Home › The Principles of Cookery › Potato Straws
Potato Straws
Wash and peel some potatoes, cut them into small shreds, about the thickness of matches, wash well and dry on a cloth; throw them, a few at a time, into plenty of clear boiling fat; shake the potatoes about in the fat until they are crisp, and of a deep yellow colour. Drain on a cloth, sprinkle slightly with salt, and serve on a folded napkin.
A single-fry shoestring potato, and the method holds up almost unchanged. The critical detail is the one the original states twice: the shreds must be washed of surface starch and then dried thoroughly, or they steam and clump instead of crisping.
- Potato choiceUse a floury or all-purpose potato — russet, Maris Piper, King Edward. Waxy salad potatoes hold too much moisture and go leathery rather than brittle.
- "Thickness of matches"About 2–3 mm square, which is the finest setting on a mandoline or the julienne plate of a food processor. Cut by hand, aim for consistency over fineness; ragged shreds burn at the tips before the centres cook.
- DryingAfter the second wash, spin in a salad spinner or press between two clean towels until the surface is genuinely dry. Any free water will make the fat boil up violently.
- "Clear boiling fat"Fat does not boil; the phrase means fully heated and free of sediment. For these, 350–375°F (175–190°C) — hot enough to crisp in two or three minutes. Below 325°F they absorb fat and stay limp.
- "A few at a time"This is the hinge. A large handful drops the fat temperature and the straws mat together. Fry in loose batches no more than a quarter of the surface area, and keep them moving with a spider or the frying basket.
- Colour"Deep yellow" is the right target, not brown. Fine shreds carry very little water and tip from golden to bitter in seconds; lift them a shade earlier than looks finished, as they darken slightly off the heat.
- Draining and saltingA cloth is fine, though a rack over a tray keeps the underside crisp. Salt immediately while the surface is still hot and faintly greasy — salt will not adhere to cooled straws.
- YieldTwo medium potatoes (about 1 lb / 450 g) give a generous garnish for four, or a side dish for two. They are at their best within ten minutes and do not reheat well.
This is a lesson in frying: high heat, small batches, dry food. The straw cut belongs to the French repertoire — pommes pailles, one of a family of graded potato cuts that also gave the kitchen pommes allumettes (matchsticks) and pommes chips — and English cookery took the whole set up over the second half of the nineteenth century as deep frying moved from the professional kitchen into the well-equipped household one. The instruction to "serve on a folded napkin" is a common period finish for fried dishes: the linen absorbed residual fat at the table. Straws are often said to have been heaped around roast game or a grilled steak, a role they still keep.