Spam Fries

I've talked about Spam fries before, but here we have an actual recipe, from Eat the Trend.

I'm still not sure about this one, but here you go...

French Fry Diary 705: McDonald's French Fry Snack Maker

This wonderful toy - the McDonald's French Fry Snack Maker from Mattel - was a thoughtful holiday gift from my dear friend Anne-Sophie years ago, and yes, I have only just now gotten around to writing about it.

For the folks who are always railing about how unhealthy McDonald's fries are or how they aren't really made of what they say they are - this toy should amuse no end. This French Fry Snack Maker is fully functional and does make fries (not cooked of course) but they're not made of potato. They made of bread. As it says on the box, "all you need is... bread, cinnamon, sugar" and "use other foods to make lots of different snacks!"

Bread is the big one though, it even comes with a coupon for fifty-five cents off two loaves of Wonder Bread. Two loaves? Wow, that's a lot of fries. And then there's also the cinnamon sugar mix you make yourself and use to fill the tiny plastic McDonald's 'salt' shaker. But fair warning, these easy to make non-potato snacks can be addictive, so eat responsibly.

Here's how it's done. You use the crust cutter to cut out a fair sized square of bread, then you feed it into the top of the machine. Turn the crank and the bread comes out the bottom in shoestring-sized strips. You take the 'fries' and put them in the little plastic McD's fry boxes and 'salt' them with your cinnamon sugar mixture. Enjoy!

The instruction booklet also comes with a page of other 'recipes' to try. These are much the same as the above but replacing the cinnamon sugar with vanilla instant pudding mix, or instant spiced cider powdered mix, or powdered cheese flavoring, or Nestle Quik chocolate drink mix, or just strawberry jelly. Fresh bread is always recommended, and while wheat bread can be used, don't try multi-grain.

At the same time this toy was available, Mattel also made a Hamburger Snack Maker, a Shake Maker, a Cookie Maker, and a Happy Meal Snack Maker, of which the Fry Maker was only one component. Hmmm... I'm probably better off not knowing what those burgers and shakes were really made of...

Despite how downright bizarre it sounds, I love this thing, it rocks, and I've enjoyed its odd and simple style of breadsticks, I mean fries many times. Thanks, Anne-Sophie!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #227

These zucchini fries were from a recent dinner at Benihana.

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 686: Burger King Fiery Chicken Fries

Now I've reviewed Burger King's Chicken Fries before here, but now they've come out with Fiery Chicken Fries, a spicy hot variety.

These have been accompanied by a huge marketing push about how hot they are. From the clever as where the fries melt ice cream cones when set down next to them to the incessant Tweeting with #FieryChickenFries suggesting that you "Tweet the heat," they are everywhere.

I finally got to Burger King the other day and got my order of Fiery Chicken Fries. They came in the standard CF box, squared but fit-able into a cup holder, with the clever sauce holder in the lid, but decorated like a chicken luchador. The sides featured the words - "Tweet the Heat," "Stupid Spicy," and "Warning: Hot Chicks Inside."

According to the BK website, the Fiery Chicken Fries are "hotter than ever coated in a blend of spicy cayenne pepper, black pepper and savory spices blended into a crispy breading and cooked to perfection." Hmmm... right. They also come with a variety of dipping sauces, including BBQ, Ranch, Honey Mustard, Zesty, Buffalo, Sweet & Sour, and a mystery sauce made just for BK's Chicken Fries.

When I opened my henhouse box of Fiery Chicken Fries, the first thing I noticed is that they were cold, not hot. Not a good start. In the five-minute drive from Burger King to my home, they'd cooled considerably, and I'm being nice. So I tried them cold, and then I tried to resuscitate them in two separate ways, oven reheating and microwave.

No matter how I tried them, I had the same conclusion. They have more breading than white meat chicken, are horribly dry, and have just a bit of heat in the aftertaste. The marketing is much much better than the product itself. Not recommended.

As I mentioned on the French Fry Diary Facebook Group (and if you're not part of it already, why aren't you?) this is the kind of snack you give to someone you don't like.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #215

Burger King's Fiery Chicken Fries are here!

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Pizza Fries from the @FoodPorn Twitter…

Random Tater Pic of the Day #160

These Asparagus Fries, from Keg & Kitchen, with smoked aioli sauce, are courtesy of friend and fellow foodie, the other Jen Walker. Thanks!

