This recipe is the result of my wife and I stopping at a tiny ‘hole in the wall’ diner after a white water rafting adventure two summers ago. After four plus hours of paddling on the Youghiougheny River in Western Pennsylvania, we were quite famished. I ordered a burger and fries and the waitress asked if I wanted regular fries or their signature batter dipped steak fries. I was curious and starving so I opted for the steak fries. Needless to say, the steak fries did not disappoint. This year on New Year’s Eve, my wife asked if I thought I could recreate the steak fries recipe and, since she rarely green-lights deep frying our meals, I embraced the challenge. The recipe that follows is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2-3 large Russet Potatoes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flower

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp hot paprika (regular paprika will do but the hot stuff has a nice little kick to it)

24 oz. vegetable oil (about half a typical sized bottle)

Recipe:

Heat oil in a 5 qt stock pot over medium heat. Wash and slice potatoes into steak fry wedges and allow potatoes to soak in cold water for five minutes. Rinse the potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel. Place ½ cup of flower in a gallon size freezer bag and fill bag with fries. Shake the bag until the fries are coated with flower, set the coated fries aside while you prepare the batter.

Mix remaining flower, milk, and spices in a large bowl and whisk until the batter has thickened up, to gauge the consistency, consider that your batter should be the consistency of pancake batter. If the batter is too runny, add more flour, if it’s too thick add more milk.

When the oil has reached temperature (about seven minutes into heating) dip the fries one at a time into the batter and place into the hot oil. In order to prevent the fries from sticking, I placed one end into the hot oil and allowed it to begin frying before dropping the rest of the fry into the oil. I fried three at a time in order to prevent fries from clumping together. Each batch takes about 7-9 minutes in the fryer.

Remove fries, place onto a plate with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper while still hot.