>>>>Define 'crispy'. Do you want them to snap when bent like crispy bacon? How crisp is crispy?
>>>
>>>The discussion started, really, with McDonald's "fries" always being "crispy", so use those as your guide.
>>
>>But their fries are frozen. Not a good comparison. I have made crispy fresh fries, but the oil had to be pretty hot to start with and could not put many fries in at a time or it cools the oil down.
>
>That's what started the whole discussion.. after "crispy" was mentioned I countered with 'crispy isn't the natural state of FRESH French fries (and the others said it was).
>
>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.
>
>I will be trying the double-cooking method some time in the future.

This year the Dutch potatoe harvest is miserable and it was an item on the radio yesterday. In an interview a person told how they select potatoes for the french fries (patat in Dutch) production process. The potatoes are put in a container and this container is put in a water reservoir. The potatoes that come to the surface are not good enough. Good potatoes sink to the bottom. The explanation is that a good potatoe contains less oxigen (and therefore is heavier) and therefore will have less inner space for fat. Less absorbtion of fat is required in order to get crispy patat.

Another important factor is indeed the two-step processing. Moreover, the first step requires a somewhat lower temperature (175 Celsius). The second step a somewhat higher temperature (190 Celsius). Those temperatures must be quite exact.

Also, the older potatoes are the better candidates.

Why don't you produce many first-step portions (on the lesser temp), say once a week, put them in the refrigerator, and produce your actual second-step portion (on the higher temp) whenever you want to eat them.