Random Tater Pic of the Day #50

I made these deep fried crinkle cut potato slices from fingerling potatoes I got at Whole Foods. And I seasoned them with a special Fries Seasoning I'll talk about in a future blog entry. I know, it kinda defeats the purpose of shopping healthy, but mmmm... they were good...

French Fry Diary 249: Iron Hill Brewery, Maple Shade NJ

The Bride and I are always looking for new places to go to dinner with the in-laws, and if they have fries, it's a bonus for me, and indirectly for you folks too. After trying to get over there for the two years the Iron Hill Brewery had been open in the Moorestown/Maple Shade area, I was finally able to convince them to go. This restaurant is a very big place, and as advertised has a working brewery on site. All the beers and even root beers are brewed there, and it was also promised, the food was made to order from scratch as well. I was looking forward to this.

First off, the customer service was excellent, and our waitress Jessica was just wonderful, friendly and accurate. Her care and attention actually reminded the four of us of the Disney Cruise. I decided to live dangerously as a catastrophically picky eater and get the burger. With an upcoming return cruise already on our minds, I can't help but compare this delicious burger to the ones I got at lunch on board.

The presentation of all of meals brought on a further comparison to the Disney Cruise. The Iron Hill Brewery knows what they are doing, as far as making the food look great. Mom-in-law got baked fingerling potatoes with her steak, and The Bride had an egg roll sampler that came with a salad splash that included little matchstick fries. The fries that came with my burger however, not so great. They were deep fried natural cut regular cuts that were nothing spectacular, and quite frankly probably not made to order, unless it was some time ago.

That said, it was a delicious meal and we would definitely come back. It was topped off with a fantastic root beer float for dessert. Maybe next time I will give the onion rings and the sweet potato fries a try. While the fries were only okay, the restaurant is definitely recommended.

French Fry Diary 182: "America's Best"

"America's Best" is a recent mini-series on the Food Network. In the "Comfort Food" episode, Alton Brown and the Food Network database came up with a countdown of the best destinations for comfort foods, and one of those comfort foods is, of course, French fries.

Before we hit the favorite fried food though, they also talked about the best mashed potatoes. They went to L'Atelier inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. These high class mashers include French butter, lots and lots of it, perhaps as much butter as there is potato. And the potato used is fingerling, by the way. These are also perhaps the smoothest mashed potatoes as the fingerlings are smashed through a mesh net strainer, so zero lumps get through. Wow.

For the best French fries location, they chose the Boise Fry Co. in, where else, Boise Idaho. This is both a cop out and a bonanza, because rather than choose one fry they chose a place that serves dozens of kinds of fries. Dozens of different potatoes in dozens of different styles, with various seasonings and sauces.

They did spotlight their fries cooked in duck fat as having an out of this world taste. I have yet to try duck fat fries, let alone these, but I look forward to it. Apparently in the foodie world, duck fat fries are the gold standard for fries. The chef's specialty at the Boise Fry Company is the Bourgeois - the basket of fries cooked in duck fat, sprinkled with black truffle salt.

Anne Burrell's Fingerling Home Fries

For Food Network Fridays today we're looking at Chef Anne Burrell.

I dig Anne a lot. She's the feisty no-nonsense pseudo punk blonde who's the host of "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" and co-judge and co-host with Beau MacMillan of "Worst Cooks in America." She rocks.

Just don't get on her bad side, at least in her kitchen - as some of the contestants on "Worst Cooks in America" will attest to. But then again, there's a reason they were 'the worst cooks in America.'

This potato-centric breakfast (or brunch, or anytime) recipe is from the "The Secret to Brunch" episode of Anne's "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef."

Find the recipe here. Enjoy!

Truffled Fingerling Smashed Potatoes

From CHOW:

Truffled Fingerling Smashed Potatoes Recipe

Chef Garces folds truffle oil into smashed potatoes to make them even more irresistible.

What to buy: Fingerling potatoes are white potatoes with a thin skin. They can be found in gourmet grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. If you can’t find them, use Yukon Gold potatoes instead.

Truffle oil can be found at gourmet grocery stores.

This recipe was featured as part of our Suckling Pig for the Holidays menu.

INGREDIENTS

* 5 pounds fingerling potatoes
* 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1/4 cup white truffle oil
* 4 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place potatoes in a large pot, add water to cover the potatoes by 2 inches, salt well (the water should taste like seawater), and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer potatoes until fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes, return to the pot along with butter, and cook over low heat until butter is melted. Using a hand-held potato masher, smash potatoes until butter is incorporated, leaving some lumps. Add cream, truffle oil, salt, and pepper and fold together. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Difficulty: Easy

TIME/SERVINGS

Total: 1 hr
Active: 10 mins
Makes: 10 to 12 servings