PrintThe Burger Lab: How to Make Perfect Thin and Crisp French Fries
It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post. Become a fan of The Food Lab on Facebook for play-by-plays on future kitchen tests and recipe experiments.
Golden and delicious. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Perfect French Fries
Crisp, golden perfection here:
Perfect French Fries »
N.B. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. French fries are a pretty epic subject for me...
I'm gonna come right out and say something that I'm sure you won't all openly agree with: McDonald's french fries are great. At their best, they are everything a french fry should be: salty, crisp, light, and not greasy. Granted, you get the occasional odd franchise that lets'em sit under the heat lamp for a couple hours too long, but on the whole, I find it remarkable that the bigwigs have discovered a way to create a frozen fry that even a one armed eyeless chimp has trouble screwing up. And I know, because they've got one working the fry station at the franchise on my corner.
To be absolutely honest, I've never been able to make fries as good as theirs (shhhhh!). Sure, my thick-cut pub-style fries are super-potatoey and fantastic, and when I'm in the mood for them, my seasoned steak fries can't be beat, but for thin, super-crisp fries (I'm talking the kind that only appear in fast food restaurants and French bistros under the name frites)? I'm always better off running down to the take-out window than bothering to fry them myself at home.
Until now.
I've been literally giddy with the quality of the fries that have been coming out of my kitchen for the last two days. My wife won't hear the end of it. Even my puppy is wondering why his owner keeps exclaiming "Holy s**t that's good!" every half hour from the kitchen. I've cooked over 43 batches of fries in the last three days, and I'm happy to report that I've finally found a way to consistently reach crisp, golden Nirvana.
Follow @ahamburgertoday on Twitter »Like AHT on Facebook »
The Anatomy of a Perfect Fry
There are a few factors that go into making a perfect fry:
Perfect Fry Factor #1: The exterior must be very crisp, but not tough.
In order to achieve this crispness, the surface structure of a fry must be riddled with micro-bubbles. It's these tiny crisp bubbles that increase the surface area of the fry, making it extra crunchy. Ideally, this layer should only be as thick as it needs to be to add crispness. Any thicker, and you start running into leathery territory.
Perfect Fry Factor #2: The interior must be intact, fluffy, and have a strong potato flavor.
Fries with a pasty, mealy, or gummy interior or even worse, the dreaded state known as "hollow-fry" (when the interior is missing entirely) are an automatic fail in my fry book.
Perfect Fry Factor #3: The fry must be an even, light golden blond
Fries that are too dark or are spotty have an offputting burnt flavor that distracts from the potato. Light golden but perfectly crisp is how I want my fries to be.
Perfect Fry Factor #4: The fry must stay crisp and tasty for at least as long as it takes to eat a full serving.
Fries that comes straight out of the fryer are almost always perfectly crisp. The true test of a great fry is whether or not it remains crisp and edible a few minutes later after its been sitting on your plate. The bendy fry pictured above fails that test.
So how does one going about achieving these goals? The traditional double fry method (once at low temp, then again at high temp) works, but it's far from foolproof, and fails to meet all of the requirements I've set for a perfect fry. For one thing, the fries inevitably come out too brown—some times massively so. For another, they lose their crunch within a few minutes after coming out of the fryer. Clearly the method needs an overhaul. I suppose I could do what the McDonald's Corporation did and spend millions of dollars researching exactly how to accomplish fry perfection time after time anywhere around the world, but unfortunately Serious Eats doesn't pay me well enough to do that. I'm also understaffed, to say the least. So I decided to go with the next best alternative: steal their recipe.
That's much easier said than done.
Hamburgling
Anyone with a buck can get a batch of fully cooked McDonald's fries, but I was after something more. I wanted to get fries from the store in their fully frozen state so that I could examine their surface for clues on how they were parcooked, as well as attempt to fry them myself at home to discover if there is any secret in the fry oil in the shops.
More Schoolin' from The Burger Lab
Top 10 Tips for Better Burgers »
How to Flip a Burger »
The Best Burger for a Single Man (or Woman) »
Ultimate Homemade Sliders »
Mastering the Art of the Burger Blend »
Turkey Burgers That Don't Suck »
All Burger Lab knowledge! »
I figured I'd be just be able to walk into the store and order them straight from the cashier.
"Welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order?"
"Yes Ma'am. I'd like a large fries please, hold the cooking."
"Excuse me?"
I know she's already said no in her head, but I press on just the same: "Um... I'd just like the frozen fries please."
"I'm sorry sir, we just don't do that."
Time for some intimidation tactics: "Ok. Could I speak to the manager please?"
"I am the manager."
Sh*t. I bring out the really big guns: "Listen, the thing is, my wife is pregnant—like really pregnant—and she sent me on a quest for McDonald's french fries. But she only likes them really fresh, like straight out of the fryer fresh, so I figured I'd just get some frozen, and fry them for her at home. You know how it is. Women—no accounting for'em, right?"
She remains unimpressed, and needless to say, I go home fry-less, contemplating whether attempting to leverage an unborn, un-conceived son in exchange for a couple dozen frozen potato sticks is grounds for eternal damnation. Thank God I'm an atheist.
In a last ditch effort, I appeal to my Facebook fans for some assistance, promising cold hard cash and full credit in this story to anyone who could get me a stash of frozen McDonald's fries. Within 24 hours, I had received this email from a Grant Held:
Kenji, you put forth an excellent challenge; I enjoy both challenges and your food writing immensely, so I came up with an excellent plan that worked the first try.
Getting your frozen fries was simply a matter of finding the right fraternity man; One who had the ability to make up extemporaneous bullsh*t and the all important "charm factor." Some would say possessing these attributes can help you get laid in college, but I plead The Fifth....
The plan involved me printing out a fake list of items needed for a Scavenger Hunt sponsored by "The Simplot Foundation." A "Mr. Simplot" had endowed an annual prize for the winning team of the scavenger hunt, which would be used to fund the "research projects of the members of the winning team each year." (Members also had to belong to the Harold McGee Society and Order of Brillat-Savarin).
I walked into the McD's on xxxxxxx. (The exact location has been removed because we don't want to get the manager fired)
I had pre-printed a list of items for said made up "Scavenger Hunt" (I basically Googled "Scavenger Hunt Lists" and added "Frozen McDonald's french fries".)
I walked in, asked for the manager and explained the scavenger hunt. I said I needed 25 fries, which I was willing to pay for, but they had to be frozen. Her English was not ideal, so I spoke Spanish, and a young associate took kindly upon me and explained what I needed. The manager agreed, but thought I was asking for 25 FREE packages of cooked fries!!! And she was willing to give them to me!!! (She said my accent was great but my grammar was terrible... oh well...)
