Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

This event was on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

I'm struggling with cooking without any oil especially sweet potato fries. Can you give us some tricks?

— Nadine Jean Francois

Answer:

I don't know if you use an air fryer or not, and my one thing about air fryers is that if you have the kind that you pull that basket out, um, those potatoes are going to lay on top of one another and they're going to to cook together, but they're gonna steam more than anything else. So my air fryer looks like an oven, and I lay them out just like you do in that Brussels sprouts or carrot assignment where they're not touching so that they, they can aerate. Well, if you're using your oven, uh, make sure that your oven is hot enough. Make sure that the oven temperature itself is the same as the readout on your oven. So you might wanna get an oven thermometer to make sure that, uh, that it is the correct temperature, but a good hot oven, some nice parchment paper, and I always suggest to turn them midway so that they will caramelize and get crispy. The thing about sweet potatoes is that they tend to shrivel a little bit, so they really need to have a lot of direct heat, um, without seeing your, uh, specific, um, sweet potatoes. I know from, from the past in my own, uh, sort of expedition of making crispy food that, uh, not having them touch is the real trick. So I hope that, um, that that helps. And, uh, let us know how you make out with your next batch of crispy, um, sweet potato fries. Oh, and you've got to eat them immediately. As soon as they pop out of the oven. They've gotta be on a plate, um, and on a fork. So hope that helps.
Char Nolan

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

@char_nolan