French Fries with Herb Infused Aioli

I tried my hand at making french fries this past Sunday after getting home from the Bite with these potatoes my roommate got at the farmers' market:


I'm not sure exactly what varieties they are, but I do know that they came from Rainbow Farm, which I think is in Haines, OR. They made for some visually striking fries, and they came out pretty well near perfect (fries aren't that difficult, really...). Some folks like to leave the skins on their potatoes before cooking them, but I've never really been down with that, so I peeled mine and cut them into fairly thick and stubby fry shapes:


Working in batches, I gave them a "par-fry" at about 350F for five minutes in a combination of peanut and canola oil. This cooks the fries through without crisping them up. For that, I gave them a second fry at 380F for another three minutes. A spider (strainer with a long handle) and a candy or deep fry thermometer come in handy here, by the way. This process will pretty much give you perfect fries every time. Like I said, not particularly difficult.

The aioli was less than an unqualified success, however. Aioli is basically garlic flavored mayonnaise, and I made this by adding some pureed garlic to the Alton Brown recipe I used for mayo a couple months back. I added an extra egg yolk for a little extra emulsification insurance, but this didn't seem to help, as the aioli separated pretty quickly. I guess I'll have to work on my mayo/aioli. Of course, you could just eat your fries with ketchup. Personally, I feel that ketchup is best kept on burgers and hot dogs, and as far away from fries as possible, but it seems I'm in the minority on this.

So there you have it. Go make some fries!