sweet potato fries

It's that time again. Another weekend behind us. Another Monday unfurling itself at our feet. Moments like this make me pause over my mug of coffee in quiet contemplation. There really is nothing more in life aside from this.

Few things get my juices flowing on a Monday morning like delicious fried food. We're revisiting the sweet potato and outfitting it into a dish that elevates it beyond naturally raw and healthy form.

You ever have a french fry before? Do you like them? How about an orange one? Just you wait. You're about to see some shit you're really gonna like.

one sweet potato

one tablespoon of baking soda

one cup of canola oil

cayenne

garlic powder

paprika

salt

You're probably gonna notice something about your sweet potato right off the bat: the fact that it looks absolutely nothing like french fries. To remedy this, grab your big knife and get busy.

I feel like I shouldn't even have to explain this part. You know what a fucking french fry looks like.

Great, that's the whole potato. This is the part of the recipe where things get interesting. I'm going to let you in on a little trick I picked up on the internet from this guy; now, with most french fry methods, the raw spud goes right into the hot oil straight away with no intermediate phase. Today, however, we're gonna pre-boil them for a few minutes, but before we do that, we're also going to add a bit of baking powder to the water.

The baking powder basically creates a more alkaline cooking environment which roughs up the outside of the 'taters more than water would alone. I don't really know why it works. I just know that it does. Watch the video.

If you clicked the link, you probably noticed that his recipe is for roasted potatoes and not french fries. I was toying with the idea of going full fitspo-blog with this one and making "healthy" "baked" "sweet potato" "oven fries" instead of actual fries but ultimately decided against it just so I could try out this tip with hot lipids instead of warm oven air.

Back to the water. Grab your baking soda. Stir it in, make it all disappear. Get your pot over a hot flame for phase three of the operation.

Into the abyss. There's no going back now.

We are NOT boiling these things to death today. Leave 'em in for a few minutes at the very most if they're chunky, and less than that if they're a bit more slender.

There they are. Do the outsides look...correct? Like in the video? Hell if I know. I just want to believe.

Give them a minute to drain and then pat them dry with a paper towel; you want as little water as possible standing between the flesh of the potatoes and that hot, sweet oil.

Get the party started and toss those suckers in. I find that canola oil works very well in terms of flavor, but that's a decision you can make with your own brain. Do not overburden the pan; adding them all at once will cause the temperature of the oil to drop too quickly, resulting in a soggy, limp, lackluster final product. Not in my kitchen.

Use your tongs to transport them delicately to a plate with a paper towel on top of it. Repeat the process until there are no more sad, boiled potatoes left.

When you're all done with that part, gather them all into a big bowl. Add in your spices and give the fellas a good toss.

One sweet potato's worth of fries is NOT enough for any normal human being, but I'm on a budget, so what the fuck do you want me to do? They're crispy. They're tender. They're handsome, sensitive, and way too easy to make considering how fattening they are. When you've got a hankerin' for something like this, nothing else will do. There are so few foods that feel just as good on the way down.