I said I needed FROZEN fries, which really perplexed her, but my young McD's associate friend explained the concept of a scavenger hunt and soon enough I was invited into the kitchen and she grabbed a handful of fries and placed them in the zip lock bag I brought with me.
Grant, you are a genius amongst men, and I am forever in your debt.
The handoff was made the next day, and I finally had a batch of frozen McDonald's fries on which to operate.
Deconstructing the Arches
The first thing I noticed was the surface texture of the fries. They seemed smooth, but on closer inspection, I noticed that they were dotted with tiny tiny bubbles, indicating that they had definitely been fried at least once prior to arriving at the store. I measured them with calipers and found that they were precisely 1/4 of an inch thick. A good size for optimizing crust to interior ratio.
McDonald's used to fry their potatoes in beef tallow, giving them extra flavor and making them extra crisp, but they stopped doing that years ago. But perhaps there's still something magic about their oil? To test this, I fried up a batch of the frozen fries in 375°F peanut oil, letting them cook for about 3 minutes before draining, seasoning, and tasting.
They were just as perfect as the fries at the store. That answers the first question: there is no magic in the oil. Something must be done to those potatoes during the pre-processing that makes them unique.
For the next phase, I started doing some research and caught a lucky break by finding this article online, which essentially runs through the whole process of what goes on in a McDonald's potato processing plant as told by LeAron Plackett, a thirteen-year-long employee. The parts that interested me most were on the second page:
The fries are then flumed out of the A.D.R. room to the "blancher." The blancher is a large vessel filled with one hundred and seventy degree water. The trip through the blancher takes about fifteen minutes... After the fries leave the blancher, they are dried and then it's off to the "fryer," which is filled with one hundred percent vegetable oil. The oil is heated to three hundred and sixty five degrees and the fries take a fifty second dip before being conveyed to the "de-oiler shaker," where excess oil is "shook off."
Bingo.
So McDonald's does indeed use a double fry method, but it's far from the traditional one. Rather than a slow low temperature fry for the first round, the fries get dunked into very hot oil for only 50 seconds (the second fry is then carried out at the actual location). In addition to this, the potatoes get a pre-fry blanching step in hot water. What could the purpose of this be?
To answer that question, it's important to understand exactly what happens when a french fry is cooked.
The Balance of Pectin, Starch, and Simple Sugars
Like all plants and animals, potatoes are composed of cells. These cells are held together by pectin, a form of sugar that acts as a type of glue. These cells also contain starch granules—tiny sacs that resemble water balloons, as well as simple sugars. When these starch granules are exposed to water and heat, they begin to swell, eventually bursting, and releasing a shower of swollen starch molecules. Now the problem is, in order to get the ideal crust, all three of these elements must be in the proper balance, and the proper state. Too many simple sugars, and your potato will brown long before it crisps. If pectin has broken down too much before the starch granules have had a chance to burst and release their sticky innards, your potatoes will either fail to form a crust, will fall apart before it gets a chance to, or in the worst case will cook up completely hollow, like this:
That's not a good thing.
Pre-cooking the fries in a water bath the way McDonald's does accomplishes two goals. First, it rinses off excess simple sugars, helping the fries attain a light gold color, instead of a deep dark brown. Secondly, it activates an enzyme called pectin methylesterase (PME). According to an article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, PME induces calcium and magnesium to act as a sort of buttress for pectin. They strengthen the pectin's hold on the potato cell's walls, which helps the potatoes stay firmer and more intact when cooked to a higher temperature. That's why the surface of a McDonald's fry looks the way it does: rather than blistering into large bubbles like a traditional double-fried french fry does, the reinforced walls form the super-tiny bubbles that give them their extra crunch.
Now, like most enzymes, PME is only active within a certain temperature range, acting faster and faster as the temperature gets higher until, like a switch, it shuts off completely once it reaches a certain level. 170°F is just under that cutoff point.
My objective just became much clearer: in order to get my fries ultra crisp, I'd need to find a way to strengthen their pectin before allowing their starch granules to burst.
Bringing Home the Gold
The most obvious way to do this is just to copy McDonald's exactly: cook the potatoes in a precisely maintained 170°F water bath for 15 minutes. I tried it using my Sous-Vide Supreme, followed by a fry at 360°F for 50 seconds, and a second fry at 375°F for 3 1/2 minutes. It worked like a charm. The fries tasted nearly identical to those that come from McDonald's. Of course, now two new questions entered my head: What about for those poor souls who don't have a temperature-controlled water bath? And more importantly, now that I've got the fries down, could I make them even better? I mean, they taste fantastic now, but we all know that McDonald's fries get soggy pretty darn fast. If these fries were really going to be perfect, I'd have to address that issue.
To solve the first problem, my initial though was to start the potatoes in cold water, and slowly bring it up to a simmer. My hope was that by doing this, they'd spend enough time under the 170°F cutoff point to improve their structure adequately. No dice. The potatoes were certainly better than ones dunked straight into the fryer, but they didn't come close to the originals. Next I tried adding a measured amount of boiling water to a pot containing the cut potatoes. I calculated exactly how much water I'd need in order for it to equilibrate to 170°F. It worked a little better, but the water temperature dropped off too quickly for it to be effective. Was I gonna have to break out the beer cooler for this one? There had to be another way.
That's when I thought—perhaps there is another way to strengthen pectin without having to rely on some fickle enzyme (I've never liked enzymes anyway), and it struck me: apple pie.
What's this got to do with french fries? Well everyone who's ever baked an apple pie knows that different apples cook differently. Some retain their shape, while others turn to mush. The difference largely has to do with their acidity. Thus super tart apples like Granny Smith will stay fully intact, while sweeter apples like a Macoun will almost completely dissolve. Just like a potato, apple cells are held together by pectin. Moral of the story: acid slows the breakdown of pectin.
What if rather than trying to fiddle with temperature, I just relied on the use of acid to help the potatoes keep their structure?
I tried bringing two pots of cut potatoes to a boil side by side, the first with plain water, and the second with water spiked with vinegar at a ratio of one tablespoon per quart. Here's what I saw:
The fries boiled in plain water disintegrated, making them nearly impossible to pick up. When I added them to the hot oil, they broke apart even further. On the other hand, those boiled in the vinegared water remained perfectly intact, even after boiling for a full ten minutes. When fried, they had fabulously crisp crusts with tiny, bubbly, blistered surfaces that stayed crisp even when they were completely cool. As for the flavor, if I tasted really hard, I could pick up a faint vinegary undertone, though I wouldn't have if I didn't know it was there. Even knowing it was there, it wasn't unpleasant at all. After all, I'm used to putting my fries in ketchup or mayo, both of which contain plenty of acid.
This is a picture of one of the fries which I bent a full ten minutes after it had come out of the oil. See how crisp is stays?
