Julia Child is one of the most famous names in culinary history. While her heyday has long since passed, she remains an icon in the industry, renowned for teaching Americans the art of French cooking. Despite all the newcomers in the culinary world, Julia Child’s top cooking tips are still revered by many chefs today. One such tip is her trick to making the best home fries. How did she do it? Child always used two kinds of fat to achieve a perfectly crispy texture.
The cookbook author’s home fries recipe incorporates both oil and butter, the latter of which she was known for embracing. Child was a major proponent of using generous amounts of butter in her cooking. To make her home fries, Child would toss diced parboiled potatoes into a skillet with vegetable oil and butter to cook until light brown. You could also use leftover bacon grease for a richer, more decadent taste. She would then add just a little more butter and cover the skillet for a few minutes to crisp them up. The television personality’s method works well because while the oil allows the potatoes to cook evenly, the butter helps to brown the exterior and gives them that satisfying crunch.
The best potatoes to use for crispy home fries
Julia Child’s recipe calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which produce fluffy interiors and are known for caramelizing easily because of their higher sugar content. However, there are excellent alternatives you can use if you’re whipping up breakfast and don’t have any Yukon Golds on hand. Maybe you’re making one-pan breakfast sandwiches or a French omelet and want some crusty potatoes on the side. Russet potatoes are perfect for yummy diner-style home fries, too. Russets are starchy and dry in consistency, which yields a soft, creamy texture once they’ve been parboiled. Their higher starch content actually makes for even crispier home fries than Yukon Golds.
The science goes: Starchier potatoes deliver crispier outsides and creamier insides. Yukon Golds are considered somewhere in between crispy and creamy. Red potatoes are to be avoided unless they’re all you have in the kitchen. While they will brown nicely when cooked, they won’t stay crispy for long on account of their low starch content. Waxy reds also won’t be as soft as starchy potatoes, as they don’t break down the same way. Fingerlings are not your friend here either, for the same reason. Ultimately, you want to pick up some Yukon Golds or Russets for home fries that crunch when you bite into them and subsequently melt in your mouth.
