How to cut potatoes for roast. How to cook country-style potatoes with a crispy crust

Not only the appearance, but also the taste of the dish depends on the shape of the potato cut: if the pieces are the same, then they are boiled or fried evenly. Homemade potato cutting is different from restaurant cutting. In restaurants, chefs do everything to make dishes look as impressive as possible, so they sacrifice savings in favor of beauty. Housewives try to clean and cut the tubers so that there is less waste. Restaurant cutting methods at home are used only in preparation for the holidays.

Preliminary preparation

Before cutting potatoes, the tubers need to be washed well. If you are going to peel the potatoes later, you can simply wash the skin with your hands so that the damage and eyes are clearly visible. But to prepare tubers in their skins (boiling in their uniforms, baking in a country style), they are washed especially carefully: rubbed with a brush under running water.

Even slightly damaged tubers are not suitable for boiling in their skins. If there are rhizoctonia black specks on the potato (they look like tiny lumps of dirt), they must be removed with a brush. There should be perfectly clean tubers of the correct shape, without damage. If such potatoes are boiled or stewed in the country style, they can be eaten with the peel: after brushing, the skin becomes thin, like tissue paper.

Potatoes that will be cooked without skins are cleaned after washing, eyes and damaged areas are cut out, and then they must be dipped in cold water so that the flesh does not darken. You should first cut all the peeled potatoes, then transfer them to a container for cooking. If you cut one potato at a time and transfer it to a hot frying pan or saucepan with boiling water, the pieces will cook unevenly.

Simple ways to cut potatoes

Simple methods of cutting potatoes include those that can be easily done using any knife, and without first “cleaving” the tuber: circles, slices, sticks, cubes, straws, slices, shavings.

Circles

Peeled and washed potatoes can be cut into circles 1–1.5 cm thick (Fig. 1). This cutting method is called paysanne. Pieces 1.5, sometimes 2 cm thick, are used for preparing “country” soups, stewing, and country-style baking. Mugs 0.7–1 cm thick are deep-fried.

Fig.1. Potatoes, sliced

To fry potatoes in the usual way, the tubers are cut into circles 2–3 mm thick, and for making chips – even thinner, about 1–2 mm. Usually small and medium-sized tubers are cut in this way: it is difficult to separate a neat thin circle from a large potato with an ordinary knife. Therefore, to prepare homemade chips, it is more convenient to chop potatoes using a shredder (Fig. 2).

When slicing in a restaurant, mugs of approximately the same diameter are selected from the middle of the tuber, and the rest are used for puree.

Fig.2. Universal shredder for vegetables

Slices

If the circles are cut into 2 or 4 parts, you will get slices (Fig. 3). The tuber is cut lengthwise into 2 parts. If it is large, then each half is also cut lengthwise into 2 parts. These pieces are cut crosswise. While one half of the tuber is being cut, the other half is immersed in water.

Fig.3. Slices

Slices 1–2 cm thick are suitable for making soups and baking. For frying, potatoes are cut into slices 2–3 mm thick. The rule for restaurant slicing is the same as for mugs: choose slices of the same size.

Slices

Medium, less often small, tubers are cut into slices. First, cut the potato into 4 parts (as for slices). To get slices, each quarter is cut in half (Fig. 4). This is an excellent cutting form for baking duck stuffed with apples, stewing with meat, and cooking country-style potatoes. The slices are also deep-fried.

Fig.4. Slices

The restaurant form of slicing differs from the home one only in that tubers of approximately the same size are chosen for holiday dishes.

Whetstones

Restaurant cuts:

Select tubers of approximately the same size, wash and peel them.
Cut a piece from each side of the tuber to form a rectangular parallelepiped.
Cut it into plates.
Stack the plates one on top of the other and cut them into bars.

When slicing at a restaurant, the slices should be identical (Fig. 5). The cross-section of the block is a square with a side of 6–7 mm. This cut is called batonnet. These sticks are deep fried.