Getting Inside the Fluffy Interior
Now that I'd perfected the crust, the final issue to deal with was that of the interior. One last question remained: how to maximize the flavor of the interior. In order to stay fluffy and not gummy, a lot of the interior moisture needs to be expelled in the cooking process, so my goal should be to make this evaporation as easy as possible. I figure that so far, by cooking it all the way to boiling point, I'm doing pretty much the right thing—the more cooked the potatoes are, the more the cell structure breaks down, and the easier it is for water to be expelled. To confirm this, I cooked three batches of potatoes, starting each in a pot of cold, vinegared water, and bringing them up to various final temperature (170°F, 185°F, and 212°F) before draining and double-frying them. Not surprisingly, the boiled potatoes had the best internal structure. Luckily, they were the easiest to make as well.
But was there anything more I could do? I thought back to those McDonald's fries and realized a vital step that I had neglected to test: freezing. Every batch of McDonald's fries is frozen before being shipped out to the stores. I always figured this step was for purely economic reasons, but perhaps there was more to it?
I tried freezing half a batch of fries before frying them and tasted them side-by-side against the other half.
Fries and frozen fries, pre-blanched to various temperatures. Notice how dark the un-blanched fries are due to excess sugars browning.
The improvement was undeniable. The frozen fries had a distinctly fluffier interior, while the unfrozen ones were still ever-so-slightly gummy. It makes perfect sense. Freezing the potatoes causes their moisture to convert to ice, forming sharp, jagged crystals. These crystals damage the cell structure of the potato, making it easier for them to be released once they are heated and convert to steam. The best part? Because freezing actually improves them, I can do the initial blanching and frying steps in large batches, freeze them, and have a constant supply of ready-to-fry potatoes right in my freezer just like Ronald himself!
I know it's bad form to toot your own horn, but I'm simply amazed that these fries have been coming out of my own kitchen. I've been eating fries in various shades of good or bad constantly for the past few days, and I'm absolutely sick of them, yet I am still eating them even as I sit here and type. I really hope my wife doesn't mind greasy keyboards. You never know what's gonna set her off.
For instance—she gets mad when I say things like that about her on completely public forums. Go figure.
Continue here for the recipe for Perfect French Fries »
About the author: After graduating from MIT, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt spent many years as a chef, recipe developer, writer, and editor in Boston. He now lives in New York with his wife, where he runs a private chef business, KA Cuisine, and co-writes the blog GoodEater.org about sustainable food enjoyment.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it pleasant. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
The Burger Lab: The Ins-n-Outs of an In-N-Out Double-Double, Animal-Style
The Old Fashioned: An Outstanding Burger at Madison's Most Wisconsin of Restaurants
A Visit to Burger Maker's Production Facility in Carlstadt, New Jersey
Recently Commented On
Serious Eaters and Trendy Party People Unite at Old Town Social in Chicago
The Burger Lab: The Pastrami Burger Bomb
The Burger Lab: Mastering the Art of Burger Blending with Eight Cuts of Beef
The Burger Lab: How to Make Perfect Thin and Crisp French Fries
The Burger Lab: The Ins-n-Outs of an In-N-Out Double-Double, Animal-Style
Recently on Slice
A Hamburger Today is part of the Foodblog Ad Network. To advertise on AHT or across a network of food-related weblogs, visit Blogads.com.
107 Comments:
You, too, are a genius among men.
I read hastily because I'm off to work, and you may have answered these two questions already:
1) kind of potatoes? Always russets?
2) Does it matter what temperature the potatoes are held at before this process begins. WISE, I think, must hold their potatoes at a temperature that changes some of the the starches to sugar, since their chips are always burned, from my point of view. Is there an optimal temperature, or do they just have to be held above 50, say.
lemonfair at 8:35AM on 05/28/10
Fantastic article! I think I know what I'm doing for the rest of the day now....
One question though, I'm assuming that you used the basic Russet potato... right?
George G. at 8:48AM on 05/28/10
For those asking about the type of potato, you must not have clicked through to the recipe yet.
BigJustinTurbo at 9:04AM on 05/28/10
I kind of like hollow fries.
simon at 9:04AM on 05/28/10
Strong work! And not as much of a PITA to make as I suspected. The ability to freeze them makes it practical. Still, I do love the cold oil/Robouchon method for simplicity with small batches.
gfweb at 9:31AM on 05/28/10
Great stuff as usual, Kenji! The one question I have, though, is how to get those perfect 1/4" fries. I'm fairly good with a knife, but even so, potatoes being round and all, it seems like there would be some waste. And I don't have the most patience in the world, either. Any tips/ideas for a quick foolproof fry cutting method? Have you seen or used any equipment that might streamline the process? I want to lay me up several batches of frozen fries!
Big___Al at 9:33AM on 05/28/10
This has to be the most extensive article on french fries. I love it. Kudos!
Marxy at 9:36AM on 05/28/10
Brilliant.
mantisbog at 9:36AM on 05/28/10
This is an epic post. Well done. Truly a scientific process. Alton and Heston would be proud and I am going to try this tonight. Maybe with Lemon Juice instead of vinegar.
spotpuff at 9:41AM on 05/28/10
I vote Kenji for Emperor of America...
ssp242 at 9:46AM on 05/28/10
Been doing this for years...kidding. Well done, Sir, well done.
LLTODDJ at 9:53AM on 05/28/10
They are not paying you nearly enough Kenji.
As for holding the temp a beer cooler works great, they hold temps for an hour or more without dropping a degree.
As for you vinegar trick, I remember seeing DD&D and some little joint was blanching the potatoes with vinegar before cooking. This makes more sense now plus I would thing the slight tang would enhance the flavor if noticeable at all.
Nice work Kenji.
stewmeat at 10:06AM on 05/28/10
yet another fantastic article. this is becoming the one thing i make sure not to miss on SE these days.
foodinmouth at 10:08AM on 05/28/10
Best ever. My God, man, you are fantastic! Ask for a raise!!!
waterdogs at 10:10AM on 05/28/10
You. Are. A. Genius (and a lunatic).
rps at 10:12AM on 05/28/10
My Memorial Day bbq popularity will be through the roof. Thank you good man!
Cricket K at 10:15AM on 05/28/10
amazing work! One question - would buying the frozen fries from the freezer section of the grocery story be about the same for the final product?
bullcityfoodgeek at 10:17AM on 05/28/10
I think this is my favorite article of yours yet... can't wait to make my own fries!
madfishgrill at 10:20AM on 05/28/10
Because, when measuring french fry width, budget priced dial calipers just won't do.
JH Ford at 10:23AM on 05/28/10
Funny you should post this today. I was watching an episode of Unwrapped (from the Food Network) that I had on my DVR for a few weeks and they talked about the McDonald's fries. The episode was from 2008, I believe, and was all about fried stuff.
