When baking French fries in the oven, either from a frozen package, or made from cut potatoes, is it better to add seasoning, such as salt, pepper, paprika, etc., before placing the fries in the oven or after? When should one add vinegar or lime juice?
Baking – When to add seasoning to oven-baked french fries
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Related Solutions
The double fry process is to make a crisper potato chip. Tests have indicated that less oil is absorbed too, so this is a general health benefit
The blanch process is mainly for mass production reasons to stop potato chips from sticking together when packed. It removes all surface starch. Cold water rinsing is all that is needed for home, small scale production
Cooling and drying the chips between steps generally makes for a better chip
The quality, and suitability of the potatoes is still probably got more to do with it than the cooking process
Interesting experiments at http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/02/the-great-baked-fry-experiment/
There are a couple tricks I've learned from Cook's Illustrated about making oven fries:
Soak your cut potatoes in warm water to rinse off excess surface starch. Drain them and dry them very well (I use a salad spinner and paper towels).
Use a heavy duty sheet pan on the bottom rack of a hot oven to focus the heat on crisping the bottoms of the potatoes.
Oil your sheet pan well, and sprinkle salt on it. This will act kind of like ball bearings under the potatoes to prevent them from sticking too hard.
For the first 5-10 minutes, tightly wrap the sheet pan (with the potatoes) with aluminum foil. This will essentially steam the potatoes and help get a really nice creamy interior. After that, remove the foil and flip the potatoes halfway through. Make sure you use a thin metal spatula when you flip them.
These techniques work well for potatoes in general, and really do turn out some fantastic spuds.
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Best Answer
Dry seasonings can be added either before or after cooking French Fries. However, for oven-baked potatoes, you want to avoid adding wet seasonings before cooking, as it may impair the crunchiness of the final product.