The winner of the International French Fry Championship in 2024, chef and teacher Laurent Fouache delighted the jurors’ palates with his pommes frites ice cream. An amazing ice cream with flavors from the north, which required around fifty hours of work and testing by the chef and his team.
Zoé has been peeling potatoes for about ten minutes now. And this final year student in professional cooking is far from finished. A “potato work” justified since Wednesday, October 16, the students of Laurent Fouache, cooking teacher at the Henri Senez high school in Hénin-Beaumont, make a rather special potato recipe.
When you entered the kitchen, there was no indication of today’s recipe. We peel, we cut, we cut. The potatoes are put through the mandoline and cut into matchsticks, the cooking oil is heated to 180°C… And yet it is indeed an ice cream that high school students and would-be chefs aspire to prepare. Ice cream yes, but with fries!
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On Wednesday, Laurent Fouache decided to recreate the ice cream that won him the “Creative Roast Award” on September 28 in Arras during the International Fry Championship. “We tried the impossible, we dared what no one had dared. The work paid off in the end, I say that to the young people who work for us.“With a total of 50 hours of testing and experimentation, French fries were among the original recipes that gave him the most trouble. The teacher knew he would not be allowed to make a mistake with this recipe, which could turn off more than one person.
“We had to find the right balance between the fatty taste that we like when we eat French fries, and the creamy base of a good regular ice cream.“, says Laurent, slicing a few potatoes.
We had to find the right balance between the fatty taste that we like when we eat French fries, and the creamy base of a good regular ice cream.
Laurent Fouache, chef
Salted ice cream is not an innovation in itself, tomato basil, celery or even goat cheese sorbet already exist. This is truly the “fried taste” that Laurent Fouache can be proud to have imagined.
It was during the preparation of the international fry championship that the chef from Hénin-Beaumont came up with his recipe. “It came to me with my son, who is a chef in Bangkok, and there is no oven, just a hot plate and a deep fryer. We weren’t going for a dessert, but in the end we thought of the fryer and then the fries, and we challenged ourselves to incorporate it into an ice cream.“Although the idea of a flavored fried ice cream does not necessarily make you want to and can be disgusting, the chef wanted to carry his idea through to the end, pushed by the lyrics of a song by Renaud, Bumper cars. “I wanted a meat ice cream, oyes but there were more… Yes it inspired me quite a bit“, jokes Heninois.
It came to me with my son, who is a chef in Bangkok, and there is no oven, just a hot plate and a deep fryer.
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On the work surface, the long potatoes – cut more finely than a classic roast to save time – pile up before they pass into the boiling oil, a mixture of animal and vegetable fat. A classic fry? Not so much, purists and true northerners will say, lovers of this typical dish from the Hauts-de-France. “The special thing about the recipe is that there is only one cooking time.“, reveals Laurent Fouache.”We only pre-boil once so as not to get too much fat flavor in the ice cream.“
The matchsticks are removed from the fryer and allowed to rest while the chef attacks the ice cream base. A base made of eggs, whole milk, crème fraîche… The same as traditional vanilla ice cream? Again, not really. But the manager won’t deliver any more,”manufacturing secret” he laughs. On the side, Zoé has started making cones, in which potatoes are also integrated.
We can smell the fries, we can smell the potatoes everywhere, but we definitely eat ice cream. It is neither salty nor sweet… You have to taste it for yourself! It is indescribable.
Zoé, professional culinary bachelor student
Laurent then mixes the chips and cream to create a relatively homogeneous mixture, which is finally poured into his ice cream maker. A classic ice cream, Sunday type, but flavored with fries, appears some time later, topped with mashed churros (potato, of course) and filled with praline caramel.
Zoé, proud of the work done all afternoon, can finally taste the fruits of her efforts. The verdict: “We can smell the fries, we can smell the potatoes everywhere, but we definitely eat ice cream. It is neither salty nor sweet…“She’s pausing.”You have to taste it for yourself! It is indescribable.“
At the moment, the ice cream is not sold and can only be enjoyed in the educational restaurant at the Henri Senez high school. Even if Laurent hopes to showcase his product at festivals or, who knows, in big restaurants.