French Fry Diary 607: No More Satisfries

This has not been a good week for the favorite fried food. First I'm losing one of my favorite restaurants, Little Shanty, and now Burger King has announced they are discontinuing their Satisfries.

The Satisfries were a lower calorie alternative to the normally crappy and constantly changing regular fries at Burger King. These crinkle cuts were awesome when hot and even reheated, and quite frankly, a reason to actually go to Burger King rather than someplace else. After less than a year on the menu, BK has decided to pull the plug on these great fries because sales were apparently less than 'satisfrying.'

This coincides with Burger King's reintroduction of their Chicken Fries. BK claims they are back by popular demand and further says, "Get yours before they're gone!" perhaps implying that nothing on the BK menu is safe or permanent.

Chicken fries, meh, I'd rather have Satisfries. At least Burger King is consistent in their bad calls.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #152

Yucca Fries from Bahama Breeze.

Hungry Girl Recipe-a-Palooza

Here's a quick sampling of some of the French fry related recipes that have been presented on the Hungry Girl website, and suggested to me by friends and readers:


Sweet Cinnamon Fritter Fries

Hot Stuff Bacon Cheese Fries

Garlic-Parm Sweet Faux-tato Fries

Baked Potato 'n Turnip Fries

Special thanks to C.L., Mary, Tandy, and Robin who all pointed me toward these Hungry Girl selections. You gals rock!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #108

Random Tater Pic of the Day #102

From the On the Border menu - Avocado Fries.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #87

These are oven roasted butternut squash fries, are they the new sweet potato fries?

French Fry Diary 452: Ponzio's Diner, Cherry Hill NJ

Ponzio's Diner-Bakery-Bar has been a landmark in Cherry Hill, in one form or another, for decades, located at the Ellisburg Circle, and now the convoluted intersection that used to be the Ellisburg Circle. A family business since 1964 when the owners of Ponzio's Brooklawn purchased this location, and it went from being the Ellisburg Diner to Ponzio's Cherry Hill. There have been numerous renovations since then, most notably the latest in 2005.

The Bride recently visited here and I talked about the fries she brought home. Now here's the in-restaurant review, as we had chosen the new Ponzio's as our meeting place for our annual holiday get-together with friends.

Back in the 1980s when I was in college I had been here a few times. What I remember most is that it was very dark, and the bar was small and dark as well. It might have just been that decade that was dark. On this day, it was very bright. There was a diner section that looked very diner-y, a bar where I remembered it, but bigger and brighter.

The rest of Ponzio's was quarantined off into different rooms named after local Cherry Hill neighborhoods. It reminded me a lot of Mastoris actually in that way. After a bit of a wait, even though we called ahead for a large group of eight, we ended up in the Barclay Room. Continuing the comparison to Mastoris was the selection of cheese breads we were served before the meal. They were not as good however.

As far as my dinner goes, I went traditional. Regular readers know what I ordered - a plain burger and fries. This of course seemed to confuse our waitress. I wanted the Johnny & Feef's Famous Bay Fries that The Bride had brought home a few months back. They only come in a giant-sized portion separate from the meal. Hoping not to confuse her any more I just ordered onion rings as my side, and got the Bay Fries too.

The burger was hot and okay, but had a bit of an aftertaste that didn't make me feel so good. The onion rings were heavily battered, very crispy, and big and thick. They were very tasty, only Panko could have possibly made them better. From the offerings on others' plates, I could see that Ponzio's regular fries were regular cuts. No complaints about them from our table.

There were also Eggplant Fries and Green Bean Fries on the menu, but I wasn't feeling that adventurous that night. I did not see the rumored Asparagus Fries that I had been told about here on the menu however. Maybe they are a myth, or on a secret menu, a la In-N-Out Burger.

The Bay Fries were quite a disappointment in restaurant sadly. They were hot (in places) and spicy, but a bit limp. My friend and fellow Disney Cruiser Dom sat across from me and sampled these fries. His response was to ask if they were supposed to be cold. I didn't get what he meant until I myself popped a cold fry into my mouth. This was not good. The ramekin of cheese near Dom had cheese so stiff and cold he couldn't even push a fry into it. As a whole, the fries got worse as they got even colder.

