Fried Plantains

Method

1. prep6 min
   read the peel, then commit: green = tostones path, black = maduros path
   green plantains peel like armor — score the ridges end to end and pry — and cut into inch-thick rounds; black-ripe ones peel like bananas and slice into thick diagonals; the ripeness you hold decides the dish you make, and both halves of this recipe are waiting
2. fry8 min
   TOSTONES first fry: 325°F, rounds to pale gold and tender — or MADUROS: 325°F gentle, diagonals to deep caramel, turned once
   the fork in the road — tostones' first fry only cooks the starch through, no color agenda, exactly like the fry chapter's first pass; maduros run their entire race here instead, medium heat and patience while the sugars go mahogany at the edges: rushed heat blackens them before the centers soften
3. prep4 min
   tostones only: each round SMASHED flat to half thickness
   the tostonera move — each hot round pressed under a glass or a mug bottom to a rough flat disk; the smash multiplies the surface that the second fry will crisp, and craggy edges are the goal, not neatness
4. fry5 min
   tostones second fry: 375°F, smashed disks to golden crackle
   hotter and fast, the flattened disks to a shattering gold — the double-fry paying out the same dividend it pays the french fry, crisp shell over a fluffy starch middle
5. season2 min
   hot: tostones salted hard (+ garlic-lime mojo), maduros barely salted
   tostones take salt like they were built for it, and the garlic-lime mojo is their birthright companion; maduros want almost nothing — a whisper of salt against their caramel, alongside the catalog's rice and beans, where both plantain lives eventually come home