, after scrubbing the potatoes, mostly left the skins on ( if anything, including kids, were scrubbed by my mother, your skin was thin afterwards!). She'd cook them slowly, though the grease was hot enough to sizzle when you first put in the raw slices. She would let the bottom layer brown, and turn several times.

Crisco gives a crisp finish, bacon grease a bit softer and butter the softest finish on fried foods. Oils are crisp to very crisp.

Bacon grease was saved up and re-used in our house for cooking. I still like eggs cooked in bacon fat.

Gravy is easy if started from a roux, less chance for lumping if you add the liquid in a slow steady stream while stirring.

[Deborah]

I remember my Mom stirred flour in the fat and brown bits in the pan and then added milk or water while stirring. All I got was greasy gray glumps. (What is it with me and greasy gray???)

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Deborah

I remember my Mom stirred flour in the fat and brown bits in the pan and then added milk or water while stirring. All I got was greasy gray glumps. (What is it with me and greasy gray???)

It just sounds like to me you need to just practice. Effort doesn't alwaysmake perfect eating food, but effort either teaches us we are on the right track or we did something wrong and we need to adjust... ask questions or rethink what we did and try again... good for you- you are asking and trying instead of giving up. It takes practice. My dad lost 30 pounds after her and my dad got married. She had no idea how to cook because she was my grandfathers "son" for the barn. She learned though and none of us starved growing up. I think my mom is a great cook now, she just fries too much of it for me.

Back to the gravy though, make sure your roux (the fat and flour mix) is smooth not lumpy before you start whisking in your ( you are using a whisk, right? sometimes we don't have the tools that make our efforts worthwhile) milk or broth in. if it is lumpy turn down the heat and add a little more fat to make it smooth (that is the roux). then start with the liquid, stirring until it is finished. Don't walk away and let it simmer without attending to it. It must be stirred continually until it starts to thicken, then remove it from the heat until you need it. (warm it back up if necessary)

quantities are going to be approximates. It is hard to measure how much fat you are starting with if you are using the pan that was used for the meat. keep sprinkling the flour in until you make a smooth roux.

[Worth1]

There is something that has been eating away at me.
Why on earth do you want to make gravy if you are a vegetarian?
To go on bread and taters?

Carolyn I dont use a whisk to make gravy I use a fork.
I have like 4 or 5 whisks.
There are a gazillion ways to make gravy.
Some really greasy some with no oil at all some with toasted flour and no oil some with raw flour.
Some with corn starch, some with corn starch and flour.
Thick gravy thin gravy light and dark gravy.
Some with and without milk.

One really great way to make a fool proof gravy without lumps is to-------.

Make your roux as thick thin or as dark as you want it.
About the color of peanut butter is the best.
I like to have enough oil in the flour so it spreads out in the pan in about the same consistency as yellow mustard.
The pan needs to be turned down to medium low and I use a spatula to keep scraping the bottom of the pan so it doesn't burn.
When it gets to the desired color you can turn the pan off.
I dont do it all of the time but at times I do.
What you now have is a roux you can use any time.
The other reason is for beginners.
The roux will cool down and give the beginner time to work with it.
Now here is the tricky part and the one almost everyone messes up on.
If you have a roux about 1/4 thick spread across your skillet you will need to fill up the skillet to about 3/4 of the way full of liquid.
You put the liquid in and turn the burner back on medium to medium low and as it heats you continue to stir as Carolyn said.
This is also the time you want to put spices in like garlic powder salt and pepper.
Sometime I put them in right before I add the fluid so they toast a bit.
Never stop as it will thicken from the bottom to the top.
You need to continually scrape the bottom of the skillet to mix it.
Always have a container of fluid on hand encase it starts to get too thick.

It is far better to have it too thin than too thick.
If it is too thin all you have to do is simmer and stir it until it gets as thick as you want it.

Remember when the fluid starts to simmer that is as thick as it will be unless you cook it down.
The trick to making it without lumps is to make sure everything is mixed before it thickens.
The darker the roux the less thickening ability it will have.

Another method to make gravy is without oil and you use raw flour it takes along time to do it right our you will have a raw flour taste.

Slowly mix flour and water and milk with together until it is thinned to an almost watery consistency and add your spices but not the salt.

On the stove slowly heat this up in a kettle to just around 200 degrees or just at a very low simmer but not boil.
keep stirring until it starts to thicken.
Taste it if it still tastes like raw flour add liquid and continue to stir and cook.
It takes forever to do right.

Next method without oil.
Heat skillet up to medium low.
Put flour in skillet and stir around with whisk and toast the flour until it get to the color you want and lit cool for the fool proof method.
when it is cool add your liquid and mix up real well.
Turn on skillet and let it begin to heat and continue to stir until it thickens.
Remember to have lots of liquid on hand.
On hand doesn't mean the sink it means right there next to the stove.

Worth.

[clkeiper]

You are right Worth, I do find though that making something that requires patience it takes some tools to make it easier and a whisk for me is one of them. a fork just doesn't cut it for me. If I have to set it on the side of the pan I find myself fishing it out of the pan... grrr! which doesn't happen with a whisk especially as handles on tools are longer than handles on eating utensils.. Nor do I generally use a fork in my pans and I think that is just habit to be consistent in how we use what we have. I have on occasion even made gravy with my stick blender if I already had it out for something else or I had lumps and I was making it smooth because I was in a hurry and didn't make sure I had finished getting the lumps out or I wasn't stirring enough and it got lumpy.

Good luck on how ever you make your gravy, Deborah. I hope your next batch is a success or at least an improvement on the last try.

and don't forget to keep the toad for good luck right in your pocket. It works better there than hopping all over the counter.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

You are right Worth, I do find though that making something that requires patience it takes some tools to make it easier and a whisk for me is one of them. a fork just doesn't cut it for me. If I have to set it on the side of the pan I find myself fishing it out of the pan... grrr! which doesn't happen with a whisk especially as handles on tools are longer than handles on eating utensils.. Nor do I generally use a fork in my pans and I think that is just habit to be consistent in how we use what we have. I have on occasion even made gravy with my stick blender if I already had it out for something else or I had lumps and I was making it smooth because I was in a hurry and didn't make sure I had finished getting the lumps out or I wasn't stirring enough and it got lumpy.

Good luck on how ever you make your gravy, Deborah. I hope your next batch is a success or at least an improvement on the last try.

and don't forget to keep the toad for good luck right in your pocket. It works better there than hopping all over the counter.

Carolyn I am going to start a Let's Make Gravy thread.
With step by step pictures and instructions.
I know there are a lot of people that can make gravy and cook but there are that many if not more that cant.
I just want people that dont know how but want to learn how, know how.
If that makes since.

All I can say without sounding like bragging is every time I am around a large group of people at some other house I get asked to make the gravy and help cook.
I never butt in volunteer or try to take over.

Worth

[Deborah]

Thanks Carolyn. I read and posted on Worth's gravy thread. Good idea and nice tutorial Worth !

[clkeiper]

You are welcome Deborah... for what ever it was you were thanking me for. I just want you to be able to make gravy.

Good idea Worth. I think cooking in general is a dying art, but some things are getting as scarce as hens teeth.... such as making good gravy. Or grandmas chicken and noodles or my MIL's poppy seed kuchen. If I hadn't been shown I wouldn't know how to do it either. or my late friends sour dough fruit and nut bread... oh yum! I miss her so much and am so glad she shared her recipe for her bread. Some things we lose because someone horded or just didn't think that anyone wouldn't be able to "just do it".