Anyway, they show the whole process, from cleaning the 'taters, to cutting them, to blanching them, to frying them, to freezing them. You could've just seen it on TV rather than do "research", LOL.
Good recipe. My wife was asking me about freezing potatoes to make our own fries and I told her that they would become mushy after cooking if we just cut them up and froze them. It never occurred to me that I could blanch them BEFORE freezing them. Guess I'll be doing this from now on and saving myself the money from purchasing pre-cut potatoes that I can then just throw in the oven.
Fernando at 10:25AM on 05/28/10
You have nothing on the Cooking Issues french fries- http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/05/12/the-quest-for-french-fry-supremacy-2-blanching-armageddon/
Very similar blanching techniques.
risottoproject at 10:29AM on 05/28/10
Thanks, way to simplify the cooking issues version for home users.
i really feel that you undersold the best part of the story, the ability to prep everything in advance, freeze them and then fry them to order. It almost sounds like every time AHT praises a place for cutting the potatoes right in front of you, they may have been better off freezing the fries to begin with.
missing_LA at 10:33AM on 05/28/10
Yeah, have you been reading Cooking Issues?
Chocolatesa at 10:55AM on 05/28/10
THE PERFECT FRY!!!!! WHERE HAS THIS ARTICLE BEEN all my life!!
WOW WOW WOW WOW
first thing i do when i go home is to try this out!!!
Patrick
pchang at 10:57AM on 05/28/10
Dang it, now I'm going to have to find space in my closet for a shrine. Good work, oh Holy One.
wildbluehugh at 10:57AM on 05/28/10
Damn, Kenji. Is there anything you can't do in the kitchen?
Avocado at 10:59AM on 05/28/10
And I thought I was french fry obsessed! Good work.
bobcatsteph3 at 11:05AM on 05/28/10
Kenji.... I'm so proud to know you.
Lingbo Li at 11:06AM on 05/28/10
Love hollow fries. Can you tell me how to make them? Then again, I love onion ring tubes that the onion was pulled out of too, leaving basically onion ring skin left
ESNY1077 at 11:23AM on 05/28/10
i think this may be the best food lab yet.
bgruber at 11:27AM on 05/28/10
Was going to throw up some links for the 'cook issues french fry supremacy' articles but it looks like someone already did.
Some in depth discussion about PME there -those (crazy obsessed) guys were vacuum infusing their fries in the stuff!
foolishpoolish at 11:36AM on 05/28/10
I like how this was blatantly stolen from the French Culinary Institute Blog, "Culinary Issues" that did this experiment weeks before. At least credit them if you're going to bogart their work...
Lou T at 11:44AM on 05/28/10
Kenji, with all of these horrible slams it really looks like you're going to have a rough time getting people to publicly endorse/buy your book when it eventually arrives :P
missing_LA at 11:45AM on 05/28/10
http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/05/12/the-quest-for-french-fry-supremacy-2-blanching-armageddon/
I really don't think it's coincidence.
Lou T at 11:49AM on 05/28/10
@lemonfair
I didn't delve into that in this post as it already seemed too long as it is, but yes, russets work best for me. They turn out the fluffiest and crispest. Yukon golds will deliver a fairly crisp crust, but the interior will be creamy more than fluffy. Some people like that, so go ahead and use them. I've tried red waxy potatoes, but they are a total fail.
As for the temp question, I've heard that McDonald's cures their potatoes at fixed temps and durations to guarantee uniformity. I think the blanching step takes care of a lot of the excess starch and sugars, kind of normalizing the potatoes even if they are a bit different from each other, but that's just pure speculation. I'd be interested to see how the fries change throughout the year as the potatoes are held for longer or shorter periods of time. I believe that right now we are probably all using last fall's potato harvest, so they've been in storage for quite a while. We'll see how the fries work out throughout the year.
@gfweb
I use the cold start Robuchon method also when I want a quick fry fix and don't want to bother with any other steps. But having a supply frozen at all times might change that. Now that you mention it, I'd actually be interested to see how a hybrid method would work: cold-start vinegared water boil followed by immediately transferring them to the cold oil and bringing them up. I'm sure the blanching step would solve some of the problems I've had with crusts not staying crisp and the potatoes over-browning with the Robuchon method.
@Big_Al
I'll do a knife skills post on cutting french fries next week!
You can also buy a french fry cutter like this. I've only ever used the restaurant models, which run around $75 or so, but there are cheaper ones available. I can't vouch for how well they hold up. It's pretty much a unitasking machine that's only good for cutting fries or dicing onions, but if you do a lot of fries, it could be worth it. They come with different sized cutting plates, so make sure you get the size you want.
@bullcityfoodgeek
The company that invented frozen french fries (J.R. Simplot) provides the bulk of McDonald's fries, and also provides frozen fries for many other brands. They follow pretty much the exact process in this recipe (minus the nifty vinegar trick), so you can get really good frozen french fries from them. Use their website here to search for a brand that you can find near you. I think at least as far as thin and crispy fries go, frozen ones are usually great, although I think the ones I've been turning out have slightly better crusts, and definitely more flavor.
p.s. Did anyone else notice Grant's super-sneaky-extra-double-mad-genius move by making the sponsor of his scavenger hunt the "Simplot Foundation"?
@risottoproject
I love Dave's work, and his fry posts have been waaaaay more in depth and epic than mine! My goal here was a little different (i.e., aimed at the interested home cook who doesn't necessarily have access to the equipment and chemicals he's got - not to mention the free student labor!). Cooking Issues is a fantastic blog, and I suggest everybody who is interested in the (even) more technical aspects of french fry cookery read it. It's fascinating.
@ESNY1077
For hollow fries: Cut them super thin, boil the heck out of them (handle them very very carefully), fry them once, cool them, then overfry them the second time. They should get pretty hollow like that.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 11:56AM on 05/28/10
FWIW I was certainly not trying to 'horribly slam' Kenji's work which imho is a much easier read than the more experimental bent of the 'cooking issues' articles.
Both Kenji and the guys at Cooking Issues should get mad props for the work they've done. There's no 'intellectual property' issue here...or if there was - you'd have to throw McDs into the equation :P
foolishpoolish at 11:58AM on 05/28/10
Lou T at least get the name right if you're going to be a tool, it's "Cooking Issues".
Being familiar with both, it's clear Kenji did not lift anything from their blog.
wildbluehugh at 11:58AM on 05/28/10
@Lou T
whoah - that's an accusation if I've ever heard one!
I certainly follow Dave's work (as mentioned in the comment I just made), and I actually mentioned his blog in an earlier version of this article but cut the section out at the end because it was already too long, and the stuff it referred to ended up being largely irrelevant to the post. I don't think the content of this post has much to do with the content of his though, other than both of them being about searching for perfect fries—something that I've been working on for a very very long time (see here, for example). It's inevitable that the end processes are going to be somewhat similar, since we are after similar results, the main difference being that their tests have been focused around using various enzymes to alter the texture of the fries, whereas in mine I try to limit my tests to only things that can be repeated by the average home cook working out of the average kitchen and shopping at the average supermarket. There's room for both types of posts on the internet!
