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French · IV The Method

Potato cuts for frying and roasting

France, classical kitchen

‹ The Method

I

Origin

The cutting of the potato (Solanum tuberosum) into fixed shapes belongs to the classical French kitchen, where Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire and Larousse Gastronomique list the pommes frites, pommes pont-neuf, pommes allumettes, pommes paille, pommes gaufrettes and pommes château under their own names. Jacques Pépin's Complete Techniques carries the method into the modern teaching kitchen, setting out the knife work step by step: trimming the potato to a regular block, then slicing into planks, batons and dice. The tradition is one of uniformity, since a cut of fixed size cooks in a fixed time and reaches the table in one state.

II

Description

The cuts are defined by their dimensions. Pont-neuf are batons about 1.5 cm (5/8 in) square and 6 to 7 cm (2½ to 2¾ in) long; allumettes are about 6 mm (¼ in) square; pommes paille are finer still, about 3 mm (⅛ in); pommes gaufrettes are cut on the mandoline with a ridged blade, turning the potato a quarter turn between slices to form a lattice. For roasting, pommes château are potatoes turned into elongated barrel shapes of about 5 cm (2 in), with seven faces, and pommes noisettes are scooped with a small round cutter. The method begins by squaring the potato into a stable block so that every following cut is made against a flat face, and the trimmings are kept for purée or soup.

III

The Thread

—Both cut the potato to an even section so that it cooks through in the fat at one pace. The Spanish cut is often a thicker, irregular hand cut, or thin rounds for the tortilla de patatas, where the French cut is fixed by dimension and name. Spanish
—Both rest on a thick-cut potato fried until the interior is soft and the surface crisp. The British chip is cut thicker and often fried once, where the classical French pont-neuf is traditionally fried in two stages at two temperatures. British
—Both treat the cut as the decision that governs texture, since the Swiss potato is grated into strands and cooked in a pan as a single cake. The French cut keeps each piece separate and whole, where the rösti binds its strands together by their own starch. Swiss
IV

Flavour Context

Pommes frites and pont-neuf accompany steak, as in steak frites, and moules, roast chicken and grilled fish; pommes paille garnish game and grilled meats, and pommes château sit beside roast joints and their jus. The reason is structural: the dry, crisp surface and the soft interior of the potato counter the richness and the juices of the meat, and the neutral starch carries salt. Drink a dry, fresh white or a light red with good acidity, or a cold lager, since acidity and carbonation cut through the frying fat.

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