In response to the Urban Homesteader’s 100 Foot Diet Challenge, we cooked up our first 100% backyard homegrown meal. Okay, it was a bit meagre. But it was homegrown!
What did we have?
- Homegrown peaches and cream corn on the cob
- Homegrown Red Norland potatoes cooked into oven-baked fries
Okay, I told you it was meagre. But it filled us up, and it counts towards the challenge!
My next challenge, though, is to be able to make oven-baked fries that a) don’t get scorched, and b) don’t fill the house with so much smoke that we can see sun rays streaming in.
Can anybody help me out with this? I tried switching from olive oil to canola because of its higher smoke point, but unfortunately got the same results.
CoMo Homestead friends, what am I doing wrong?
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That’s weird, I’ve never had that problem and I always use olive oil. Maybe you’re just keeping them in too long? Congrats on our 100% homegrown meal – we’re still working towards that! -Carrie
What temperature and time do you use?
Gosh I wish you hadn’t asked that! I pretty much cook everything by the seat of my pants! I probably usually put them at around 375. As for the time I have no clue – maybe 20 or 30 minutes? I think yours look a little bit more cooked then mine usually do. Also, I tend to do more steak fry type – but I’m working with bigger potatoes (bought, not home grown unfortunately!). -Carrie
Okay, the temperature must be the big difference. The recipes I’ve seen say to cook them between 450-500, which is crazy hot and way above most oils’ smoke points.
Do yours get crunchy? That’s really what we’re going for. Maybe I just need to turn down the heat and cook them longer to get them to crisp up.
I definitely never go over 400, so that is probably it. As for the crunchiness factor, no, they don’t get crunchy. But I think that is because we’re making bigger fries.