French Fry Diary 686: Potatoes Three Ways

From the late October 2015 Disney Magic cruise talked about on this episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast, this dinner pic is from Carioca's, where I had potatoes three ways.

First, there was the Jack Cheese Twice Baked Potato, then the Roasted Root Vegetables that included carrots, turnips, celery, and sweet potatoes julienne cut into French fry strips, and finally topped off by the steak fries side dish that our servers Brendon and Andrene made sure I had every night. And the Ribeye was good too.

Awesome.

French Fry Diary 327: Chopped: "Frozen Fries With That?"

For Food Network Friday, I have something special today. The Bride and I love the Food Network show "Chopped." After being turned on to it by my friend Ray, we became quick fans, tuning in every Tuesday night at ten in the PM to see four chefs compete to make the best dishes from mystery ingredients in a limited amount of time. It's a hoot hosted by chef Ted Allen.

This past week, one of the mystery ingredients was a favorite of French Fry Diary - frozen grocery fries in an episode called "Frozen Fries With That?". Yeah, baby.

The four competitors were actually of extra interest this time out as two were from restaurants that I have gotten as French fry recommendations, and also one of the chefs had worked for one of the others in the past, so it was a bit of a grudge match going on. There is always fierce but friendly competition on "Chopped," but this episode was more charged than usual.

Competing this time were Chef Ian Friedman of the Rainwater Grill in New York City, Chef Adrienne Grenier of 1500 Degrees in Miami Beach, Chef Clark Barlowe of the Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville Maryland, and Clark's former employer, Chef Dan Giusti of the 1789 Restaurant in Washington DC. A juicy grudge match of employer and employee, young and old, that promises to rock the house. The judges this episode include Maneet Chauhan, Amanda Freitag, and Chris Santos.

The favorite fried food, in the form of Frozen French Fries, was introduced in the appetizer round, along with three other mystery ingredients - Cube Steak, Salsa, and Queso Fresco. Truly it was a challenge masked in simplicity. That said, I am quite stunned by how little was done by the competitors with the fries - after all originality is one of the marks of the contest.

Chef Dan decides to make Steak Frites, deep frying the French fries and seasoning them with southwester spices and scallions, chives, and lime zest. Seriously, just deep frying the fries? Wow.

Chef Clark attempts a Chimichurri Steak & Fries. He is frying his fries in a pan, but he is also julienning some purple potatoes to join them for a little color and taste difference, nice.

Chef Ian is kinda arrogant, stating that he is above the ingredients. Great, another fry snob. He makes Marinated Steak with Two Salsas, 'truffling' his fries. He also added some wacky mustard to his salsa... ewww...

Chef Adrienne is the only one who is even slightly original, insisting that just making fries is too obvious. She chops them up into a hash with peppers and onions, to go with her Steak & Eggs. Rock on, Adrienne.

I'll leave it up to you to decide who got chopped in this round, and in the entrée and dessert rounds, as well as who wins the whole fry bag... just as I'll leave it up to you to watch this episode when it comes around in reruns. It's a great show, made even better by the presence of the favorite fried food. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 37: Remembering Julia Child

There has been a resurgence in popularity for late great TV chef Julia Child with the release of Julie & Julia, which as far as I’m concerned is terrific, because she was, in a word, terrific.

Lots of old interviews and remembrances have been popping up all over the place. The one I have heard most is how much Julia enjoyed Dan Ackroyd’s impersonation of her on the early “Saturday Night Live.”

The second one I have been hearing has been about her love of French fries. As mentioned previously, she may have even been responsible for the word ‘julienne,’ but this quote caught my interest.

When discussing exotic French foods during an interview held while walking the streets of Paris, Julia pointed to a McDonalds and said, “They have the best French fries!”

French Fry Diary 36: National Julienne Fries Day

August 12, 2009 is National Julienne Fries Day. Julienne refers to the cut of most vegetables, but usually potatoes, into a fry-like shape.

The term was brought to the forefront of American pop culture by Ron Popeil’s commercials for the Veg-O-Matic, "It slices! It dices! It makes Julienne fries!" Urban legend indicates the word is derived from Julia Child, apropros with the film Julie & Julia currently in theatres.

To further celebrate the day, here’s a special Julienne recipe from Cookthink:

Baked Sweet Potato Julienned Fries

2 sweet potatoes, light olive oil or canola oil, as needed, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 pinch red pepper, 1 pinch cinnamon, sea salt, champagne vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 450°.

2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into long thin shoestrings. Toss them into a bowl and drizzle with light olive oil, stirring lightly to coat.

3. Season potatoes with cumin, thyme, black pepper, red pepper and cinnamon.

4. Throw them on a baking sheet. Spread evenly in one layer, if possible.

5. Bake in the upper portion of your oven for about 20 to 30 minutes, until they are tender and sizzling and crispy around the edges.

6. Sprinkle generously with sea salt as soon as you take them out of the oven. Serve with a sprinkle of Champagne vinegar (at the table), if desired.

Happy National Julienne Fries Day!

Sweet Potato Fries

Not all French fries are traditional, or even from traditional potatoes. A twist of the favorite fried food is to make them from sweet potatoes. Mmmm... orangey goodness.

They're not easy to find though. The only place I have found them consistently is at Whole Foods, a wonderful and unique store with lots of hard-to-find stuff.

The Preppy Cricket reviews Alexia (makers of some very cool kinds of fries and fry-like items) brand sweet potato fries on her blog. Check it out here.


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French Fry Diary 04: The Veg-O-Matic

If you're a fan of late night TV you know either the name or the face of Ron Popeil. The man goes back a long way as evidenced by this black and white photo. He was the man (along with his inventor father Samuel J. at first) behind Ronco, home of many wonder products like the Pocket Fisherman and the Ginsu knife. Back on our blog topic, Ron is shown in the pic demonstrating the original Veg-O-Matic.

The Veg-O-Matic was one of the first of the Ronco gadgets for kitchens and probably one of the best. Of course my interest lies in the fact that it "makes perfect Julienne fries." It was probably one of the single greatest inventions for those of us who like making our own French fries at home.


There was a second new and improved model that came out in 1975. This is the model that I came upon when cleaning out my parents' house after they had passed. At the time it would have been at least thirty years old, and well used. I was able to try it only a few times before one set of the blades, or more appropriately, wires, broke and it wouldn't cut any more. But I guess thirty years service is enough for a trusty fry cutter, don't you think?

The Veg-O-Matic is wonderful for easy fry-cutting, but personally I like cutting them myself with a knife into the perfect size. But then again, it's a time-saving device, and if you must have fries immediately, the old Veg is great. If anyone still has one of these babies, take care of it and treasure it. After all it "makes perfect Julienne fries."


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