Fig.5. Homemade potato slicing

Rice. 6. Restaurant cutting of potatoes into cubes

When cutting at home, the tuber is not pre-trimmed, so some pieces have an irregular shape and differ from others in size.

For soups, shorter sticks are used, cut using the prentanière method: 3–4 cm long and 0.7–1 cm thick. The prentanière sticks are fried (in the usual way and deep-fried), and stewed.

There are slicers on sale that can be used to easily and quickly cut potatoes into cubes, even for a very large company.

Fig.7. Slicers for cutting potatoes into cubes

Straw

Straws are very thin sticks.

Types of straws:

julienne – blocks 2 mm thick and 2.5 cm long;
share - length 4–5 cm.

The straws are most often deep-fried and used to prepare Korean salads.

To cut the tuber into strips, you need a very sharp knife. It is much easier to chop potatoes on a grater for Korean salads or using a special device (Fig. 8).

Fig.8. Devices for cutting tubers into strips

Cubes

To get cubes, the tuber is cut into sticks, then a stack of sticks is cut across (Fig. 9).

Types of cubes:

brunoise – edge 1–2 mm;
jardiniere – 3–4 mm;
Macedonian (macédonienne) – 5 mm;
paisan - parallelepipeds with a base of 1 × 1 cm and a height of 0.3–0.4 cm.

Raw tubers are cut into cubes for soups, and boiled ones for salads.

Fig.9. Cubes

Shavings

Potato chips are long thin ribbons 1–2 cm wide. They can be cut with a regular knife, but there is also a special device that allows you to make very even and neat chips (Fig. 10). Potato strips are deep fried.

Rice. 10. Potato planer

Methods for “grinding” whole tubers

To make whole potatoes seem the same and look more beautiful in the finished dish, they are given different, sometimes intricate, shapes.

Barrels

To make a keg:

The top and bottom of the potato are cut off.
The sides of the tuber are “ground down”, forming a barrel (Fig. 11).

The barrels are stewed whole or the middle is removed, stuffed and baked. Barrel-shaped tubers are stable and can be placed compactly in a baking dish.

Garlic

To make garlic, the barrel is cut into slices. A little pulp is trimmed off the sharp edge of each slice (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12. Garlic

"Accordions"

Deep transverse cuts are made on the tubers at a distance of 3–4 mm from each other (Fig. 13). Pieces of lard or cheese are inserted into the slits and baked.

Fig. 13. Baked potato accordion

"Pears"

The tuber is “grinded”, giving it the shape of a pear. Such potatoes are usually baked (Fig. 14).

Rice. 14. Potato “pears”

"Lapti"

Medium tubers are washed and cleaned. A transverse cut is made on the tuber. Using a knife and spoon, a “bast shoe” is formed (Fig. 15). Shallow transverse and longitudinal cuts are made on the “toe”. Lapti are stuffed, greased with butter and baked in the oven.

Rice. 15. Potato “bast shoes”

"Mushrooms"

A circular transverse incision is made on the tuber washed with a brush. One half of the potato is left in the peel (this is the “hat”), the second is trimmed, forming a “leg” (Fig. 16). The “mushrooms” are brushed with butter and spices and baked.

Rice. 16. Potato “mushrooms”

Shaped potato cutting

Curly cutting requires special tools.

Wavy chips

The peeled tuber is cut in the same way as into circles, using a special knife with a wavy blade (Fig. 17).

Rice. 17. Chip knife

Balloons

To make potato balls, you need a special spoon. It is stuck into the tuber and the stalk is rotated around its axis. The result is neat, identical balls the size of a hazelnut (Fig. 18). They are baked or deep-fried.

Rice. 18. Potato balls

Spirals

A metal skewer is inserted into the raw tuber. Then a device with a sharp blade is screwed onto it (Fig. 19). The knife cuts the potato so that you get one long ribbon 1 - 2 mm thick, twisted into a spiral.

Rice. 19. Potato spirals

The spirals are not removed from the skewers, but are immediately deep-fried (like chips). These “kebabs” look very impressive.

