April 5, 2012

F is for French Fry


A lot of people in my local area know my husband is from Idaho and so when they later learn of my love of potatoes and french fries, they seem to think I am too. (Nope, born and raised in California.)
 
Everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect fry, but this is my critera:
Photo from: The Burger Lab

Perfect Fry Factor #1: The exterior must be crispy, but not tough.
Perfect Fry Factor #2: The interior must be fluffy, and have a potato flavor.
Perfect Fry Factor #3: The fry must be an even, light golden blond color
Perfect Fry Factor #4: The fry must stay crisp and tasty for at least as long as it takes me to eat the carton’s worth. 

McDonald’s fries are my favorite, and this is how I make sure I get a good fry experience every time:
Photo from: The Burger Lab

1. Cars seem to come through the drive through in sets of three. When I worked at McDonalds I was trained to drop a basket whenever I had 3 cars in the drive thru queue. The first car usually gets whatever is under the heat lamp unless they take a really long time to order. The second car gets the hot fries. The third car gets hot fries, but a smaller proportion if there isn’t a fourth car behind them. (One basket feeds about 2 cars worth, but if the second car ordered a large, then there's a little bit less for the third car. <<You'll still get your 4 oz, but the typical employee will fill it more like 5-6.)

2. Sample a fry at the counter to make sure it’s hot. As the customer you are entitled to fresh, hot fries. If they’re not, request new ones. 

3. McDonalds fries have a VERY short lifespan of 6 minutes. There is a quality control timer for each fryer. Once the timer hits Q1 it’s *policy* to throw the fries out. (Employers don’t like to do this because it’s wasteful, but that’s not the customer’s problem. And if the employee rolls their eyes, ignore them. It’s not like McDonalds pays their employees in leftover French fries.) I always try to visually check the timers before ordering. If the timer looks low I'll stall and pretend like I don't know what I want to order until they drop a new basket. 


4.If all else fails, you can request unsalted fries. It takes 3 minutes to cook a batch, and the employees will probably give you the stink eye, but those fries will be guaranteed HOT. And let’s be honest, you don’t need all that sodium because you’re just going to slather them in ketchup.
 
My husband's favorite fries were Wendy's before they switched to natural cut with sea salt. (Is it me, or is natural cut a cheap way to cut costs by leaving the skin on?) He likes the extra potato in the center and prefers steak fries over shoe string fries. 

So what's your favorite fry, and why?

12 comments:

  1. My fav fry is from Burger King. To me, they just taste the best compared to other fastfood places.

    My hubby worked at McDonald's while in high school. He loved it then, but we hardly ever eat there now because he likes other places better.

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  2. Potatoes are just about the perfect food. So versatile and sooooo yummy. I do like McDonald's fries and I agree with your hubby about Wendy's fries. Those were my favorites too. And, while it's not a fry, Sonic's tater tots are delish. Man, I shouldn't have read this before breakfast.

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  3. Holy Shmoly! That was great info. So I need to be the second car ALWAYS and I need to ask for unsalted fries. I can always salt them myself. Who knew what went into fries? Great info!

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  4. I love crispy and my newest love is the sweet potato fry.

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  5. I used to like Sonic fries more, until they changed them. As a kid, I always wanted McDonald's fries and a chocolate shake, and then dip the fries in the shake before eating. YUM!!!

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  6. My fav ones are the ones from Cook Out. Delish

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  7. yikes! you know a lot about fries.
    my favorite in general are curly fries,
    but for straight fries i like Steak and Shake's best.
    but i'm such a wimp, i never complain about the food i'm given. :)

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  8. McDonalds ruins them with all the salt they throw on, IMO. The best fries I can remember were proper French fries, on a campground near Carnac in France. Many times, we cooked just the main dish of whatever we were having for dinner, and toddled off to the campground take-out, bowl in hand, for a portion of fries to go with it.

    Then there's good old British chip-shop chips. Before we emigrated, how many times did we sit on the beach watching the setting sun, eating fish & chips from a paper bag...

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  9. It's been a zillion years since I had them, but the fries we used to buy on the boardwalk in Ocean City (MD) were outta this world. Big, tasty, and hot, with a good dousing of malt vinegar. YUM! Most fast food restaurants have okay fries, but they don't have that authentic potato-y taste like those boardwalk fries.

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  10. There's a local restaurant that has the best fries in the world. They make amazing truffle fries - just thinking about them right now is making my mouth water. Seriously.

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  11. I don't eat at fast food chains. Instead, I like local mom and pop restaurants in my town. I always order my fries crispy and they are to-die-for.
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    Great, now I need some fries!

    The Write Soil
    1st Writes

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