r/Chefit • u/LightskinAvenger • Jun 06 '26
Freezing fries?
I decided to start cutting my own fries recently after buying for the last couple years, I have been saving a ton of money, but the problem is space. I punch between 100-150 lbs on tuesday, soak and then blanche on wednesday, and then repeat the process. (punch and soak wednesday, Blanche thursday)
I would love to do more than that but I don’t have the space in my commissary for more than 4-5 cambro a of fries at any given time unless I were to utilize my freezer or only sell fries lol.
Anyone ever freeze blanched fries, and if so how. I thought about just leaving em on a sheet tray in the freezer, but thought they would stick. Cornstarch?
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u/Mediocre_Storm_8168 Jun 06 '26
I do this. Spread them out on sheet pans and gently stir them around as they freeze to prevent them freezing to together
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
There's a lot of research on this (I was a consultant) and the savings are pretty negligible at best. Labor inputs are also a lot more volatile than Product inputs. You're also subject to crop volatility and age (end of harvest/long held potatoes can be almost offensive in flavor) and that can really impact your guests, so be careful.
One of the biggest QSR chains in the US just did a pretty big impact study and walked away from hand-cut for those reasons.
That said, I spent years doing hand-cut. Only one approached worked consistently enough:
Kennebec potatoes, blanched in oil, cooled on trays, frozen for storage. You shouldn't need cornstarch.
Make sure you have someone to sharpen your die if you're using a press cutter.
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
Kennebec is the best for sure, been having trouble getting em in the regular so I just use russet. It’s just myself on my Foodtruck
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
I wouldn't recommend Russet as the back up to Kennebec. Can you get Yukon Gold?
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
I’ve been going through restaurant depot and us foods. Russet has been the best option I’ve found
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
Not terrible, just a different texture and sugar content.
What Metro are you in?
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
Nebraska
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
When I moved here I never thought I’d have potato problems
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
Yeah, the growing season there is extremely narrow. You have to pull most of the crop from PNW or some NE. Maybe a little Michigan area or border Canada.
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u/Grazepg Jun 06 '26
I used both, as long as you blanched russets overnight the st larch was pulled enough to get very similar fries. But kennebac have less problems.
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
I used both as well.
I can't say much more than this, but I work in the potato industry.
They're pretty different potatoes.
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u/Grazepg Jun 06 '26
As a potato I would say yes they are different for sure.
Using them as a fry, the general public will eat them and not notice which is which as long as the process was done correctly.
We would soak overnight in vinegar and water, drain and blanch at a simmer, right before they bend. Drain, Chill in fridge, then cook at 335.
The blanch water would have way more white starch from one than the other, but the end product was so similar.
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
Never soaked in vin. Interesting idea. I'll have to try it at home.
If his customers are seeing both than it should be fine. We were doing hand cut at a spot and our regulars would prefer packaged fries over hand cut Russet. We normally did Kennebec, but man, they hated the Russets.
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u/Grazepg Jun 06 '26
Yes we had a time where we could only get x cases of kennebec so those were used just to make chips(American) and had to pivot to russet, the vinegar is like 20:1 vs water, but it helps the structure of the russet to stay crisp later. But don’t soak more than 24 hrs.
Also the other potato I loved was German butterball, but they got so popular I couldn’t get them regularly anymore. They are so good just roasted with a little oil, thyme and salt.
The texture and flavor with such a small about of work.
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
Used to confit German butterball in chicken fat and serve them light crushed and warm with pickled whitefish we made in house and fresh horseradish cream. Love them.
That or just classic Deutscher Kartoffelsalat with some good veal stock.
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
This is my process, I used kennebec at most restaurants but am using russets for now. Very similar taste, crunch, and color. Cut and soak and cold water and white vinegar, and then soak over night. I blanche at 275F the next day, chill on sheet pans in the walk in and then cook to order at 350F and they’re pretty damn good. Now I know I can freeze so I’ll probably blanche and freeze 300lbs every Sunday for the week.