Slicing for cooking country-style potatoes

Students at the University of Essex found that when baked, the largest area of pieces will be covered with a golden crust if:

Cut the tuber lengthwise.
Cut each half at an angle of 30° (Fig. 20).

Fig.20. Tuber slicing

Students from a British university conducted a real study on the topic of cooking potatoes. They figured out how to quickly and correctly cut it into four parts, so that later there would be no problems with frying. It turned out that there is a more effective way than simply running a knife horizontally and vertically across a vegetable, as almost everyone in the world does.

Hospitality management students at the University of Essex have found a new way to cut potatoes before frying or baking. They did the actual research and used knowledge from a trigonometry course to come up with a curious but logical discovery: Cutting potatoes into the typical four pieces doesn't cook as well as cutting them into triangles, if the latter are produced in a special way. This, of course, is not an experiment from the “” series, but it is also a very useful activity.

You don't have to be a scientist yourself to understand their method. Everything becomes logical when looking at the drawings with marks - although it doesn’t hurt to know the basics of geometry. As an example, a potato 5 centimeters long and 11.5 centimeters wide was taken, which was first cut into four parts using the standard method - students claim that even British chefs use it.

Two movements with the knife, horizontally and vertically, and in the end we get four relatively equal pieces. Now the math comes into play: the total area of the internal surfaces of the potato that will be fried is 26 π. Each piece in length and width will be half the size of a whole potato.

Let's remember this number and cut the potato again - also into four parts, but in this example the vegetable will be cut into triangles. They all come from the same part of the potato, and essentially the students suggest simply cutting the potato in half and then cutting each half diagonally at an angle close to 30 degrees.

The results should be clear from the previous picture, but the numbers say much more. With an alternative cutting method, the cook receives a new straight line - a diagonal. And it radically changes the size of the fried surface of the potatoes - now they are long and thin pieces. And the total area of the internal surfaces of the potato is now 52.9 π.

The difference in the total areas of the surfaces to be fried (don't forget about the outer surface of the potato) is even greater - with the alternative method, 65 percent more parts of the potato will come into contact with the pan.

The students' research was inspired by a video recipe from the famous British chef and host of his own cooking show, Heston Blumenthal. In it, the cook, like many others, cut potatoes in the traditional way, but the students did not like his method. In a video response, they urge Heston to test their discovery in practice and review the recipe. And for the celebrity to be noticed by the students, they tagged him on social networks.

The editors of Medialeaks also conduct experiments with and on food from time to time. In the summer we wrote a life hack about... And before that, we studied the beneficial properties of orange peel - not like Gennady Malakhov, but those of its properties that...

Give preference to potatoes with a low starch content: the slices will retain their shape well when fried. Light, yellow and pink tubers are suitable.
Try to choose firm and smooth potatoes of the same variety and size. This will ensure the same level of doneness.
But it is better to put tubers with green skins aside or carefully trim them: green color indicates an increased content of solanine, which can spoil the taste of potatoes, or even lead to poisoning.
Before cooking, peeled potatoes need to be soaked to remove excess starch. Ideally, you need to soak overnight or at least a couple of hours, but 30–60 minutes will also work to your advantage. If you don't have time, still rinse the peeled and sliced potatoes under cold water.
And don't forget to dry the slices with paper towels: frying wet potatoes is not a good idea.
The shape and size of the chopped potatoes can be any. The main thing is that all the pieces are the same. This will ensure they cook as evenly as possible.
The frying time directly depends on the thickness of the pieces: the thicker, the longer. If the slices vary in size, judge doneness by the thickest one.

How to fry potatoes in a frying pan

Choose a cast iron or steel frying pan with a thick bottom. This is the best option for frying potatoes.
It is healthier to fry potatoes in refined vegetable oil, but tastier - in lard or lard. Which option to choose is up to you.
To ensure that the potatoes are perfectly browned, they should be placed in well-heated oil. It is not recommended to fry in cold oil or add it during frying.
It is better to fry potatoes in one layer. Then it will be covered with a crispy crust.
You need to turn the potatoes several times. It is important to find a balance: do not turn too often (otherwise the pieces will not brown) or too rarely (otherwise the dish will simply burn).
And you always need to add salt at the end. Otherwise, the potatoes will release moisture, stick together, and instead of perfect golden pieces you will get something unappetizing.

