Homemade Picadillies

Picadillies are a Sanpete thing - I guess. I grew up eating them at school and during elementary school we even went on a field trip to the Picadilly factory somewhere in North Sanpete. (It was awesome, we learned all about how they were made and got to see them go through production from start to finish.) I especially have fond memories of eating them during the Scandinavian Festival and Manti Pageant along with my favorite Sanpete Turkey.  When I posted that recipe, I even made mention of how much I missed these delicious picadillies.

I've always struggled with finding a side for that meal because ... well... you can't buy picadillies at the store. I've tried to pair tater-tots with the meal, but it just isn't the same. You can imagine my delight when on facebook, one of my friends posted a picture of their homemade picadillies and I knew RIGHT THEN that I had to try them. It was a fairly complex recipe that included shredding the potatoes, adding flour and egg, then compressing them back together before cooking them in hot oil.

We were pleased, but it took for-ev-er! After a while, we thought about how much nicer it would be to just cut the potatoes into picadillies, maybe boil them or something to make them soft, and then frying them from there. We ended up adapting a french fry recipe and although it takes a different direction that the previous recipe we used, it's SO so so good. Crisp on the outside, soft in the middle - the perfect addition to some yummy Sanpete turkey.

And so, without further ado - I give you... Homemade Picadillies!

Picadillies
Source: Adapted from The Pioneer Woman's "Perfect French Fries" (also, a great resource that we found after the fact is - High Heels and Grills who seems to feel the same way about Picadillies as we do.)

Ingredients:

10 Russet potatoes
Vegetable oil
Salt

Directions:
Peel potatoes and slice into picadilly chips. These end up being about 1/2 inch thick, 1 inch wide, and 1 1/2 inches long. Potatoes aren't exactly square, so most of the chips will end up being a variation on this size - but the idea is to get some thick rectangular chips. 

Soak the potatoes in cold water for at least 30 minutes. You can soak them for longer 2-3 hours and it wont hurt anything. It is important to soak them because this helps remove the starch so that they turn out deliciously crispy on the outside. 

After the potatoes have soaked, blot them dry with a paper towel and prepare to cook them. The key to getting the perfect picadilly texture is to fry them in the oil, twice! The first time in the oil is to cook the center, the second time in the oil is to get the outside nice and crispy. Don't be tempted to skip this step and try to do it all in one go, it will be worth it - I promise. 

Heat a couple inches of oil in a heavy pot or pan to medium heat (about 300 degrees). In several batches, cook the potatoes for about 4-6 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. At this point you want the insides to be soft and well on their way to being cooked, but you don't want the outsides to be brown. Remove each batch and let them drain onto plates/paper towels. Turn your heat up to medium-high (about 400 degrees), and when the oil is hot you can start frying your bathes again, cookies the chips until they are golden and crisp. Again, remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. 

Sprinkle with salt and serve hot!

Note: Always be very careful when usinghot oil. Don't let the oil get too hot (it will burn and potentially flame up). Make sure that small children can not reach up and grab the pan with oil, keep it on a back burner and keep your eye on small children all the time.