Was there really no way to make great Tater Tots without first having to make great fries? What role was the oil playing anyway? Well, here's the thing. We know that what keeps the Tater Tots stuck together is a combination of two pretty sticky things: moist starches and proteins. Oil can lubricate individual pieces of potato and starch, preventing them from rubbing up against each other too hard. Oil is like a chastity belt for starches that just really wanna get it on.
In this respect, Tater Tots in many ways are like a pie crust. In order to get a pie crust that's both flaky and tender, you need to get the right balance of moistened flour proteins to give it structure, while at the same time adding enough fat in the form of butter, lard, or shortening to prevent the flour proteins from turning into one giant, stiff, leathery sheet. Knowing this, I tried another simple test: I cut a couple potatoes into rough chunks and lowered them into a wokful of hot oil, cooking them just until they were softened through and a very pale golden brown.
I let these potatoes cool, then pulsed them a few times in the food processor to get the slivers I needed. After adding in my starch, salt, and sugar, I re-fried them. Total success! In your face, Ore-Ida!
Thus far, I'd managed to pull together a near-identical home-made version of a packaged Tater Tot. What's the problem with that? Well why on earth would anybody bother peeling, frying, chopping, shaping and re-frying their own Tots when you can easily buy a package of frozen ones that are just as good?
One word: Bacon. Bacon and cheddar. Two words: Bacon and cheddar. And chives. Three words. Bacon, cheddar, and chives. And pepperoni. Amongst the ingredients that can be added to home-made Tater Tots are such diverse elements as One different word: Customization. Once the basic technique is down, it's really easy to add in whatever flavorings you'd like and of course, we'd love to hear your best ideas.
The only thing you have to be careful of is this:. Add too many flavorings, and your Tots won't hold together when you fry them, which'll not only mess up your snack, it'll also send annoying bits of potato swimming around the oil, which'll then have to be filtered before you can start over.
And don't overprocess. Two things you have to be careful about. When processing the the potatoes, do not overprocess them, or they will turn to glue, quite literally. Pulse them just enough to break them down. If a few large pieces of potatoes remain, no problem—break them up with your fingers in the bowl. Overprocessing will release a ton of starch, and all the oil in the world ain't going to help.
That's last ditch effort problem-solving though. Better not to get yourself into that mess in the first place.
As far as shaping the Tots goes, you can go free-form or ball-shaped if you'd like, but for the traditional cylindrical version, I found the best way was to employ the nigirizushi method, using one hand to form the round sides of the cylinder while using the finger and thumb of your other hand to flatten the top and bottom. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with half of the oil. Place potatoes in a bowl of cold water and agitate for 10 to 15 seconds.
Transfer to a clean dish towel and repeat with the remaining potatoes. Wrap dish towel around processed potatoes and squeeze well to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard liquid and transfer potatoes to a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, and then microwave for 1 more minute.
Stir potatoes — they might be a little sticky — then let cool for 2 minutes. Sprinkle the salt, onion powder, cornstarch, parsley, cheese, and a few grinds of black pepper over the potatoes. Gently mix in to combine. The mixture will be sticky, a rubber spatula or fork work well. Place shaped tater tots onto oiled baking sheet.
Drizzle tops of tater tots with remaining oil then bake until golden brown on the bottom, about 10 minutes. Carefully flip each tater tot — using two forks helps to wiggle any tots that are more stuck to the foil than others — then bake until the second side is golden brown, another 10 minutes.
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Soooo good. I used air fryer for 17 minutes … new favorite recipe. I actually doubled up on the cheese and used sesame oil, basil, and followed the recipe otherwise … YUMMY. Reply d4v1d September 3, , pm terrific recipe and came out superbly! Reply David Harrison April 25, , pm Great recipe…I substituted 4 ounces of finely chopped red pepper for potato for my first batch and went 30 minutes vs 20 minutes and was very pleased with the outcome.
Reply Chris December 22, , pm My specialty is a tater tot poutine with fresh curds and demiglace or veal gravy and an egg over easy on top. Will definitely try with homemade tots. Any alternative method of cooking the potatoes? These look gorgeous and I would love to try them.
Yes, instead of using a microwave you can bake the potatoes. There are instructions for baking in the note section of the recipe. All comments are moderated before appearing on the site. Thank you so much for waiting. First time commenting? Please review our Comment Guidelines. You must be at least 16 years old to post a comment. Subscribe to Inspired Taste's free newsletter to receive hand-picked recipes and as a thank you for joining our community, we will send you a link to download our free eCookbook!
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Jump… Read more. How to make extra creamy pumpkin mac and cheese in under 1 hour. Pumpkin puree adds savoriness and creaminess to cheesy macaroni. Two stories below the dining room where all of the members of the National Potato Convention were sidling up to tables, talking shop, hungry for breakfast, Nephi was bargaining with the head chef.
In his bag he had carried 15 pounds of his new creation all the way from Oregon, and he wanted them cooked and served. What better test audience than a group of potato men?
After some bribing, the chef agreed. The innovation was cooked, placed in small saucers, and distributed on the tables as samples. The golden potatoes had been cut into bite-sized pieces and fried, and they were a hit.
Tater Tots were born. These were the money makers, the big winners of the frozen food aisle; after all, this was the s. Entrepreneurs across America were realizing in the wake of the second World War that Americans really loved heating up their dinner. Between and , Americans bought million pounds of frozen food. And the Grigg brothers wanted a bigger piece of that very frozen pie.
Nephi and Golden Grigg were two determined young Mormon entrepreneurs, willing to do anything to get their shot of the American Dream. Born in , Nephi came of age during the Great Depression and was the leader of the two. He was a high school dropout prone to hyperbolic business proverbs.
Willard Marriot Library at the University of Utah. In , an employee of Ore-Ida foods reached out to Nephi Grigg desperate for the story of Tater Tots, noting there was no historical record of how the item came to be.
During the Great Depression, Nephi and his brother just scraped by in their native Idaho, working as farmers growing and selling potatoes and corn like all of their neighbors. But convinced that the future of produce was in the frozen food aisle, the brothers Grigg mortgaged their farms for a down payment on a flash-freezing plant in Northeastern Oregon. The factory, located on the border between Oregon and Idaho, spawned the name for their new company: Ore-Ida.
By , Ore-Ida had already become the largest distributor of sweet corn in the United States. But the big money was in french fries.
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