How to cook French fries

Usually, for cooking, tubers are cut into even pieces 5–10 mm wide and thick.
You will need a lot of vegetable oil. A lot of. About four times more than when frying in a pan.
The absence of a deep fryer can easily be filled with a frying pan or saucepan with a thick bottom.
The temperature of the oil in which the potatoes can be dipped should be about 180 °C. If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, simply drop one slice into the pan; if it immediately sizzles and floats, the oil is ready to use.
If you plan to fry a lot of potatoes, don't do it all at once. It is better to divide the cubes into several small portions and cook one at a time.
Place the finished potatoes in a colander to drain excess oil and dry with paper towels.
It’s better to salt the fries and add spices right on the plate.

How to fry potatoes in a slow cooker

Potatoes are cooked in a multicooker in the “Baking” or “Frying” mode.
First you need to heat the oil well, and then add the prepared potatoes.
Cooking time is about 40–50 minutes.
After about half an hour, the potatoes need to be turned over, and towards the end - salted. It's simple!

Recipes

pixabay.com

Ingredients:

5 medium potatoes;
2–3 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
1 medium onion;
1 clove of garlic;
a pinch of cumin;
small sprig of rosemary;
salt, pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Peel, cut, rinse and dry the potatoes. Heat oil in a frying pan and place the slices in it. When they are well browned, turn them over and add the onion, cut into half rings.

Continue cooking, stirring the potatoes occasionally until they are well browned on all sides. When the dish is almost ready, add chopped garlic, rosemary leaves, cumin, pepper and salt. Stir, wait a few minutes and remove the pan from the heat.

happykitchen.rocks

Ingredients:

6–7 medium yellow potatoes;
6 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
1 medium sized onion;
300 g fresh (or 30 g dried);
2 cloves of garlic;
3 sprigs of thyme;
5 tablespoons chopped parsley;
salt and pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Place the potatoes prepared for frying in a frying pan with 3 tablespoons of hot oil. Fry over high heat, stirring occasionally. When the potatoes are golden brown, cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and remove the dish from the heat.

Now you can start cooking the mushrooms.

Heat the remaining oil in another frying pan. Fry the onion in it until translucent. Add pre-peeled and washed mushrooms (if the mushrooms are very large, they can be chopped). Cook for about 7 minutes until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms are golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, add chopped garlic, chopped thyme and parsley.

Place the mushrooms in the pan with the potatoes, stir and cook for a few more minutes over medium heat.

If you use dried mushrooms, you need to soak them beforehand. It's best to do this the night before cooking.
Fresh mushrooms can be pre-cooked to ensure they are cooked.

whowhound.com

Ingredients:

6 medium yellow potatoes;
200–220 g bacon;
½ red onion;
2 tablespoons capers;
3 tablespoons of wine vinegar;
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard;
3 tablespoons olive oil;
rapeseed oil for frying;
salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste.

Preparation

Cut the potatoes into large cubes, put them in a saucepan, cover with water and cook over medium heat until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the bacon. Cut it into large pieces and fry in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the bacon is cooked, remove it with a slotted spoon, drain the grease, and wipe the surface of the pan with a paper towel.

Pour quite a bit of rapeseed oil into the pan and heat it until it starts to smoke a little. Place the drained potatoes into the hot oil and shake the pan. Reduce heat and fry potatoes until light brown. Add salt and pepper.

After a few minutes, shake the pan again and add the diced onion. Continue cooking until the onion becomes translucent. Then put the pre-dried capers into the pan and pour in the vinegar.

When the vinegar has almost evaporated, add the olive oil, mustard and bacon. Season with salt and pepper again and stir. Serve the salad warm.

For many years, fried potatoes have occupied a leading place among the favorite dishes of residents of post-Soviet countries.

