Parrot and Olivier in America and Freedom Fries!

I have been totally remiss in my blog posting as of late.  It's not that I haven't been reading - I have been reading A TON!  It's that with the heat and the sun and the draw of being outside on the weekends, I have not done any heavy lifting in the kitchen.  But, starting with this post I hope to get back on track with a bunch of fun books and recipes.  First up, Peter Carey's witty (but dense!) Parrot and Olivier in America - a re imagining of Alexis de Tocquiville's first experiences in the United States.  The book follows Olivier de Garmond (the de Tocquiville character) a silly and foppish (is that a word, I say yes!) French Aristocrat who is forced to escape to America during the French Revolution.  De Garmond is sent to America to study the American Prison system, and his meddling mother arranged this trip for him as a way to keep him out of harm's way during the tumultuous years in France during the First Republic.  Olivier is accompanying by a cheeky British servant, who goes by the name of Parrot.  More about the book after the jump.  Since the book was about a Frenchman's first impressions of America, I wanted to make a Franco-American dish - classic French Fries seemed the perfect tongue in cheek idea.  I used Julia Child's recipe - the American mother of French cuisine in the U.S. 

While I generally enjoyed this book, I must admit it was a bit of a tough slog to get through.  Carey really packs A LOT into every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter.  And the things he packs in are not necessarily plot points, but words, words and words - plenty of  little details and jokes.  A lot of the book takes place in the main characters heads  - how Olivier and Parrot see the world, themselves, and those around them.  We get to know both characters are children, and these sections of the book are my favorite.  Parrot and Olivier had as different childhoods as you can imagine, although they both were quite isolated and lonely.  Olivier grew the pampered son of French aristocrats, whose parents loved him but did not necessarily pay much attention to him.  He had a tumultuous relationship with his mother, and it is her simultaneous doting and indifference to him that makes him the quirky man he grows up to be.  Olivier's real caretaker during his childhood is the beloved Abbe, his family's priest.  Olivier comes of age during the French Revolution, a very dangerous time for an aristocrat.  Olivier's life is wrought with tension, but he spends his time fretting about superficial little things.  Carey clearly means for him to be perceived as a silly, if well meaning, fellow.  Parrot, whose mother either left or died shortly after his birth, is raised in England by his father, a printer.  Parrot leads a somewhat wild and nomadic life with his father, who is uneducated but very loving.  Parrot is a mischievous little guy who loves to draw.  One day, the printing press which Parrot and his father work at is burned to the ground.  The printing operating printed politically dangerous materials in support of the French Revolution and the police are quickly on the scene at the fire.  They attempt to arrest Parrot, but he escapes and is taken care of for the next few years by the mysterious Marquis de Tilbot, a French man who funded some of the seditious printing operations.  The Marquis eventually abandons Parrot on a ship heading to Australia, at that time, a wild west of British criminals.  Somehow, I don't recall all the details, Parrot ends up in Paris, living with an eccentric and voluptuous artist, and there he meets the Marquis again. The Marquis also happens to be a lover of Olivier's mother, and these two are thrown together - Parrot hired as Olivier's servant for his trip to America to study the American Penal System.  As you can see, I have just summarized just a small part of the book, and it took a lot of words to do so!  This book is convoluted, and many times I said in my head, just got on with it!  I think both the characters of Parrot and Olivier have charm, and they are vividly depicted, but much of the book was a bit over my head. I know there are many jokes I never got.  Anyway, I think this book was a challenge, in a good way, but beach reading it is not!

French (Freedom) Fries dressed up with some Truffle SaltI wanted to make an ironical ( ; ) ) Franco-American recipe.  And I have never made real French Fries, so there you go.  I reviewed Julia Child's recipe - the perfect author for a French/American hybrid, but when I did the cooking, I didn't look at the recipe and just cooked.  Fries are pretty easy, ya know?  Not from Julia's recipe though is my frying liquid, which was really the best frying liquid I have ever used, and will continue to use it for any deep fry products - shortening.  Less messy for some reason.  I also combined it with Safflower oil, another great high heat frying liquid.  So much less splattering than Canola!

Ingredients
Potatoes (I used 3 large russet and that made 4  reasonable servings of fries)
Frying liquid - recommend vegetable shortening and safflower oil. I used a small container of shortening and a small bottle of safflower oil.  What you want is your fries to be covered in oil, this ain't pan frying but deep frying.
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the potatoes into matchsticks.  I am afraid of my mandolin so I did this by hand.  Put in water to wash of starch and keep color.

Bring frying fats up to temp, this pic is of the oil with the potatoes added.  Before the potatoes are added the oil should not be boiling, that would be to hot.  It  should be hot so that when you (carefully!) drop some water in the oil, it sizzles loudly. I used my dutch oven.  Use something heavy with high sides.

Put a handful of potatoes in at a time, fry for about 6 minutes, remove with a mesh strainer onto paper towels to drain.  Repeat with remaining potatoes.  When all batches have been fried once, put a handful in the oil to fry a second time, I like my fries well done, so I did them for 8 minutes.  Remove and drain again, sprinkling salt and pepper immediately so that they sticks.  I used this amazing truffle salt, so, so good and worth the price!

Bottom line - these fries were way less of a hassle than I thought they would be.  I will definitely make again, though only rarely since they take a hell of a lot of oil/shortening to make.