Crispy Potato Stacks (Easy and Fail Proof Recipe) - Rasa Malaysia (2024)

FAQs

What makes potatoes crispy science? ›

The starches start cross-linking in a layer on the outside of the potato pieces. Eventually, heat drives off the moisture from the layer of starch, leaving behind empty cells. When you bite into those vacated cells, you experience that delightful crispy texture.

The key to the crispy, crunchy exterior is in the method for their recipe: shaking the boiled and drained potatoes roughly until the outsides break off and begin to form basically a “potato paste” on the outsides. For my recipe, I add potato flour and cornstarch to encourage an even crispier-crunchier crust.

Red potatoes are great for roasting, cooking in soups, or boiling or steaming for potato salad. The waxy nature of the flesh means they'll maintain their shape, but it also means they will get gluey when overworked, so you'll want to choose a different potato for mashing.

Preheat the fat. While the potatoes parboil, add the oil or butter to the roasting pan, transfer it to the warm oven, and heat it for about 5 minutes before adding the potatoes. This allows the outside of the potatoes to crisp up nicely and not just absorb the cold fat when you put them in the oven.

The acid in the vinegar can also help to slightly break down the surface of the potatoes, aiding in the development of a crispier texture during frying. Additionally, the vinegar can contribute to a golden-brown color on the exterior of the fries.

Cornstarch typically makes for a crispier finish than flour. Cornstarch absorbs moisture from the food and expands, giving deep-fried foods a crispy coating. When the food is fried, the moisture cooks out of the cornstarch, leaving a crackly, puffy coating on the outside.

Soaking the sliced potatoes in water helps to draw out some of the starch from the middle of the potato, resulting in a sturdier, crispier French fry.

Rice Flour

If you need to use a large amount, you may increase the cost of your cooking project considerably. Still, you can swap in an equal amount of rice flour in place of cornstarch in recipes like Chicken Karaage or Harissa Honey Popcorn Chicken, and you'll find the results just as satisfyingly crunchy.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

All potatoes can fit into a healthy diet, but purple potatoes, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes—which are often grouped with potatoes—stand out due to their high amounts of protective plant compounds and essential nutrients.

When should you not use russet potatoes? ›

When to avoid: Because of their high starch content, starchy potatoes don't hold together very well when cooked so avoid using them in dishes that require boiling, roasting or slicing like casseroles, potato bakes, gratins or potato salads.

The critical parameters for the chipping potatoes are moisture, starch, and sugar level. For a good potato chip, the dry matter should be ∼ 20–23%, giving a specific gravity of 1.080–1.095. Potatoes with a lower specific gravity require a longer frying time and absorb more oil.

Potato cells are packed with starch granules, which swell and burst during cooking. The starch molecules then dissolve and form a gel, which hardens to make the crust. But there is a limit to how thick this will get during one spell in the fryer. This is why chips tend to be fried twice.

The potato does not produce electricity; instead, it acts as an electrolyte or a buffer. Hence it forces the electrons to travel through the potato by separating zinc and copper and forms a complete circuit. By using only two potatoes, a small amount of potato energy or electrical energy is generated.

When cooked at high temperatures, sugars react with amino acids, including asparagine, in a chemical process known as the Maillard reaction. The reaction is what gives fried potatoes their prized flavor and color, but it is also what produces acrylamide.