making fries are paper towels necessary

Whenever I've made anything greasy like fries, bacon etc. the paper towels were used to absorb the grease. If you just put them on a plate, they will be sitting in a pile of grease but the paper towel soaks it up so that you are getting less of the grease.

If you cut potatoes the night before, they'll stay fresh as long as they're submerged in water. That's the reason for putting them in water in the first place. I never use salt in the water and I don't drain them on anything. I just pour them into a colander and let the water run off. The reason they say to pat them dry with a paper towel is to keep the water from spattering in the oil when you drop them in. I just stand back a little! I've found that paper towels don't work well to dry things like that anyway because they stick to the potatoes. If you must dry them more, save a paper sack or two and drain them on that for a few minutes. I've done that and it works pretty well.

I would just put the fries on a wire cooling rack like you use for cakes. That will help the fat drain. I find paper towels just make fried foods soggy. To keep the potatoes fresh, put them in a bowl, cover them with water & put the bowl in the fridge.

A clean dishcloth will do the same thing as long as it is a smooth cloth that does not let off lint, another option is to use a strainerand allow them to stay for a few minutes before frying, it works just as well, and though there is a little more washing up both options can be used over and over again.

I rarely use paper towels. In fact, the only time I use them is when one of the dogs throws up or there is a mess on the porch from a wandering cat. I have a roll of paper towels that I've had for the past 5 years and one I haven't even opened from that time, too. I don't know what a mandolene is but I use cloth towels for everything except draining fried foods, then I use newspaper. You can wash towels and nothing goes to waste, especially your money! Using paper towels is like throwing money in the trash.

Before they invented papertowels people used the brown bags that they received from the grocery stores to drain their potatoes on. My Granny did this often. Most grocery stores carry the brown bags till but you have to ask for them. They will not give them to you willingly. Also if you are not using the brown bags to drain your fries you can cut them up and use them on your compost!

Hello suspenseful. For one thing if you use a mandolin on your potatoes the night before and the potatoes are raw you do want to put them in cold water or they will turn black. I'm sure you know that. When I was a very young housewife I tried freezing some raw potatoes Well I learned my lesson then because they turned black. Paper towels were invented to supposedly save us time and to be convenient. Use dish towels to dry the potatoes or boil the potatoes until they are still firm but still not cooked all the way through. Then you can run them over the mandolin or cut into french fries. That is the way the companies do that sell the prepared hashbrowns and french fries. Run your raw potatoes over the mandolin and put them in cold water in the fridge. Drain them the next day and pat them dry with a clean dish towel as they say to do with the paper towels.

Soak them over night, drain them with cheese cloth, pat dry with a soft cloth and then fry...

not sure what you are wanting to know but if you mean draining the grease or anything from the potatoes, my mom and grandma used brown paper bags torn open and layed flat. also now, if we dont have paper towel my daughter uses a colander, with a plate uher it for to catch the grease when making fries. dips the fries out of the grease and places in the colander to drain.

I would say maybe keep them I the cold water until you are ready to use them and then maybe you could use a clean hand towel to dry them off since you don't want to use paper towels or toilet paper.