I plan these posts out pretty well in advance, so I can assure you—the fact that the Cooking Issues one came out just before this one did is a complete coincidence. A happy one, I might add, because the more discussion and exploration there is on this subject, the better in my opinion!
@missing_LA
I'm not sure I know what you're referring to?
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 12:06PM on 05/28/10
@Lout_T
I know I'm beginning to sound defensive here and I shouldn't have to defend my work, but if you want proof that I've been working on this since at least February 9th, follow this link!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 12:13PM on 05/28/10
@Kenji
I think missing_LA was being tongue-in-cheek -- you seem to have nothing but loyal and outspoken fans here. On a related note, I was kind of hoping you wouldn't address Lou T's comment so I can see your fans pounce, but alas...
Grease at 12:14PM on 05/28/10
@Kenji,
I've always suspected it, but I am now certain of it. Sir, you are a f'n genius!
yamatosoul at 12:20PM on 05/28/10
wildbluehugh: Look who's the tool. God forbid I didn't have the exact name on hand. Fact of the matter is this information was stolen, without credit, to cooking issues.
@kenji: cooking issues has been working on this for a while. I just don't buy it's pure coincidence you blindly came up with the same technique as them. First and foremost, double frying was well employed for years before you posted that article, so I don't see how that link you posted is a viable excuse.
You follow the blog, there's so many parallels, and you didn't even credit them. I don't have a problem with bringing the information to the masses, but at least credit them. This is the high-school definition of plagiarism....come on now. Let's get real give credit where credit is due; you didn't come up with this.
(Rolleyes) From the freezing, which is something they've been investigating for months, to the blanching. It's basically their two long studies shortened and reworded.
Not trying to be a jerk, but it's conclusive for me. You tried to claim french fry fame by claiming the Cooking Issues method to be your own, got caught because some SE readers actually read a lesser known blog, and tried to cover your behind.
Lou T at 1:08PM on 05/28/10
@Lou T
You caught me! I confess to the whole thing! But I'm afraid you got the details a little bit wrong. I actually plagiarized from another source:
To the world: I hereby give full credit to this article to Mr. J.R. Simplot, who in 1953, patented the technique for blanching, par-frying, and freezing french fried potatoes that this article outlined. His research and methods, along with his long-standing contract with McDonalds revolutionized the french fry world, and without it I would certainly have never made the same conclusions in this article that I did!
Wait a minute... Hey, I did give credit to the over 50 year old process of blanching and freezing in that huge middle section where I admitted that my recipe is jacked directly from McDonalds. Phew. Looks Like I'm in the clear!
As I mentioned before, I've been researching McDonald's fries since at least last february (here's that link again - seems like you missed it last time). So please, stop with the accusations. I don't appreciate when someone accuses me of stealing a project which I've been personally working on for months.
Anyhow, I don't think this is the place for these kinds of exchanges, so if you do actually have more to say to me, feel free to email me offline (burgerlab@gmail.com). Let's keep the comments here civil!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 1:32PM on 05/28/10
@grease
Thanks for the clarification. I should have got that from the :P at the end of her comment!
To all: I apologize for the unsightly exchange above. I normally try to avoid engaging in those types of debates, but plagiarism is a very strong accusation that I felt needed to be addressed. You may now go about your normal commenting!
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 1:38PM on 05/28/10
Kenji -- have you tried a blanch and fry technique for potato chips?
rps at 1:38PM on 05/28/10
I'd like to add that Cooking Issues looks like a team with equipment, and Kenji does all this in his apt.
so, this whole thing looks like a scientist in a one-person lab vs well-funded large lab.
Kenji, any well-known brilliant person has admirers and haters...this means you're becoming a star in the field ;-)
lemme know if you need an electron microscopist :-P
hmw0029 at 1:41PM on 05/28/10
@rps
You know, funny, because this morning I was just thinking that. It's definitely worth a shot - I can imagine you can make excellent salt & vinegar potato chips using this method.
Actually, I'm gonna go try it right now. I'll report back later this afternoon.
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 1:45PM on 05/28/10
I have different method. My goal is not to replicate the McD fry (which I do enjoy as well). I like fries, but only by keeping it simple. I actually like the more browned homemade fries. All I do is rinse my fries in a colander, transfer them to salt water to soak about 15 minutes and dump them back into the colander to air dry. They dry fairly quickly. Once fried, they stay crisp and have a wonderful potato flavor. I only use russets as well.
The debate is rather lively here today. I'm staying out of that one, but it is interesting. The only problem I have with all of the methods of the experts is all the prep required. I'm not boiling then, frying, and then frying again. I'll stick to my method.
tjmile1 at 1:47PM on 05/28/10
Imo this article should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
redfish at 1:49PM on 05/28/10
@Kenji: Thanks for digging up that Facebook link. When Lou T accused you of lifting stuff from Cooking Issues, I started looking through your FB page to find that call for "sample" frozen fries from McDonald's.
I was going to jump in and defend you here, since I know you've been working on this post for ages, but it looks like you don't need it. Yeah. The double-frying technique, the blanching, etc., are nothing new. Your take on it — the humorous, eye-opening presentation for home cooks — is.
Adam Kuban at 1:49PM on 05/28/10
I don't think the vinegar thing will work for chips. It didn't for me, I actually tried it.
tjmile1 at 1:49PM on 05/28/10
I mentioned blanching in water (3 step process) in your previous fry post.
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/the-burger-lab-why-double-fry-french-fries.html
I'm kind of shocked that you didn't know about this technique. Good tip on the vinegar and salt (I'll try this next time) though when I water-blanch fries, I don't experience as much sogginess as the pictures without salt and vinegar represented in your photoes. A quick blanch should get the job done for the most part (maybe with some crumbling). But if you experience too much sogginess then you are probably blanching too long.
resolutejc at 2:16PM on 05/28/10
@ Kenji, I was being very sarcastic, when I put in my comment Lou_T's comment hadn't shown up yet and it was just about 15 comments saying that Kenji = G-d. Being relentlessly facetious, I felt the need for some sarcasm in the comments. My comment just happened to come immediately before some dude decided to accuse you of plagarism (probably one of the worse accusations somebody could make to anybody who publishes/writes for a living)
As always, great post and I was tracking your facebook updates/reading the FCI blog to see when we would get a version that would deliver good fries without either commercial chemicals, or me lighting grease fires in my kitchen (although the non gased ones were delicious :) )
missing_LA at 3:01PM on 05/28/10
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Now let's talk about hashbrowns. Do you think the same vinegar blanching trick could help maintain some texture on the interior of a pile of browns? I generally don't do anything to my potatoes before frying them because I feel like boiling destroys all that texture.
apetickler at 3:25PM on 05/28/10
@apeticker
I boil potatoes before making hash browns, and I also boil potatoes before roasting them - though I haven't tried either of those yet with the vinegar. Interesting thought.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 3:28PM on 05/28/10
Also, I used to have one of those french fry cutters. It worked beautifully. It was a bitch to clean unless I did it right away after using it. It came with inserts for cutting two sizes. And it served me like a champ for probably about eighteen months of making fries about four times a week before one of the inserts broke. I don't think they're replaceable.
