Are you a fan of all things pickled? If so, you might want to stock up on potatoes, stat. Thanks to Val Moore, TikTok user and recipe creator, it appears you can make French fries taste like pickles ... and it sounds amazing.
To make the dish, Moore used the same ingredients to make classic pickled cucumbers. In a clean jar, he added garlic, dill, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and a bay leaf. He also added cabbage to support lacto-fermentation, the chemical process used to make pickles.
Video of the Day
Next, Moore added potato strips to the jar, as well as a 3% salt brine. He then sealed the jar and let it sit at room temperature for three days, after which the potatoes became soft and rubbery.
In a second video, the content creator twice-fried the potatoes — once at 320 degrees Fahrenheit, and again at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Upon tasting the French fries (and making a pickle mayo, which sounds delicious), Moore gave them a solid review. "Wow, the outside is incredibly crunchy," said the creator, adding that it's tangy and "pickle-y," especially with the homemade mayo.
Naturally, TikTok users were intrigued by the recipe idea. "I don't even like pickles, but this is genuinely interesting," said one user. "I worked at a place that brined fries like that, they were easily some of the best fries I've had," commented another person.
Yet another user shared that if you soak fries (i.e., potatoes) in vinegar before frying, they stay really crunchy. Who knew?
Needless to say, if you love salt and vinegar chips, you'll want to check out part 1 and part 2 of the TikTok recipe.
Other ways to make pickle fries:
If you're looking for a slightly simpler method, take a tip from Carleigh Bodrug, also known as Plant You on Instagram. She created dill pickle chips using leftover pickle juice and sliced potatoes. Bodrug also baked the recipe, omitting the need for deep frying.
You can easily adapt this idea to make French fries. Just marinate strips of potatoes in pickle juice and dried dill, then bake according to your go-to baked French fry recipe.