This popularity is due not only to the simplicity and speed of preparation, but also to the incredible taste of the dish, which goes well with both fresh vegetables and various pickles.

Experienced chefs say that the taste of fried potatoes largely depends on how the vegetable is cut. Therefore, today we will try to figure out how to cut potatoes for frying.

This method of chopping root vegetables is the simplest and most understandable. As a rule, cutting potatoes into cubes is most often used if the vegetable is intended to be used in the preparation of salads and various soups. According to experienced chefs, fried potatoes cut in this shape will be no less tasty.

Cutting potatoes into neat cubes is not particularly difficult. To do this, you should use a knife and a cutting board, on which a pre-washed and peeled vegetable is placed, which should be cut into two equal parts.

After this, one of the halves is cut into two more slices. For convenience, it should be laid with the cut part down.

If you use a large root vegetable, additional chopping into more slices may be necessary. Having collected all the slices together, you need to cut the vegetable into cubes using transverse movements with a knife.

Frying diced vegetables has its own advantages, because as a result, the connoisseur of fried potatoes will receive a dish in which every small piece will be covered with a crispy golden crust. At the same time, the inside of the potatoes will remain soft and juicy.

Straws are the form of potato cutting that most modern housewives prefer. The fact is that the vegetable cut into strips after frying in oil is very reminiscent both in appearance and in taste of French fries, beloved by many. So, first you also need to peel the root vegetable and rinse thoroughly under cold running water.

The root vegetable should then be laid out on the cutting board on its side, after which a slice of 1 centimeter thick should be cut off. Identical strips should be formed from the cut slice, the width of which should correspond to the thickness of the slice.

Immediately before frying the chopped vegetable, it should be thoroughly rinsed again to remove excess starch.

Pre-peeled and washed potatoes should be placed on a board, securing them on the sides with your fingers. After this, the root crop is divided into four equal parts using longitudinal and transverse movements with a knife. Each formed slice is subsequently cut into two more parts so that the result is two identical slices.

The thickness of each block should be no less than 1 and no more than 3 centimeters, which will ensure proper roasting. It is also recommended to rinse the chopped potatoes again in a container with cold water.

It is better to fry the vegetable in slices in a regular frying pan with a sufficient amount of oil added. This technique of chopping root vegetables can be found in such a popular dish as country-style potatoes.

Much less commonly used is the method of cutting potatoes for frying, which involves forming uniform circles from the vegetable. This method of chopping root vegetables is quite simple.

Peeled and washed potatoes should be placed on a cutting board with the side down and, using transverse movements, cut into uniform circles, the thickness of each of which should not exceed 5 millimeters.

This method of chopping vegetables is suitable for baking in the oven along with other ingredients, as well as for frying in a frying pan with vegetable oil.

In this case, when stirring the contents of the pan, you need to act extremely carefully in order to preserve the original shape of the main ingredient.

To make the task easier, modern housewives can always use various devices designed for cutting potatoes into shapes.

Such kitchen utensils will not only ensure the formation of identical pieces, but will also minimize the likelihood of injury when using a sharp knife.

How to cut potatoes correctly

I have always loved collecting recipes and cooking. But no one taught me how to cook, I figured it all out on my own. And I cooked my first meal when I got married at 22 years old. Since then I have learned a lot, of course. My family always praises my cooking. But, unfortunately, I can’t cook anything other than the simplest dishes.

I have always been a working person, and there was no time to work in the kitchen. The maximum I could always devote was about an hour a day to this activity. And cooking has always been for me just a woman’s household chore. But lately, since I’ve been sitting at home, I’ve been thinking more and more often about how I’d like to learn how to cook something more interesting and tasty. Especially since I came to Lyra. You yourself know how much culinary beauty is posted here in diaries every day!

Ever since I started this diary, I have been trying to collect interesting recipes and learn something new every day. But I understand more and more clearly that I can’t do without learning basic culinary skills. Because my cooking is entirely based on intuition. But knowledge is sorely lacking.