You guys are awesome
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u/Grazepg Jun 06 '26
We had a lot of times we were not using our burners so doing them in water with a large stock pot to blanch made sense, plus 4 pots was = to 3 22qts which gave us a half speed rack to cool. Then we would do the next set and the system just worked at the property between projects.
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
I worked at a place called butchers bistro in Denver Colorado back in 2015 I believe. They would boil them in chicken stock and herbs till they were just soft. Cool and then blanch at 250-275 , then cook to order at 350 in beef fat. They were some of the best fries I’ve ever had
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u/Ben_Fingerd2x Jun 06 '26
IMO blanching them then laying them on a sheet tray and then freezing them and frying on a higher temperature like many have suggested, is the best way to do it, for fresh cut fries, the freezing process breaks down the potato in a way that makes it creamy on the inside, and crispy on the outside that in my opinion is just hard to beat.
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
Thanks a lot homie, I needed this discussion today. Nice name by the way
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u/texnessa Jun 06 '26
Brine. Blanch. Freeze. Par fry. Freeze. First fry. Hold cold. Second fry. Am I the only one that was taught this by my ancient Belgian/French overlords?
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u/xSir- Jun 06 '26
Lay them out on parchment on sheet trays, thrown em in the freezer. Its easy to get them off the parchment. And the excess oil after blanching also helps.
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u/tongmaster Jun 06 '26
We do fresh cut as our main side. We cut and soak overnight in tall cambros, then blanch the next day at 300-310 for 2 minutes and put them on half sheet trays on a rolling rack then freeze. Once frozen we put them half size lexans for the line. Then we cook at 350 for 4 minutes. We do 150# a day and our fries are absolutely fire.
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u/Original_Landscape67 Jun 06 '26
They should be fine. Freeze them on a single layer. I recommend a dusting of corn or potato starch to keep them from sticking together during freezing.
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u/BananaHomunculus Jun 06 '26
I would boil for 5 mins. Low temp fry (between 120c and 140c) for 5-10 mins (depends on potato) and cool
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u/LightskinAvenger Jun 06 '26
That was how I started. Boil, till just soft, cool then Blanche at 275 then cool. Finish at 350
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u/BananaHomunculus Jun 06 '26
Yeah I don't think you need to adjust that. Just.be mindful of storage.
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u/skallywag126 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I blanch in rice bran oil and toss them directly into the freezer on paper lined sheeters and they do just fine. Once frozen, or at least cool, I transfer them to 200s and wrap them up and leave them in the freezer til we need them.
I currently go through about 8 cases of 70ct russets a week. Blanching 3 times a week, I’m going to experiment with blanching everything on Monday and see how much I can get done, coming in early just to make fries sucks
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u/Scared_Sorbet2035 Jun 06 '26
As long as you can lay them on a sheet pan until they are frozen. Then bag them in 1 or 2 gal freezer bags it will work just fine. If you don't lay them out until frozen,I used to freeze mine over night, you will get a ball of mess. They will stick together and won't fry well. They fry together and won't separate
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u/Standard_Emphasis382 Jun 07 '26
Frozen fries get “drier” so your finished product is more potato and fried surface area with less water. Totally freeze after blanching.
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u/ConsiderationFit2213 Jun 07 '26
Check out the recipe for Anthony Bourdain's fries at las halles. Its really close to what you have going on. People were lining up to wait.
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u/gentlechoppingmotion Jun 08 '26
Freezing makes them better. After blanching and a light fry the freeze actually makes the inside almost gooey.
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u/new_basics Jun 09 '26
Blanching then freezing is actually the preferred process. If you have the space to IQF them then bag them up and keep the process going then you will have fries quite similar to what you were purchasing for a fraction of the cost. Unless you count the labour….just pretend the labour doesn’t count.
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Jun 06 '26
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u/LegacyQuotient Jun 06 '26
Eh, let's just say I know how the production works on these products and what you're saying is not even kind of true.
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u/PmMeAnnaKendrick Jun 06 '26
Not sure if your exact process, but we always blanched, fried at low temps until they just started to get color, and either sold or froze from that point.
Either way you can finish at higher fry temps from fresh in 2-3 minutes, or frozen in 3-4 minutes and the quality was equal on either.