"New Cooking Gadgets" Dinner: French Fries Hot from the Fryer and Charcoal Grilled Burgers

As I mentioned about a week or so ago I recently procured a charcoal grill which, due to spacial limitations, is currently being house as my mom's.  As anticipated, I have not been able to experiment with it since the very first chicken I grilled a few weeks ago, so I was really excited when mom suggested I fire it up last night for a most unsophisticated, roll up your sleeves, extra napkin cheeseburger.  Honestly, I can not recollect the last time I enjoyed a burger cooked over charcoal and have been dreaming about the anticipated experience for years. Boy, oh Boy was it good (but then again, I've never met a burger I didn't like)!  In addition to the regular charcoal, which I started using a chimney starter, I threw in a handful or two of hickory wood chips.  

In addition to cooking the burgers with my new grill, we also made home made french fries with the newly acquired Cuisinart Fryer.  While actually having a fryer on hand and making fried foods at your whim may be a bit dangerous to the waistline, with a little self control I think it will be a really fun gadget to have around.  What self respecting burger cooked over charcoal would share the plate with anything other than hot, salty, crispy french fried potatoes?  We experimented with the "double fry" method which was supposed to guarantee a restaurant type crispy french fry at home.  After cutting up a standard russet potato, we preheated the fryer to 325 degrees per the instructions.  We loaded the potatoes into the basket and lowered them in the oil for their first "blanching" which took 3 minutes.  After removing the basket from the oil, letting it drain for a minute and laying the french fries out on a paper towel, we jacked up the heat to 375 degrees for the second fry.  Again, they cooked for 3 minutes to a beautiful golden brown color.  We removed them quickly from the hot oil and placed them in a single layer on some paper towels to absorb any excess oil.  After a liberal seasoning of sea salt they were ready.  The faint scent of "fry" was in the air which only added to the pre-taste excitement.  They were definitely delicious and fabulously crisp right from the fryer.  They did loose a bit of their crispiness after cooling off, but not enough to negatively effect the final outcome.  For sure, a great little fryer "just for fun", at a pretty good price and virtually no mess... fast fries, without the fast food.