Burgers Class

Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

French fry lovers, consider yourselves warned: these crispy treats are a category-shattering work of wonder. And once you’ve tried them, the oil-soaked sogsters at your local diner may no longer pass muster. Fat Duck chef Heston Blumenthal and his team put serious elbow grease into developing a technique that changed the fried potato game, achieving a crisp, almost glasslike crust that conspires with an ethereally fluffy interior to make sure you’re never satisfied with ho-hum fries again. But truth be told, making Chef Heston’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Cooked_Chips">Triple-Cooked Chips</a> is a complicated and time-consuming proposition.Here, we simplify things with the aid of a brine and sous vide. After <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/finding-perfect-french-fry-potatoes">carefully selecting</a> and peeling our tubers, we combine them with the brine (water, salt, and glucose syrup or granulated sugar, plus baking soda to slightly elevate the pH) and gently cook the combo for 25 minutes. This helps create those super-soft insides and also helps ensure the potatoes don’t fall apart. As with most things sous vide, it’s also quite convenient, allowing you to cook up some <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/burgers">burgers</a> as your side dish softens. Remove the potatoes from the water, cool and let dry, then “parfry” to form what’s known as a “protocrust.” (Geeky, we know. Go ahead and steal our lunch money). After that, you can store them for later or fry ’em up on the spot. Finally, get ready to freak out as you experience the marvel that is a perfect fry. These bad boys may make a mockery of the “chips” you once loved, but you’ll add a seriously spectacular side dish to your repertoire. Seems like a fair trade, right?

Thick-Cut French Fries