Hi Jim

>I make 1 potato's worth of fries in a batch, with oil near smoking.
>Last night I tried the drying them off trick and it made a big difference in the cooking time (much shorter) but not a whit crispier.

Try putting the potato strips into salted water. After they have soaked, drain and dry them, fry them. Of course, you wouldn't want to use salt and pepper on them when fried, just pepper *g*.