Stephen’s Frozen French Fries

[STEbbq]

I hesitate to call this a recipe but let’s call it an opening for Q&A or a FAQ.

This is possibly the easiest recipe ever but yeah, it does add a nice smokey flavor to French fries.

I have made this several times now. I did notice that the Akorn which was directly over coals was much smokier than the MB560 and perhaps a bit much. I do think it was perhaps the water/liquids hitting the coals and creating smoke because of the stainless steel trays I use with holes. So this is probably a recipe best done indirect or using flat hotel pans/cookie sheets if direct. A diffuser would probably work on a kamado if your pans have holes like mine.

jfmorris I have found flipping is kinda of optional here, FWIW, or at least doesn’t make a big difference. This may be a tray issue so flip if using a cookie sheet perhaps.

Ingredients

1 bag of frozen French fries from the store (perhaps frozen homemade)
Olive oil for coating
Salt to taste
Favorite condiment (try mayo guys!)

Process

1. Heat smoker to 400-450. Keep in mind direct or indirect notes above.

2. Coat French fries with light oil or spray down cooking tray.

3.Cook fries until reasonably crispy. This is usually between 40-50 minutes but can be as early as 35 minutes.

4. Salt immediately following removal from smoker and serve immediately with favorite condiments.


There you go everyone. Have at it.

[CaptainMike]

Been doing tatertots like that for quite a while. When I first started doing them that way my friends all teased me for BBQ'ing tots, now most of them do it that way!

[STEbbq]

Yes! I have done tater tots once or twice like this too. They also turn out good!

[RichieB]

Great method. I'll give it a try. I am a shoestring guy. It's time for some crinkle cuts. I don't have the cookers you mentioned. How about Kettle with SnS indirect but wide open to get those high temps?

[STEbbq]

Sounds like a winner to me!

[jfmorris]

STEbbq Ok - I think I am gonna have to get some of these perforated pans for cooking stuff on the grill. I had something like that once, and gave it away as I never used it at the time. Now I see reasons to have it...

So you say you don't have a deflector in there, but I don't see flames down in the bottom of the Akorn? Is the fire small or just out of sight in the picture?

[jfmorris]

glitchy I had a timely email in my inbox about an All-Clad seconds sale, but sadly, no outdoor cookware is included in the current sale... and $79 for an 11 inch square grill pan is kinda steep!

I like the $30 price tag on the large Weber grilling basket much better, and will keep an eye out for a couple of those for summer cooking...

[STEbbq]

The fire is small/out of pic. This was taken after I had the brisket on all day so temp was maybe 350 as I was ramping it up to cook the fries.

[surfdog]

I’ve not tried this…yet.
But I use my Weber pans (6678 & 6435) for nachos…and they don’t sit around long enough to get cold. Worthy additions IMO.

[radiodome21]

Well I did some Smiles on the SNS. I hope the kids don’t like it. More for me. It’s very good. Tossed a few chunks of pecan on there.

[barelfly]

Thanks for sharing!

up in the Idaho area, they ask if you want fry sauce…I had no idea what they were talking about, but it’s a mayo of some sort…

but, I like this! Will have to give this a go!

[Bkhuna]

I never heard of Idaho fry sauce before so I googled it. Looks good. Then again, what do you expect from a state with "Famous Potatoes" on their license plates.

[Andrrr]

Thanks for sharing. Are you putting smoke on these or just cooking indirect on the grill?

[STEbbq]

I mean, there are always wood chunks in there so yes on the smoke?

[Andrrr]

Ok. I didn't know if you were cooking with just charcoal or if you put chunks of wood on the coals too. STEbbq

[jfmorris]

Hey - do you think this would work on a gas grill? I've got to do frozen fries for 12 tomorrow night, and told SWMBO that I might be able to toss them in some big foil pans on the Genesis rather than tying up the oven. In the oven, if you try more than one pan, they just don't come out.

I am thinking foil pans in the gasser, but would it burn. like too much direct heat?

[synodog]

Wondering the same thing. I have a gasser that might work because the WSMs may not get as high as I need it to be for fries.

