This Papas Fritas Recipe is your guide to making the most perfect Cuban French Fries, or papitas as we love to call them.
Is there anything better than homemade French fries? If your answer is yes then you’ve probably never tried Cuban papas fritas, or how we like to call them papitas. Some like them cut in thick batons, others grew up eating them like thin matchsticks or cut in thin rounds. It probably depended on how much time and patience your grandmother had to cut them up. Either style was delicious.
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Yaya promised me, that if I passed by she would make me my favorite- Bistec Palomilla with papitas fritas y arroz blanco on the side. It was almost like a miracle. No matter what, if I came by, she always had a steak in the fridge waiting. This meal just brings me back to some of my favorite days. Sitting at her counter watching her fry up some papitas with my steak. Then the joy she would have just sitting in her chair catching up with me as I devoured the perfect meal. I just always felt so loved and cared for.
Cristy
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Like White Rice, home made French fries were a weekly staple at the Cuban table. The only way a French fry can get better is dragged in the juices of a Palomilla Steak for the classic bistec con papas fritas or dipped into the yolk of a fried egg. There really isn’t anything better than that!
My grandmother, Abuela Oliva and my great Aunt, Madrina Teresa were the dynamic duo of French fries. One would peal. The other would cut them free hand. Some were thicker than others. Then they would start slicing them like a well-oiled machine. It was always in the same pale green bowl with the one sharp knife she owned.
They were crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. My favorite part were the ends in weird shapes that always had a thick part and a super crispy thin edge. Papa perfection!
Ani
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So how did they do it? No she didn’t fry them twice like the French. She would soak them in salted water- for hours! Then would drain them a few times and continue to soak them. Remember you have to switch out the water often, so that they are not sitting in cloudy starchy water. When it came time to fry them, she would only put in a small amount at a time, allowing the potatoes to swim freely in the oil. Even if she had 10 potatoes to fry, she did it in small batches. That level of restraint and care was present in every single fry.
When she was older and barely cooking I asked her for the recipe of papas fritas. She basically laughed in my face. “Escribe ahi. Papas, aciete y sal. Papas fritas no necesitan una receta, necesitan paciencia.”
Ani
No recipe, only patience, she said.
So although we wouldn’t dare argue with any Cuban Abuela that patience is key, here are some tips and our step by step process of how to get close to making the perfect papas fritas.
Our Papas Fritas Tips:
- Never put your potatoes in the fridge. The starch intensifies and this makes it difficult for them to crisp up.
- As you peel the potatoes keep them in salted water. This will ensure they do not oxidize and this is the secret to stripping them from the starch. Less starch, yields a crispier potato.
- As they come out of the oil, sprinkle with salt. The salt will stick more to the fresh oil.
- How many potatoes should you fry up? Calculate for about 1 potato per person.
- If you don’t have the time to soak your potatoes for hours, at least soak them while you cut them. It will take away the initial layer of starch.
- The best tool to remove potatoes from the oil is a mesh spider or skimmer.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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