Purple Potatoes (and the air fryer)

Duncan and I finally went out and got the Big Cahuna of airfryers (one with two different baskets so you can do two different things at the same time (with different temperatures, and different times for cooking PLUS a feature that lets the two sides coordinate so everything is done at the same time).  Magic.   

Purple potatoes chopped up

Duncan has become the Monarch of Perogies .   I have become the Monarch of fries. 

I ended up heading to the interweb for strategies.   It reminded me of making fries with Arta when we were little (ie. soaking in water, and then parboiling, and only THEN into the oil).

The suggestion this time, for the most crispy fries ever, was to parboil them for 5 minutes in water to which you have added a teaspoon of baking soda.

Same potatoes after 5 minutes in H2O

Baking soda?   Apparently, the soda attack the smooth strands of starch in the potatoes, 'roughing them up', so that when you air fry them, they end up being significantly more crispy.  

OK.  I tried it.   It works.

The interesting magic was trying this trick on purple potatoes.   I had a small handful of them left over from another recipe.  I had no other potatoes in the house and was desperate for fries.  And so, i tried it.  

Potatoes fresh out of airfryer

For whatever reason, the soda in the water did some magical colour transformation on the potatoes. 

  Somehow all that beautiful teal colour does make them taste even more delicious!   I highly recommend trying it out.