[STEbbq]

Google says the tin foil pans can easily withstand 500 and potentially higher. That would seem to suggest a medium heat would be fine. synodog

[STEbbq]

Over 1000 Jim and @synodog

https://firefighterinsider.com/aluminum-foil-flammable/

[gcdmd]

Chipotle mayo is a great dipping sauce for fries.

[Jerod Broussard]

I have Sriracha Mayo.

[STEbbq]

I totally agree on chipotle mayo. Hate sriracha too.

[Jerod Broussard]

Cooking "tray." "Charolas" en Español. Extent of my Spanish in this Recipe.

If I got the pellet up to 450 it would definitely be smoking.

[Bkhuna]

How do you get all the temp probes into the fries?

[Draznnl]

Vewwy, vewwy carefully.

[jfmorris]

Well, I guess since you did these direct on the kamado, I could try them direct (in a large pan) on the gas grill. May need to go low heat to avoid scorching, and open the grill up and toss them around periodically?

I am thinking what I may do is put a large sheet of heavy duty foil down on top of the flavorizer bars, below the cooking grate, to help make the gasser more indirect, like an oven. I've done that before when using a gas grill to reheat a ham or turkey at my in-laws, to free up the oven for sides and such, years ago.

I was surprised I didn't find much info on this topic on the Internet. The few pages I found often said to defrost the fries first. Who's gonna do that?

I'm doing smash burgers on the flat top, dogs on the kamado, and looks like I'll drag the gasser around there and do the fries on it. I'll report back on results.

[STEbbq]

I might try going high heat for maybe 5-10 minutes to crisp them up a bit towards the end but if the lower heat is generating a nice crispy fry then you are good.

[jfmorris]

Well, I did this yesterday, and it was a learning experience for sure. I was feeding some hungry college students.

I basically started by trying to replicate the indirect heat of an indoor oven, by making a deflector from two layers of heavy duty foil. It was easy to just wrap it over the end of the two end flavorizer bars as shown below - I've done this before to do turkey or ham on a gas grill.



So then the setup was some foil pans above the foil deflector, with the grill on high:



Cook was about 6 pounds of seasoned fries.



I used a spatula to turn and toss, spraying with Pam each time. I realized about 30 minutes in that things were staying too floppy. I ended up using a spatula to lift the end grate, and used tongs to yank all the foil out of there, to make the heat direct. I also turned the burners from medium to high, which was probably where they needed to be all along.

Things got done faster then, but about half the fries were still soggy, and went into the oven in the house while we ate the crispier ones from the smaller pan. Worked out. If I do this again, I will use the pans, but no deflector, and I will run the heat medium until things look defrosted, and after a few minutes to defrost, crank everything to high, tossing often.

So lessons learned:

1. Do direct next time, skipping the foil deflector.
2. Maybe run medium heat for a few minutes to defrost, then blast high heat. We are basically "pan frying" but with more than a single layer, you gotta toss them often to get crisp.
3. Open grill to stir/toss with a spatula every 5 minutes or so, spraying with pam/oil as needed.
4. Even though they are in a pan, they got a nice smoky taste they don't get in the oven.

[STEbbq]

Well, I am sorry it didn’t turn out amazing. I feel like I should I should have been able to help better there. I do think your takeaways make sense.

Honestly, though I thought you were going with the direct approach first off as you mentioned in the first few sentences above. I should have been more clear in my response. I guess my lack of gas experiences shows through.

I do think for that volume of fries tossing is needed!

[jfmorris]

STEbbq I think next time they will be amazing, by tweaking the process and going direct for sure the entire cook.

[fzxdoc]

Keep tweaking, Jim jfmorris . I'll wait until you get the technique perfected on the gasser and then swoop in and capitalize on your findings.

It's interesting that you got a bit of a smoky flavor from the gasser. Did you use any wood on those flavorizer bars?

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Kathryn, I think when i cranked the heat all the way to max a little smoke came from stuff burning off the flavorizer bars. But some wood could work.

[STEbbq]

I am planning to try these again today. I think what I will do is sit the Akorn diffuser on top of the regular grate and then my SS pans with holes on top of the diffuser. Larger sheet or cookie pans might not fit as well. I feel like that should get the best mix of smoke while keeping things direct but avoiding the whole water dripping down on the coals and creating too much smoke.