I enjoy cooking but my hubby LOVES cooking, he spoils me with all kinds of yummy homemade meals. Yesterday he made yummy poutine (french fries, cheese curds, and gravy) and Sonoran hot dogs. These two dishes wouldn’t normally be served together but he wanted to make french fries to go with the hotdogs and had a craving for poutine, he called it North of the Border/South of the Border.

Most of hubby’s cooking is homemade/made from scratch, including the french fries for the poutine. If you’ve ever tried to make homemade french fries you know they can be tricky to get right but hubby has a method for making the perfect homemade french fries. He uses a deep fryer but if you don’t have one you can fry on a stove top, just make sure you have enough oil to cover the fries (and be very careful, a deep fryer is safer than stove top frying). Another tip: hubby takes the deep fryer outside to use it so we don’t have that fried oil odor in the house.

He starts with 2 or 3 russet potatoes, this makes plenty of fries for the two of us but you can adjust the amount depending on how many mouths you’re feeding. You can also make extra to freeze for later because, let’s be honest, who has time for this every time you wanna make fries. Cook in bulk and freeze some for later!

Once you’ve selected your potatoes, you’ll wash them and give them a light scrub, now they’re ready to be cut! Hubby has a gadget that cuts the potatoes into perfect french fries but he also hand cuts the fries sometimes too.

Next you’ll boil the french fries for 10 minutes, add a little salt and vinegar to the water. Drain the water and lay the fries out on a cooling rack to dry (hubby lays paper towels on the cooling rack and puts the rack on a baking sheet). Once they’re dry they’re ready for their first fry! Yes, they get fried more than once. 🙂

For the first fry you’ll fry them at 375 degrees for 1 minute. Take them out of the fryer and arrange them on the cooling rack again. They’ll need to cool completely before their second fry, sometimes hubby puts them in the freezer to speed the cooling process. This is also the point where you can freeze them for later use, when you’re ready to use them you’ll just do the second fry. If you’re freezing them for later, put them in the freezer laid out on the baking sheet first. Once they’re frozen you can put them in a bag or container, this way they’ll freeze individually and not in a big clump.

Once the fries have cooled, they’re ready for their final fry! You’ll fry them at 375 degrees until golden brown. This will give you the perfect homemade french fry, SO yummy!

To finish off the poutine you just top the fries with cheese curds (available in most grocery stores) and poutine gravy. For the gravy hubby uses St. Hubert Poutine Gravy Mix which he gets online, he’d love to make his own but this mix is the legit real deal so it’s one of the few things he doesn’t make from scratch.

You might be asking what a Sonoran hotdog is, I’ll cover the hotdogs in more detail in another post but here is a quick rundown of what is on a Sonoran hotdog:

• Hotdog wrapped in bacon
• Pinto beans
• Diced avocado
• Diced tomato
• Diced onion
• Sliced pickled jalapeños (hubby used Cowboy Candy Jalapeños that he made from our homegrown peppers)
• Mayo
• Cilantro
• Salsa and/or hot sauce
• Crema (this might not traditionally be on a Sonoran hotdog but it’s a delicious addition)
• Cheese
• Served on a delicious homemade roll

All of that goodness, or some variation of it, is what makes a Sonoran hotdog!

Stay tuned for more posts on yummy foods and home cooking!

Cheers,

D