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My uncle in Tulsa swore by peanut oil for fries, I switched and now I can't decide if he ruined me or saved me
My uncle runs a food truck in Tulsa and last month he watched me drop a basket of hand cut fries into canola at 350 and just shook his head. He said, and I quote, "boy you are cooking the water out, not the crisp in." So I tried peanut oil the next weekend, same potatoes, same 350, same 4 minute first fry and 2 minute second fry, and the outside was shatter crisp while the inside stayed fluffy. The thing is, peanut oil cost me $19 for a jug that barely got me through three batches, and canola is like $6 for way more. Now I am stuck because I cannot tell if the peanut batch was actually better or if I just wanted my uncle to be right. My girlfriend says she could not taste a difference and that I am wasting money, but she also puts ketchup on everything so I do not trust her. For the folks who fry a lot at home, do you eat the cost for peanut or do you stay cheap with canola and just work on your temps? And does beef tallow actually beat both or is that just a TikTok thing?
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grant_hart21d ago
Man, as the guy who once burned a whole batch of fries because I was too cheap to buy a thermometer, I feel this in my soul. Peanut oil does hit different, no question, the higher smoke point and that nutty thing it does to the crust is real, but $19 for three batches is rough. Here is the move though, you can strain and reuse peanut oil like four or five times if you keep it clean, so it is not as bad per batch as it looks. Your girlfriend is wrong about the taste and also wrong for ketchup on hand cut fries, that is a crime in itself. Honestly at 350 with a good double fry, canola gets you 90 percent there, so if money is tight just nail your temps and salt right when they come out. Tallow is not a TikTok thing though, that stuff has been frying fries since forever and it beats both, just costs more and makes your kitchen smell like a steakhouse for two days.
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