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Potatoes, Pont Neuf
Peel four quite large, sound potatoes; wash and cut them lengthwise into pieces quarter of an inch thick, the full length of the potatoes; wash again and plunge in boiling fat and fry for ten minutes, or until a nice golden colour. Lift them up with a skimmer, drain well on a towel, dredge a teaspoon salt over them, dress on a hot dish and serve.
A plain French fry, cut in the classic Pont-Neuf size. The recipe's only real weakness is that it gives no fat temperature and expects one long fry, which is where modern practice differs.
- The cutPont-Neuf batons are square in section, usually given as somewhere around a third of an inch to half an inch on each side, and as long as the potato allows. The original mentions only thickness; cut the slices into strips of the same width so they cook evenly.
- Dry them, don't leave them wetThe second wash matters, since it rinses off surface starch, but the potatoes must be blotted thoroughly before they go near fat. Wet potatoes drop the oil temperature and spit violently.
- Fat temperature"Boiling fat" in older recipes means fat hot enough to bubble the moisture out of what you drop in, which in modern terms is somewhere around 350-375F. A single ten-minute fry at that heat will tend to give a softer, less crisp chip than a modern double fry, whatever colour it reaches.
- Two friesFor a crisp result, blanch at 300-325F for about 6-8 minutes until tender but uncoloured, rest, then fry again at 375-390F for 2-3 minutes to colour. Two-stage frying was known in classical French kitchens; this recipe gives only a single fry.
- The fat itselfThe recipe says only "boiling fat"; beef suet, lard or clarified drippings would all have been likely candidates, and each gives a distinctly savoury fry. Any fat with a high smoke point works; peanut, sunflower or refined beef tallow are all reasonable choices.
- Potato varietyUse a floury or all-purpose potato such as russet or Maris Piper. Waxy salad potatoes hold too much moisture and go leathery rather than fluffy inside.
- SaltingSalt after draining, while still hot, as directed. A teaspoon over four large potatoes is on the generous side by modern taste; add half and judge.
- YieldFour large potatoes serve three to four people as a side dish. Fry in batches so the fat never drops far below temperature, and keep finished batches uncovered in a warm oven.
The name comes from the Pont Neuf, the oldest surviving bridge across the Seine in Paris, whose broad pavements and terraces were a favourite pitch for street vendors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Fried potatoes sold from those stalls are traditionally credited as the ancestor of the French fry, though the story is repeated far more often than it is documented. What is firmer is the culinary vocabulary: by the time of Escoffier, pommes Pont-Neuf denoted a specific size of fried potato baton, larger than the matchstick allumettes and thinner than a wedge, and it survives as a standard cut in French professional kitchens.