Covert Operation

I've used some semi-covert tactics to learn a few tricks to make some superior home-fried potatoes--I say semi-covert because prying the trick from my friend Dan was too easy to be considered a true mission. I've now been teasing Dan for probably weeks that I'm going to share his trick and say its my own, thus bringing my worldwide fame or at least fame among the 50 or so people who actually read my blog posts in their entirety. Yes, these potatoes are good enough to make me a few friends I think.

I've made olive-oil fried potatoes many times, so I was a little surprised the tuber could achieve the sort of greatness that involves not being able to stop eating them no matter how full you are--and I've had training in resisting food. But one night a few weeks ago, Dan, Megan and I were sitting around the dining room table chatting whilst Meg and I stabbed slice after slice of the home fries, swearing each would be our last.

My mistake in crafting a superior potato, or a superior anything really, is my impatience. I turn up the heat and pan-fry the daylights out of my vegetables because I'm hungry and I want them now. But Dan takes his time, turning down the heat and letting the heat permeate the potatoes before browning the exterior. Then he seasons the fries (with Landry's seasoned salt and pepper) when they're about halfway done. He theorizes that if you season at the beginning you end up salting the oil along with the potatoes. Halfway through, the oil has already seeped into the potatoes, soaking them through and really making that salt stick.