Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Crispy Potato Straws (Pommes Paille) Recipe
Pommes Paille, crispy potato straws, are ultra-thin french fries! They fry up in simply 90 seconds, making them a speedy snack, or use as a basic garnish for dishes like tartare and tataki.
These crispy potato straws are the garnish I made for the Beef Tataki recipe that I additionally printed at this time. I’m writing the recipe individually as a result of it’s worthy of being a recipe by itself fairly than buried within the tataki recipe!
Referred to as pommes paille in France, which interprets to ‘potato straws’, they resemble golden, crispy strands of straw piled excessive in your plate. There’s nothing like a mound of them with a juicy steak or steak tartare, or just a big of bowl of them for snacking!
Not like common french fries, potato straws are nice served scorching or at room temperature, and they’re crisp throughout fairly than simply on the skin. Suppose – potato crisps. In reality, they’re home made french fry crisps which had been at all times my favorite as a child!
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Potato – Starchy or all-rounder potatoes. Australia: Sebago potatoes (the grime brushed ones) are ultimate, US: Russet, UK: Maris Piper. Simply not waxy ones (they gained’t go as crispy and don’t fry up as evenly golden).
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Oil – Vegetable oil, canola or another pure flavoured oil. You solely want about 2 cm / 0.8″ of oil.
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Salt flakes or desk salt – As a result of the potato straws are so fantastic, I discover that salt flakes stick higher as a result of they’re lighter than the coarser grain cooking salt (kosher salt) that I take advantage of for on a regular basis cooking. I crush the flakes up between my fingers earlier than sprinkling them on. Fleur de sel additionally works as a result of it has an identical delicateness to salt flakes, although it’s dearer so I usually reserve it for extra worthy functions! For those who don’t have salt flakes, use desk salt.
So long as you’ve acquired a julienne mandolin, it’s comparatively fast to make – a fraction of the time of conventional French fries. There’s no soaking or pre-boiling or twice frying. Simply julienne the potato, rinse off extra starch then they solely take 90 seconds to fry as much as crispy golden perfection!
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Julienne – Use a julienne mandolin to finely lower the potato into skinny strands. The orange mandolin pictured cuts the potato into 2 mm thick items (1/16″) so the potato straws are delicately crisp (ultimate to make use of as garnish). To function a facet dish alongside a protein, it’s usually a contact thicker so use a 3 – 4mm / 1/8″ julienne mandolin.
For those who don’t have a julienne mandolin, exhibit your knife abilities! Finely slice the potato into rounds, stack, then finely slice.
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Water bowl – Switch lower potato straight into a big bowl of water, to forestall them from going brown.
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Rinse the potato within the bowl, re-filling with contemporary water as wanted, till the water runs clear. The cloudiness is from the starch from the potato. It isn’t a buddy of crispiness, so we need to get trip of it. Then drain the potato in a colander.
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Dry – tip the potato onto a tea towel then pat dry utilizing one other tea towel. Get off as a lot extra water as you’ll be able to as this can scale back how a lot the oil bubbles up if you cook dinner in addition to a crispy insurance coverage. If time permits, simply unfold out on a tea towel, pat dry then go away to air dry for an hour or so (I usually strive to do that).
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Frying – Warmth 2.5 cm (1″) of oil in a saucepan or pot to 180°C/350°F being positive to depart 10cm/4″ headroom above the oil floor to the rim of the saucepan (oil effervescent clearance, see beneath for earlier than/after comparability).
Scatter potato slowly throughout the floor (don’t dump in a single place). Add sufficient so the potato is in a single layer, this can preserve them extra straight (too many = tangled and curly and can take longer to cook dinner). Pause if the oil begins effervescent too energetically then preserve including extra potato. ⚠️ Warning: The oil will bubble up if you add the potato so add slowly, then add extra because it subsides (it bubbles up essentially the most when the primary lot of potato goes in).
