Fries are the downfall of many of us; who can resist a pile of golden, crisp, piping hot fries, awaiting your dip of choice?

I used to pull out my deep fryer with some regularity, but I never really satisfactorily solved my biggest frying dilemma: disposing of the huge quantities of used oil. Yes, I realize that oil can be used more than once, but I just don't want to store several quarts of used oil in my extremely limited cupboard space, and I find it difficult to use and toss large quantities of oil (how do you throw away that much oil?).

So I started experimenting with baking fries in the oven instead of deep frying them, but let's face it: they're really not as good. Or at least I haven't discovered any way to make them as good.

So I did some experimenting and concluded that slicing the potatoes thinner and, using a minimum quantity of fat, cooking them in the trusty chef's pan over very high heat might work. It did! The trick to gloriously crispy and flavorful fries, I discovered, also involved swishing the skinny-cut fries in a large bowl of cold water to remove as much starch as possible and then drying them thoroughly with a clean towel before frying them.

I use a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter as my fat. Heat it up over very high heat in a chef's pan, add about three cups of skinny-cut (about a quarter-inch thick) potatoes, and sprinkle in some powdered chile of some kind -- I like using chipotle powder, which infuses the fries with a very smoky, zesty flavor. Shake the pan vigorously, making sure that all the fires are coated with the oil and chile powder. Cook them in this manner until they turn golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, salt them liberally (smoked paprika salt is great here), and inhale.