Besides, cooking becomes my hobby. And every day I love this activity more and more.

Starting from this post, I will understand the basics of cooking and share the knowledge I have gained with you. Perhaps I’m not the only one who wants to learn how to cook better than now)

To begin with, I decided to deal with main ways to cut potatoes and other hard vegetables. And here small discoveries awaited me.

Let's start with potatoes. The main forms of cutting are straws, sticks, cubes, slices.

Straw. Potatoes are cut into thin slices. Then the plates are chopped into strips 4-5 cm long with a cross section of 0.2 x 0.2 cm. It turned out to look like thin noodles, although I always thought that straws and sticks are different names for the same cutting method). It looks like this:

Fortunately, now you can not suffer with your hands, but use various devices. Many people use a Korean grater for this cutting.

Potatoes cut into strips are used for deep frying. I started looking for what they actually make from it and found:

Potato pie

Cut the potatoes into strips. Rinse in cold water, so that the pieces do not stick together during frying. Drain in a colander or sieve.

In a saucepan or deep baking sheet, heat the fat to 170-180 degrees. The ratio of fat to potatoes should be 4:1. Place potatoes in it and fry, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and until the potatoes are cooked. Remove the finished potatoes from the fat with a slotted spoon and place in a colander or on a wire sieve to drain excess fat. Sprinkle with salt powder or just fine salt.

It turns out something delicious like this:

To prevent the potatoes from sticking together during frying, it is recommended to first roll them in potato starch. I did it without him. Very similar to chips. In our house, this food was immediately nicknamed “Daughter’s Joy”) In general, potato pie is both a side dish and an appetizer for beer.

Bars. Potatoes are cut lengthwise into plates up to 1 cm thick and cut into sticks 4-5 cm long. The sticks are used for frying or preparing borscht, soups, and other dishes.

It looks like this:

I learned how to cut potatoes for frying a long time ago. Now I will cut it the same way for borscht. You can also fry it French fries. It is prepared in the same way as potato pie. The only difference is in the form of cutting.

Cubes. Until recently, this was a universal way for me to cut potatoes. Cubes are cut: large - with a cross-section of 2 - 2.5 cm, medium - 1 - 1.5 and small - 0.3 - 0.5 cm.

Large ones are used for stewing and making soups, medium ones are used for cooking potatoes in milk and for stewing, small cubes are cut from boiled potatoes for salads and side dishes for cold dishes.

I don't think anyone needs to explain what potato cubes look like. But to complete the information, I found a picture for them too (unfortunately, I have nothing to photograph with myself):

Slices. Raw medium-sized potatoes are cut in half and then radially into slices. The slices are deep-fried and used in pickle and stew.

These are the slices:

Slices. Boiled potatoes are cut into four pieces crosswise and chopped into slices 1-2 mm thick for salads and vinaigrettes.

Circles. Boiled or raw potatoes are shaped into a cylinder (which is probably not necessary at home). Then cut into circles 1.5 - 2 mm thick. Raw circles are fried, boiled ones are used for baking fish and meat.

Everything is simple here too, but I again found the photo:

Barrels and cylinders. The potatoes are peeled, giving them a barrel shape. Used for garnish. The barrels are often stuffed with various fillings and baked in the oven.

Here's an idea on how you can make a beautiful side dish from potatoes. I loved it. The hats, I think, are smeared with sauce:

To complete the information, I should also mention cutting potatoes in the form garlic or pears. First done barrel. Then it is cut lengthwise into several pieces. A notch is cut on the edge of each barrel. These potatoes are used to make soups. And with the help of special notches they cut out of raw potatoes balloons. Large and medium balls are deep-fried, medium and small ones are used boiled as a side dish. But, unfortunately, I could not find photographs of such a cut.

You can also cut potatoes using a special device spiral and then deep fry.

It is not difficult to guess that other root vegetables are cut in exactly the same way.

Beets and carrots for soups, stews and generally preparing any dishes, cut into strips, cubes and slices.

Onion- rings, half rings, slices and small cubes.