Thin-cut French Fries

Equipment: Sous vide setup, Sous vide bag(s), Baking rack, Dutch oven or stock pot, Strainer. Yield: 330 g.

1. Preheat Joule to 194 °F / 90 °C. ChefSteps cooks sous vide with Joule, the sous vide tool created by our in-house team of chefs, designers, and engineers. Compact and gorgeous, Joule is a WiFi-connected device you control easily with your smartphone.
2. Sort and peel potatoes (1.2 kg Russet potatoes, Burbank). Use this simple technique to find potatoes ideal for frying. Peel the potatoes, and place them in water to slow browning.
3. Cut potatoes. Cut peeled potatoes into batons 9 mm thick. Submerge in water to keep them from browning.
4. Make brine (1 kg Water, 15 g Salt, 10 g Glucose syrup DE 42, 2.5 g Baking soda). Combine water, salt, glucose syrup, and baking soda to prepare a brine. HOME-COOK HACK: Don't have glucose syrup lying around? We get it. Substitute granulated sugar for a similar effect—2.5 g granulated sugar for every 10 g glucose syrup. (The idea here is basically to emulate the natural sweetness in the potato. We've found that glucose does this best, but regular sugar works too.)
5. Package fries. Package fries with an equal weight of brine. Vacuum-seal bag or hang open edge over the side and clip in place. Space fries in one even layer within the sealed bag. NOTE: Using smaller batch sizes (about 500 g) will make it easier to handle fries without breaking them.
6. Cook 15 minutes. Cook fries sous vide until very tender, about 15 minutes. This ensures that the insides will be light and fluffy after frying. NOTE: Cooking the fries at this temperature reduces the risk of overcooking some fries before others have fully cooked. For best results, cook potatoes until they are nearly—but not quite—falling apart.
7. Cool and dry fries. Gently remove fries from the bag. Lay them on a wire rack, not touching each other, to cool them and let their surfaces dry. CHEF'S TIP: If you have access to a chamber vacuum sealer, place the rack of hot fries into the chamber and pull a vacuum. The falling pressure will cause water at the surface to quickly evaporate, cooling the fries and drying out the surface for a crisper crust. This is the technique Heston Blumenthal used at The Fat Duck to make his famous Triple-Cooked Chips.
8. Heat oil to 266 °F / 130 °C (Oil for frying, as needed). Fill a large pot about halfway with oil and heat to 266 °F / 130 °C. TIP: Use enough oil to ensure that the temperature doesn't drop too far when the cold fries are added, and be sure the pot is large enough to keep the oil from boiling over as the potatoes fry.
9. Fry those fries. Working with small batches, carefully lower the fries into the hot oil with a strainer or slotted spoon. Fry for about five minutes, or until the surface begins to feel dry and firm to the touch when the fries are lifted out of the oil.
10. Freeze fries. Remove fries from oil, and lay them out on a wire rack to cool and dry. Place in the freezer. At this point, the fries can be stored for several months frozen. When you're ready to serve, continue to the next step. NOTE: To avoid rancidity, vacuum-pack the fries after they're frozen, being careful not to crush them.
11. Heat oil to 374 °F / 190 °C (Oil for frying, as needed). Heat a large pot of oil to 374 °F / 190 °C. TIP: Again, use enough oil to ensure that the temperature doesn't drop too far when the cold fries are added, and be sure the pot is large enough to keep the oil from boiling over as the potatoes fry.
12. Fry, fry again. Fry for about 1 minute 45 seconds, or until the surface appears golden brown and bubbles streaming from the fries slow to a trickle, which indicates that the crust is dry and crisp.
13. Season and serve (Salt, kosher, ground fine, as needed; Black pepper, ground fine, as needed). Drain fries on paper towels to remove excess oil. This will prevent the crust from absorbing oil and becoming greasy as the fries cool. Season fries with finely ground salt and black pepper to taste.

From https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/thin-cut-french-fries