I got my money's worth, but I'll probably just cut by hand unless I find myself making enough to justify the expense of a professional grade cutter.
apetickler at 3:32PM on 05/28/10
"I've finally found a way to consistently reach crisp, golden Nirvana." Is what you said. YOU found a way, or you read Cooking Issues' work and replicated it on a smaller scale after the fact.... You want us to believe you did all of this and made that statement prior to examining any of the work Cooking Issues did? I don't buy it.
Sorry, but there are way too many parallels between this article, in it's wording, structure, perceived criteria, etc for it to not be pulled from the Cooking Issues site.
I implore everyone to take a look at the original study at http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/04/27/the-quest-for-french-fry-supremacy-part-1/ and judge for yourself. They actually have the decency to cite their resources
Lou T at 4:11PM on 05/28/10
Kenji, thats a hell of a lot of work you did here. I will point out that Heston Blumenthal already went through all the work you did and more, but the good news is you both came to the same conclusions.
Heston used to do a show that I believe was called Kitchen Chemistry and he did a long section on fries one time including multiple consultations with physicists and chemists.
The purpose for the cooking technique of blanch-dry/cool-fry-dry/cool-fry is to build a glasseous gel for the exterior while allowing the interior to swell and cook much more gently.
The initial blanch-dry/cool cycle is used to gel the outside of the potato and the subsequent fry-dry/cool is used to set the outside of the potato to a glasseous state. The final fry continues to build on the glasseous state while allowing the inside of the potato to fully cook. There are some more subtleties to it, but thats the jist.
A separate factor that Heston looked into was dry matter in the potatoes he uses. All really interesting stuff. Definitely recommend giving the episode a watch.
IlTavoloBambini at 4:34PM on 05/28/10
@rps
Just finished testing this on potato chips. Results are... interesting. Not good or bad per se, just different. I wrote a post about it which should appear over on AHT at some point soon. I'll put up a link here when it goes live.
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 4:34PM on 05/28/10
@ IlTavoloBambini
Very interesting indeed. I haven't seen the show, but I've read his chapter on fries in the book that accompanied the "Perfection" BBC 4 series. He talks about dry matter in the fries there, but actually doesn't really explain his findings all that well. Perhaps the show explains them better.
If I remember right, he also doesn't address the issue of enzymatic reactions that occur during the initial blanching, which help strengthen the potato.
This, plus Heston's method, plus FCI's, plus McDonald's all go to show that there's more than one way to get from A to B. Great stuff!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 4:41PM on 05/28/10
@Lou T
Kenji has admitted numerous times that he looked at the Cooking Issues posts on fries, both on Facebook and in response to your comments. I'm sure he can easily defend himself in these posts, but you have made your point, he has admitted that he read them, but reading != plagarising/stealing. By your definition, any chef that posts a recipe for a french sauce and doesn't quote Escoffier is plagarising his work. Plagarism is only deliberate copying of an indiviuals unique ideas, words, and/or products. Trying to find out how to create the best french fry, reading up on a bunch of sources and then posting your results is not plagarism. Serious Eats is not an academic journal or nearly as academic as Cooking Issues and I do not think people would really be enamored with the idea of bibliographies at the end of every post.
missing_LA at 5:21PM on 05/28/10
Kenji
Now you expect us to believe you didn’t watch Heston’s BBC show or steal from all these other sources? How is it that you knew, that to make French Fries, you had to start with a potato? You had to of read that somewhere, nobody could just figure that out. If it makes you feel any better, I steal your stuff all the time. My friends are amazed at my wealth of knowledge in all things hamburger.
NWcajun at 6:13PM on 05/28/10
@Lou T--Dude, you lose. Give it up already.
sailordave at 9:28PM on 05/28/10
great post, reminded me of why I read this website. sometimes the stuff on here is so tedious but this is at the least very an interesting project.
as for referencing your ideas...omg...i come here for entertainment and food talk. If I wanted to read a research paper, I have plenty of other options.
asianempress at 12:35AM on 05/29/10
@rps
Forgot to link this yesterday, but here's the post on the results of the same test done with potato chips:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/does-pre-blanching-improve-potato-chips.html
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 10:50AM on 05/29/10
Awesome, awesome post! Now I don't feel so bad about blanching my fries in water instead of oil! As always sir, you knocked another one out of the park.
RossS at 12:03PM on 05/29/10
I just made hash browns for the family. I usually cube the potatoes, boil, then sauté with onions and peppers. This time I put vinegar in the boiling water and the cubes are PERFECT, fluffy in the middle, keeping their shape while browning. Kenji, you are my personal hero. Thank you for the science tip, please keep it up.
NWcajun at 12:05PM on 05/29/10
Kenji-Thanks for an amazing post,as usual. You've saved me many potatoes in figuring this stuff out. If at all possible,could you do a piece on baked fries/pommes frites or any type of baked fries or potatoes. I'm trying to give up deep-frying. Thanks
Guy at 12:13PM on 05/29/10
@guy - certainly will do a post on roasted potatoes at some point. I think using thing method would probably work if you were to do the first blanching, the first fry (it's only 50 seconds, so not too much oil absorption), then bake them after that.
Though to be honest, good baked fries don't contain all that much less fat than deep fried fries. Unless it's the hassle of heating up oil that you're trying to give up?
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 12:57PM on 05/29/10
Personally, I think you deserve to be called brilliant simply by admitting you like McD's fries. None of my friends believe me when I compare other places to their's. But they are the best in the business. And now, I can make my own.
MrJPeoples at 8:22PM on 05/29/10
Made great fried potatoes (home fries) tonight thanks to your article Kenji. Blanched the cubes in vinegar-water and then double fried (deep fried then pan-fried). Can wait to do it again Sunday morning along with biscuits and gravy and eggs.
PHXcook at 8:52PM on 05/29/10
I agree with you 100% McD's fries are the gold standard. Also, the Deluxe Angus Burger has taken the restaurants to a higher level. Not the best burger out there, but in the "B" range.
Equity6 at 10:04AM on 05/30/10
@PHXcook
Awesome! I'm glad they worked out, even in a different application!