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Fry for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, separating tangled potatoes, or till the potato straws are crispy and light-weight golden (they’ll go a deeper golden as they drain). Scoop out then drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining potato straws. Sprinkle with salt then serve!
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Heat or at room temperature – Not like common French fries that are at their greatest served scorching, potato straws are nice heat or at room temperature. It’s because they’re crisp throughout, like potato crisps. Additionally, they keep 100% crisp for not less than 5 days!
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Facet dish – Pile a mountain of them on the facet of a steak with Bearnaise Sauce or Café de Paris butter- and also you’ve acquired Steak Frites! However they’re equally at house alongside pan fried fish or Fish with White Wine Sauce, burgers (a cheeseburger!) or a easy piece of chicken like Chicken Francese, Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce or Chicken Piccata (this may be my decide)
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Garnish – For the thinner potato straws, as pictured (2mm / 1/16″ thick), these are ultimate to make use of if you’re on the lookout for a textural garnish so as to add a little bit of fancy pizzaz to a dish! Listed here are some concepts:
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Beef tataki (accompanying recipe)
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Steak or tuna tartare (coming in the future!)
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Comparable dishes like carpaccio and different crudos the place you desire a delicate crispy garnish to complete the dish
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However actually, one of the best ways to eat them is in an enormous bowl to munch on by the fistful! Wonderful for snacking or for pre dinner drinks (I communicate from expertise right here!). – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 1 potato (Aus: Sebago, US: russet, UK: Maris Piper), or other starchy or all-rounder potato (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups vegetable oil (canola, sunflower or peanut oil)
- Sea salt flakes , crushed with fingers into a powder
Instructions
- Shred – Finely julienne the potato using a julienne mandoline, 2-4 mm / 1/16 – 1/8" thick. (Note 2)
- Rinse – Place potato in a bowl of water and rinse, changing the water as needed, until the water is clear. Drain in a colander. (Potato can be kept in water overnight in the fridge).
- Dry – Spread on tea towels then pat dry. If time permits, spread out and air dry for 1 hour+. (Drier potato = less oil bubbling + crispier fries).
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over high heat to 180°C/350°F, ensuring there is 10 cm/4" clearance above the oil surface (the oil bubbles up).
- Add potato into oil – SLOWLY scatter potato across the surface of the oil (don't dump in once place). ⚠️The oil will bubble up to ~7cm/3", so add potato slowly, and you can pause until the bubbles subside before adding more. (Note 3 for cooking tips)
- Fry for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes, using chopsticks (or similar) to stir once or twice. Once light golden and crisp, scoop out and drain on paper towels. (It goes more golden as it drains). Repeat with remaining potato.
- Season – Carefully slide the fries into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and gently toss. Serve immediately while warm, or cool.
- Serve in bowls for munching, as a garnish like for Beef Tataki or serve a mound alongside a juicy steak or other protein (see in post for more ideas).
Notes
1. Potato type – You can use any potato other than waxy potatoes which don’t go as crispy. With larger potatoes you will get longer strands, though because they are so thin they are susceptible to breaking anyway!
2. Julienne size – Thinner (2mm / 1/16″) is ideal if using to garnish dishes like the Beef Tataki. 4mm / 1/8″ thick is regular thickness for Pommes Paille served as a side to mains, like steak. Recipe will work for both, and both are delicious! (Thinner = cooks faster and more delicate).
3. Frying tips
Fry a single layer of potatoes at a time
Don’t crowd the pot, the potato will tangle, they will brown unevenly and take longer to cook.
The oil bubbles madly at first when you add the potato but it will subside to a sizzle. Once the sizzle stops and it looks like the potatoes are just poaching in oil, that’s usually about the time the fries are ready!
Don’t dump the potatoes in one place, it causes the oil to bubble up madly and the potato will tangle (and break when you try to separate).
Storage – Once fully cool, it will stay crispy for 5 – 6 days in an airtight container, in the pantry. You can also reheat in a 150°C/300°F oven for 3 – 5 minutes.
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