Making French Fries
Still playing catch up, early morning on Friday, August 3rd I emptied the dehydrators and got a ½ gallon jar of oregano for the layers for the winter. It had rained in the night, no surprise, but was forecast to rain again at 11AM.
The potatoes on the picnic table would not cure so wet, so I collected them and brought them inside and laid them out on the living room floor. There’s an AC in that room, so they’d have a better chance of curing in there, with all this rain and humidity.
My husband had gone deepsea fishing for the day, so I was by myself. I had to do barn chores before I could get started.
My helper friend was coming early and we’d planned to do French fries. We got busy, peeling as necessary (I leave as much skin as I can) and cutting the bad bits away and slicing for French fries.
The size I cut them
I put them in cold water to keep them from browning before I can fry them.
We worked all morning and by the time he had to go, we’d cut them all. I’d started this project because the forecast was for 84F on Friday. That wouldn’t be bad, but I only had a fan in the kitchen.
Before they can be fried, they must be dried off. If put into hot fat with water on them, the fat would probably boil over. As it is, they have to be put in slowly to prevent boiling over, just a spatula full at a time.
I use a Granpappy fryer and the amount on the paper towels is 1 load for it.
I use organic shortening made with palm oil for frying.
I keep the shortening level right up to the mark, and make sure the oil is hot, near smoking, before adding each load slowly. The bowl holds 1 load of dried potatoes.
By the time 2PM rolled around the outside temperature had soared to 92F and it was REALLY hot in the kitchen. Between the heat and standing to do the prep and frying, I was beginning to crash. But I could not just leave them for another day, they’d become too waterlogged and slimy in the heat.
I used BPA free freezer containers, 1 pint size, as it’s only my husband eating them. They drain on paper towels, changed after every other load, and cooled before being packed into the boxes. It got so hot in the kitchen I had to keep the fan on the table to cool them when it wasn’t on me.
While I waited for each load, I went and sat in front of the AC in the living room for a couple minutes. I think that’s the only thing that got me through.
I finished frying about 4PM, too exhausted to do much clean up. I’d done 27 pints. I spent the rest of the day on the couch in front of the AC, until it was time to do evening chores.
I’d planned to do dill pickles on Saturday. My helper had picked and washed all that was out there fit to use on Tuesday afternoon and filled five 1 gallon jars. The too old ones filled two 5 gallon buckets for the pigs. The cukes would store in the fridge in the jars of cold water for up to 5 days.
But I slept most of Saturday and a good part of Sunday, just up for a while to do a post. The heat and humidity continued unabated all weekend. So we move onto what happened on Monday….
I give my girls oregano to.
After this post I'm very hungry 😋
I'm not supposed to eat nightshades, but there were 1 or 2 chips gone missing by the time I finished....
I'm not supposed to eat nightshades, but there were 1 or 2 chips gone missing by the time I finished....
Makes you wonder how people survived (and cooked, and farmed, and washed clothes by hand, etc.) in the days before air conditioning. And there you are cooking over hot oil ... bless your heart.
BTW, your blog posts are just beautiful. If you're interested in better payouts, more exposure, more engagement, etc., -- all the things that go into building momentum on Steemit, you might want to talk to @enchantedspirit in Discord. I see she's noticed some of your work already. (She's one of the editors of The Magnificent Seven. ) She helps lead a Discord group that is always looking to promote exceptional blogs like yours ... again, if you're interested.
Of course I am interested! LOL I will see if I can find her and see about getting my posts where people can see them.
I often wonder how people survived the work and heat, but then, they were often not dealing with the ravages of Lyme disease as I am.
As what I am now is all I ever have known, it's hard for me to understand, in my body, how people can climb mountains, survive heat over 90F, and cold under 20F, and work 12 hr days and get up and do it again....
My 92F 10 hr day on Friday netted me 2 solid days of rest and then being not great for 2 more...
So I went hunting @enchantedspirit on discord, and being the Neanderthal that I am, could not find her. Any exact ideas on how to do this? I am truly clueless...
Hi, @goldenoakfarm ---> Find your way back to Discord. I've left you an extensive private message there. If you have any questions, at least now we have a connection. I look forward to talking with you.
On my way!
Yum!
Are your dehydrators the solar type I've been hearing about? It seems they are particularly helpful for herbs.
No, they are Excalibur 9 trays. I prefer to use something I can control the temperature on. I dehydrate because of the higher nutrition and properties. The material should never go above 145F or you lose the enzymes and nutrients that are heat sensitive. For that reason I am not fond of the solar ones. Plus, this year, the solar ones would be useless with the 100% humidity and constant rain...
That makes a lot of sense! So the solar ones can get too hot and don't work well outside an ideal environment. Is there a situation where they would be more useful to you?
My helper friend built one, but he's not gotten much use of it this year. So I have first hand knowledge of using one in this area of New England. Can't speak for other areas or other designs.