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 12:08PM on 05/30/10
hey every one im a big fan of serious and kenji i love you ways , now im pulling a bbq and i need a super fancy way of making burgers i mean super crazy fancy way , ps every one can share unfortunateley i cannot invite yous because im not in the states but your burgers wil be there man ...
franky at 12:16PM on 05/30/10
My mother always added vinegar to the water when cooking potatoes for potato salad. This had the felicitous result of not letting the potatoes turn grey, which boiled potatoes can, but perhaps it kept the pieces intact as well. Never hard like commercial potato salad can be though.
lemonfair at 3:00PM on 05/30/10
@sailordave - We always ram heads, don't we?
I think it's ironic the SE site has a feature called "truth hammer," where they slam innovative people like Mark Bittman, yet they can't stand when one of their own takes criticism.
And still, of course, Kenji still refuses to credit cooking issues, where you can still find him prodding them for information....likely so he can use it in his next "experiment," where he will, once again, refuse to credit the original source.
It's a respect thing.
Lou T at 3:02PM on 05/30/10
@J. Kenji Lopez-Alt: "I'd be interested to see how the fries change throughout the year as the potatoes are held for longer or shorter periods of time."
I've heard that McDonald's initial success with fries back when they were in-store cut and double fried, had to do with the unintuitive fact that they were using cheap old potatoes that may have been improperly stored. I'm sure one thing that happens during potato storage is moisture loss and there is probably various compounds that break down.
The reason McDonald's switched from 'fresh' potatoes to frozen Simplot ones (between 1967 and 1972) was that they couldn't get the type of potato they liked in the volume they needed year round and had quality issues in certain months.
An interesting question is whether Simplot ages the potatoes (and if how) for a while after harvest before they are turned into frozen partially cooked fries.
And for those of you ragging on JKLA for not acknowledging his influences, much of what he reports here appears to be triggered by comments to his initial double fry article, and he should have thanked the many commenters there for making him find direct sources for their impressions or giving him things to experiment about.
I personally thought that I had triggered this article in the comments to JKLA's pasta cooking article where I caused a discussion on home vs. restaurant techniques and about how some restaurants pre-cook their pasta (which JKLA was unaware of). In that discussion, some guy said "McD's does a few things but nobody needs to learn how to make proper food from their methods", to which I responded that McD's frozens has "set the standard for "real" french fries to exceed."
So from my ego-centric perspective I figured that my comments in a pasta thread finally made him explain the difference between 'double fried' and 'blanched double fried'. I have been unable to find any instance of KJLA (before now) calling McD's the gold standard of french fries so I demand he acknowledge me as the true source of his wisdom. :)
MonkBoy at 1:00AM on 05/31/10
What kind of vinegar did you use?
Dehaene at 10:56AM on 05/31/10
I'm always suspicious whenever I hear someone claim "the perfect" anything, and in particuar when it's related to something as subjective as food, and even more specificially the perfect frech fry. I'm a fan of french fries and to me the perfect one must be fresh cut and when done placed onto a Gene and Jude's Vienna All-Beef hotdog with mustard and onions and sport peppeers, then wrapped for at least a few minutes in wax paper so that the tastes meld and are infused with the aroma of fresh onion and mustard and the hint of allspice...but then, that's me. I too appreciate (a lot) the perfect McD's, but really, what is it when they are acrid and leave my mouth feeling wierd? It's not the heat lamp, it's when the oil they've been using has not been changed or has overheated...and that happens all too often for my tastes. I miss the days of when McD's used beef fat and changed it regularly. Still, when they are great they are all but unbeatable, and your exploration of the processes is very informative. Everytime I make fries, and I do that more and more often it seems (hey, we only live once!) I like to explore and enjoy the product and the experience of learning stuff..oh, and vive la difference!
In the mean time: twice cooked fries starting with cold oil then finnishing at 350 until crisp...yummy and heres to many more!
doug l at 2:26PM on 05/31/10
@Monkboy
Acknowledged!
Of course everything I write is inspired by the readers. If it weren't for you, there'd be no reason for any of this stuff. Just one guy sitting in his apartment eating fries is no fun, but if it helps other people to cook better, that's what it's all about.
@doug I
I too am suspicious when I hear people say that, and of course the term doesn't really mean much beyond "the best fries that I personally have made to suit my own personal tastes." I do always try to qualify exactly what I mean by "perfect" at the start of each article, so that at least you know what I mean when I say it.
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 4:14PM on 05/31/10
I know this is borderline sacrilegious, but -- how about oven fries? Does this make them better, too, or does the magic only happen in the fryer?
piccola at 5:53PM on 05/31/10
If McDonald's decides to make you an example like Apple did to the Gizmodo guy, will Serious Eats pay your legal bills? This isn't theft, but the IP/trade secrets laws are much easier to nail someone for.
creana at 1:00AM on 06/01/10
@dhaene
Sorry - missed your questions. It's just plain distilled white vinegar, though any vinegar with a 5% acetic acid content will work exactly the same way.
@Piccola - haven't tried, but it's a good question. If anyone gives it a shot, let us know how it works out!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 1:23AM on 06/01/10
Kenji - Looks like I may have to be my own guinea pig! I'll post back once I try it out.
piccola at 3:05PM on 06/01/10
As for intellectual property, seems like Micky D's already gave it away on national TV, All Kenji did was spell it out for us, which I really appreciate BTW. the vinegar trick is cool, I'm all about the science. so
Thank You,, Thank You Thank You!
Nuff said
bingo1912 at 2:36PM on 06/02/10
Kenji,
When reading about the hollow fries my mind was diverted to my favorite potato preparation Pomme Souffle, where the spuds become wee starch dirigibles waiting for the Hindenburg like disaster off my teeth.
Could you teach us how to make Pomme Souffle?
Thanks
SkinnyFatty at 3:38PM on 06/02/10
Fantastic article! I froze these last night and will finish them tomorrow. Mine were slightly greasy/soggy after step 2, I'm not sure if they're supposed to be. We'll know how they turn out tomorrow!
I would love to see a similar article on perfecting homemade ketchup (mine is often too sweet or apple-cidery, not to mention the texture of bottled ketchup seems unattainable in my attempts), or perhaps the perfect onion rings? Again, great work Kenji!
nova606 at 3:52PM on 06/02/10
I'm not sure what McDonald's did on national television, but in this case someone misrepresented themselves to get possession of internal ingredients for the purpose of reverse engineering them and trying to reproduce the product. Had everything that could be learned from this been public knowledge, you wonder why it was necessary to go through this ruse. I expect that the McDonald's employee, in response to the false story given by the "scavenger hunter," violated her terms of employment also, and was thus induced to do so.