All in all, it was a great dinner with much missed friends. Conversation was fun, if a bit overloaded with Doctor Who and the question of whether an éclair is a donut or not (I still say it's not), but great company. We really should see each other more often than once a year.

As far as the food and service at Ponzio's goes however, we probably won't be going back. I think we've decided on the tried and true Medport for next year's holiday gathering. I already can't wait.

French Fry Diary 432: Peas of Mind Veggie Wedgies Baked Apple Fries

I'm usually love or hate when it comes to non-potato French fries, especially when they are touted as healthy or 'good for you.' These apple fries are a good example.

Peas of Mind, by their own admission, and advertising, makes all natural eats for growing kids. These baked apple fries are part of the Veggie Wedgies branding. These fries also come in broccoli, carrot and cauliflower. All of them are vegan, fat free, gluten free, dairy free, and soy free. One could also surmise they're also fun free, but that would just be mean. There is also no artificial flavor, no added sugars, and low in sodium content.

So these baked apple fries rack up high points in the healthy area, but how do they taste? Soon, young Fry Jedi, soon. Well, first, while they are baking, they smell great thanks to cinnamon being one of the ingredients. The others are apples, dehydrated potatoes (a surprise), water, baking powder, and sea salt.

Those dehydrated potatoes are a problem because that's the bad bland taste in these otherwise okay apple fries. They definitely need something, maybe to dip - honey or organic ketchup is suggested by Peas of Mind. Maybe whipped cream also.

The baked apple fries were good for a change of pace, but I don't think I'd try them again, I'd prefer natural apple strips.

French Fry Diary #387: Pop Shop Pancake Fries

The family and I visited the Pop Shop for breakfast this past weekend and I was surprised to find one new item on the menu in particular - Pancake Fries!

They are described in the menu like this: "Our fresh made Bettys, cut into strips, deep fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served with cinnamon cream cheese for dipping."

The Pancake Fries are wonderfully presented in a paper cone and fry holder, with the aforementioned cream cheese in one side dipping cup holder, and pancake syrup in the other.

Not only did they give the illusion of looking just like the Pop Shop's great Pop Fries, they were delicious. A crunchy pancake delight, just another of the so many reasons to go to the Pop Shop for breakfast!

Hungry Girl's Grin 'n Carrot Fries

From this week's Hungry Girl email newsletter, featuring "Make 'n Fake Fries," we have this recipe which uses carrots instead of potatoes.

Grin ’n Carrot Fries

1/2 of recipe: 116 calories, 1g fat, 428mg sodium, 27g carbs, 8g fiber, 13g sugars, 2.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 0

Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb. carrots (about 8 large carrots) 1/4 tsp. coarse salt, or more to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray. Cut carrots into French-fry-shaped spears, fairly equal in size. Lay them on the sheets, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip spears. Bake until tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside, about 15 more minutes. (The thicker the fries, the longer the cook time.)

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

French Fry Diary 370: T.G.I.Fridays 2012

After a movie with The Bride and her parents recently we went over to the Marlton T.G.I.Fridays to get a late night meal. It wasn't in my mind at all to be writing a review as I had done Fridays at some point last year. I guess I could have ordered and written about the crispy green bean fries, I suppose, but honestly it slipped my mind.

Anyway, I was surprised by new fries on the menu. I've complained about Fridays' ever-changing menu before. I'm a firm believer that if you do something well, keep doing it. Don't change it or do something else. I still miss their steak on a stick. Among the new menu items were sweet potato fries and Parmesan steak fries.

Now as we learned on our last trip to Fridays, what they call steak fries are not actually steak fries but potato wedges. I know I know, semantics, but it's important fry semantics.

These new fries are simply the old potato wedges with Parmesan and parsley on them. Notably there's too much Parm and pars if you don't like that stuff, and not enough if you do. Weird. They were okay when hot, and very potato-ey, although The Bride thought they were kinda dry. They microwaved well when we got home.

I'll save the sweet potato fries, and the crispy green bean fries for a future visit.

Sweet Potato Matchsticks

Since we've been talking lately here about matchstick fries, for Food Network Friday today, here's a video of Tyler Florence making sweet potato matchstick fries:



Enjoy!