Wonder Fries (Fried Fingerling Potatoes) Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is fried fingerling? ›

They are whole fingerling potatoes, first boiled then fried, and then topped with a lip-smacking miso mayonnaise and a nice bite of green onions. They are a starchy, savory bomb, highly addictive in both flavor and texture.

Directions. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the whole potatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss well. Cover the pot tightly and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when tested with a small knife.

Air dry on paper towels; about 10 minutes. (Make sure the potatoes are dry before frying; you can dab them off with the paper towel if necessary.) Once potatoes are thoroughly dry, fry them 300-320 degree vegetable oil in a deep fryer or a large pot (a Dutch oven would work).

Fingerlings look a little like stubby, miniature potatoes. They are oblong and come in a variety of sizes and colors. Fingerlings are thin-skinned, waxy, and roast up crispy outside and creamy inside. Their mild flavor makes them an easy pairing with a wide range of your favorite main dishes.

Fingerling Potatoes

These stubby spuds are often confused with new potatoes, but fingerlings are their own fully grown variety. And just as their name suggests, fingerlings somewhat resemble fingers. Knobby, slim, firm, and short, fingerlings are distinctively earthy and nutty in flavor.

Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes

This tasty tuber is long, slender and yellow in color. It's great roasted or boiled in salads and offers a great-tasting, nutty flavor.

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 natural plant pigment that gives potatoes their purple color, anthocyanin, also acts as an antioxidant! It is precisely this high antioxidant content that's the significant health difference between purple and other potatoes: purple potatoes contain about 4 times as many antioxidants as Russet potatoes!

A: The main reasons to cut the potatoes and pre-soak in water are: To allow the excess starches and sugars to be removed from the outer surface of the fry strips AND to keep the potatoes from browning prematurely from exposure to air. Covering in water helps the potato from turning a dark color.

This step is commonly missed in making homemade fries, but it might be one of the most important! Soaking your fries in cold water helps remove excess starch, which allows for crispy, golden fries! The cold water bath also helps the french fries retain their shape and contributes to a fluffy inside.

What happens if you don't dry potatoes before frying? ›

Once fries are scooped out of the water, it's essential to thoroughly pat them dry, or they'll wind up limp instead of crisp, thus defeating the whole purpose.

Fingerling potatoes are small, stubby, long potatoes, which can be one of a variety of heirloom potato cultivars. These potatoes should not be confused with new potatoes- they are bred to be small and long when full mature.

Fingerling Potatoes - Fingerling potatoes have a small, tubular shape and have a variety of skin and flesh characteristics. New Potatoes - New potatoes are young potatoes that have been harvested early. They have thin, delicate skin and creamy flesh. Also called baby potatoes, they come in a variety of colors.

Yet, the small spuds should not be mistaken as baby potatoes. In fact, fingerling potatoes are fully grown fresh produce of heirloom varieties. At grocery stores and farmers' markets, you may find popular fingerling varieties such as: Ruby crescent (rose-colored skin with yellow flesh)

Some people describe the taste of fingerling potatoes as being earthy or slightly nutty, while others compare them to the taste of new potatoes or other small, flavorful varieties.