I'm not trying to be a troll here, but I can tell you that if this happened in California, you might win, you might lose, but it is definitely not a dunk shot, and you'd spend a couple of years in court before things were resolved.
creana at 7:17PM on 06/02/10
@creana
The only reason it was necessary was to make the story more fun. If you want to know the absolute truth, despite what I wrote in the story, I never actually got my keyboard greasy either ;)
@nova606
They are definitely soggy/greasy after step 2. It's the last step that crisps them up.
Cheers,
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 7:22PM on 06/02/10
well done, sir !
nick.kokonas at 9:37PM on 06/03/10
A friend of mine, as accomplished a cook as she is, CANNOT make a decent French fry. I don't know if it's her unwillingness to fry food and she tries to bake them or what - but perfect French fries really seem to flummox even skilled cooks.
I RARELY if ever fry anything but when I want to make French fries, I want them to be right. (*Right = Crisp outside, fluffy and tender inside and screaming hot when served.) The only way to accomplish this is the two-fry method. The first fry cooks, the second crisps. One is no good without the other.
An oven fry is an oven fry and I don't expect anything more from it than to have potatoes (whites or sweets) skinny cut and cooked, salted and spiced. They won't have that crusty outside - but they also won't be laden with fat.
PS - I only make real fries when it's just the nephew and me, when BF is on the road. I eat 3. He gets the rest.
therealchiffonade at 8:52AM on 06/04/10
Wow, all the hostility. Should we bring in Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything too? He mentions blanching (didn't think it was necessary for American potatoes, just european ones) the two frying step, etc.. Accusing someone like this blog writer of plagiarism is a pretty serious charge-especially given his past accomplishments and (from what I've seen) perfect willingness to give credit to others in his adventures.
totoro at 4:08PM on 06/05/10
Kenji, FWIW I remember reading an article in Consumer Reports about McDonald's burgers, fries and shakes about 25-30 years ago. In it they mentioned that the frozen fries had a superior flavor because of the partial starch conversion. They did not, as far as I can recall, mention the prior cooking steps. I always thought they were just frozen raw potatos. Thanks for your efforts!
MiamiDon at 1:16PM on 06/07/10
Have you ever seen somebody lick the chutney spoon in an Indian Restaurant and put it back ? This would never have happened under the Tories.
Cyberman at 3:38PM on 06/07/10
OMG, this is awesome. I too have been struggling for years to get consistently cooked and evenly browned french fries. McDonald's french fries are my favorite, so I'm very excited to be able to make them now :). Thanks for this! Oh, and you have a new subscriber now because of this article...great job!
Kapakibaki at 9:28AM on 06/08/10
First off, I'd like to commend you on a great article.
I am curious on the effects of the vinegar on flavor. I'm assuming you used white vinegar when blanching the fries. You mentioned it added a little bit of flavor to the fries but it wasn't very noticible. I've always enjoyed my fish-n-chips with Malted Vinegar and thought that by using Malted Vinegar, you could impart some of the malty goodness flavor prior to frying.
It'd be interesting to see what the effects of different vinegars have on the flavor of fries. Whether it be white, malted, rice wine, balsamic, etc...
Again, great article!
Capsaicin at 9:50AM on 06/09/10
I've heard that Micky D's mixes sugar into their "spice mixture"- the salt that they shake over the fries after they come out of the hot oil. It makes sense that they'd have to add in flavor somewhere after they stopped frying in animal fat and switched to vegetable oil. What do you think, Kenji? What's the percentage?
HeyAmanda at 9:39AM on 06/10/10
@HeyAmanda
We have it on pretty good authority (several employees past and present) that the stuff coming out of the shakers is pure salt. Tasting the fries, I don't taste any sugar on the exterior either.
They do, however, add flavorings (including animal derived natural flavoring and sugar) to the fries during their soak/blanching stage before they make it to the restaurant. I didn't really experiment with those though, mostly because I admire McDonald's fries for their texture, not necessarily their flavor, and I'm happy to have my own fries taste just of potato rather than spiking it with meat flavor or sugar.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 9:51AM on 06/10/10
I am surprised to have not heard mention of the Kennebec potatoe for use in making fries. It is the gold standard for making crispy/fluffy fries in the restaurant biz, at least in these parts. Have you experimented with this variety Kenji?
eltrut at 3:57PM on 06/11/10
loved that you delved into the science of making the "perfect fry" (though my standards for that are those at In 'n Out -- the well-done ones -- Micky D's is a close runner-up though).
A bit of the fry-making process has also been explained by Eric Schlosser in his "Fast Food Nation" book, though not nearly as scientific. I think Schlosser even wrote about how McD's manipulates potatoes so they are identical every time (e.g. if one year's harvest is too sugary, they get blanched extra long)
LAOCfoodie at 12:34PM on 06/14/10
you make delchlse food um lol love maria
kfarrel3 at 5:57PM on 06/26/10
Haha, sorry -- that's what I get for leaving SE open when my little sister's around. She loves your column, though, Kenji! =)
kfarrel3 at 6:07PM on 06/26/10
I seldom EVER read all the way through blogs of HALF this one's length! This one was a pure-T, "Pleasure" to read! @Lou T - I'm sure you've never written or labored with half this much passion or creativity! Just jealous I suppose! Small people never do! Now back to @Kenji- All these compliments coming yer way, and none for him! Awwwwe... :(
Anyways, if I EVER find you mister Kenji, I'll bring the beers, you bring the fries and we'll read the comment strings on your blog, get drunk, eat fabulous fries and laugh our behinds off at the jealous ppls!
Thanks for one of the most amazing blogs I've ever read.
Danny B.
DC Barah at 4:27AM on 07/08/10
Do you think this would work similarly w/ sweet potato fries?
Scott Elkin at 4:59PM on 07/26/10
Kenji ... Perhaps I've missed something in your excellent narrative. I'd imagine that salt helps pull the water out of the potato cells, but how critical is the amount and type of salt in the boiling water? It seems that the potatoes are a bit salty, without adding any after frying. Would it work to boil them with less, or no, salt? Is Kosher salt necessary, or would it be OK to substitute 1/2 as much (by volume) table salt?
Kaatje at 3:44PM on 08/01/10
@Kaatje.
Actually, the salt does not do much to draw out water during cooking, since there is am uch higher concentration of dissolved solids inside the potato's cells during cooking. At best, it helps to season the potato, drawing salty water in towards the center. It's perfectly fine to cook with no salt or little salt if you prefer them that way.
Kenji
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 4:07PM on 08/01/10
I use golden Yukon, not russets.
I typically use a very similar recipe for chips. I do use sugar-H2O. I've found turbinado & real maple sugar blends are good. Hot-warm H2O & soak a must.
Also, many seem to like the "sweeter" brown ones (I don't--but the number of folks who do is mentionable. Brown-ain't-burnt.
P-nut oil--tho some serious allergy--also a must. Substitute Olive oil if must (very similar sat/fat ratios).
Have fun.
finger_man at 5:30PM on 08/06/10