Random Tater Pic of the Day #256

Pringles around the holidays is always known for their out-there flavors, but sometimes they go a bit far, falling into odd-texture weird taste realm of Jelly Belly.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here's a pic of friend and sometime-contributor to French Fry Diary, expressing her concern for Pringles Sugar Cookie Potato Crisps.

Yeah, I think Pixie speaks for all of us. If we want sugar cookies, we'll have sugar cookies, and if we want potato chips, we'll have potato chips, or crisps, as Pringles calls 'em.

Stick to chips/crisps, Pringles.

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!

French Fry Diary 584: Kettle Brand Sweet & Salty Potato Chips

I am easily tempted by new flavors of potato chips, firstly for the opportunity to write about it here, and secondly because I like potato chips. It's nicer though when said new flavor also sounds like something I might like. Such is the case with Kettle Brand Sweet & Salty Potato Chips.

Being Kettle Brand they are appropriately healthy with no preservatives, no MSG, no transfats, and no GMOs. They also all natural, gluten free, and were cooked in safflower and/or sunflower and/or canola oil. That last part had me a bit worried… don't they know what kind of oil it is? …but I'll let it slide.

These kettle cooked chips have as flavoring the fairly obvious sea salt plus sugar and dried cane syrup. Hmmm, that should make for an interesting taste. They are salty but the sugar overwhelms the salt, but not unpleasantly. These are very tasty and addictive potato chips. I would say they would be good for dipping but I wouldn't want to take away from the actual taste of just the chip. The are very good, recommended.

French Fry Diary 496: Pringles Memphis BBQ

Okay, show of hands, who thinks, like me, that Pringles comes out with a new potato chip flavor every week just to see if we notice?

I just got through the arduous task of trying some of their 'interesting' holiday flavors - Cinnamon & Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and White Chocolate Peppermint, and now I find this... the far more enticing Memphis BBQ flavor.

When it comes to potato snacks (as opposed to, say, ribs or brisket), Memphis BBQ indicates a much hotter heat than most BBQ flavors. As I opened the tennis ball can, I hoped they weren't that hot.

They smelled really good. These potato crisps have a pleasant barbecue taste with just enough bite and heat without being overbearing. I liked these a lot. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 477: More Pringles Holiday Flavors

We have talked about the Cinnamon & Sugar Potato Crisps from Pringles before. Basically they were just regular Pringles chips with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. I kinda expected the Pumpkin Pie Spice chips to be a similar gig.

As usual, in the cases of strange chip flavors, I made The Bride try one first. Her reaction was "Meh." It was just a chip with pumpkin pie spice dusted onto it. The aroma from the can was spot on, much like a scented candle, but after trying one myself, she had it right. They smell great, but I didn't care all that much for these, and as catastrophically picky an eater as I am, I like pumpkin pie.

The final flavor in the holiday trio that my big sister Bobbie got for me is rather specific - White Chocolate Peppermint. These didn't smell so great. Again, The Bride played guinea pig. Her assessment was that these were two tastes that didn't belong together, and related the experience to taking a bite of chocolate mint, then a Pringles crisp, then repeat.

I felt there were more in line with a bubble gum or buttered popcorn Jelly Belly, or faux beef made from tofu, or more appropriately, Lay's Chicken & Waffles Potato Chips - the flavors and textures just do not go well together. It feels wrong. That said however, I found the White Chocolate Peppermint much tastier and preferable to the Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Maybe Pringles will bring these out again next holiday season, or perhaps some new concoctions. Thanks, Bobbie, for getting these for me!

French Fry Diary 466: Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar

My loving big sister spied some intriguing flavors of Pringles Potato Crisps over the holidays, so of course she scooped them up for me. Wow. Looking at the flavors, I'm not sure if she's trying help me with the blog - or if she's mad at me.

The first flavor we tried was the Cinnamon & Sugar. The Bride liked them but said they were simply Pringles with cinnamon sugar in them. Advertising on the nose, I guess. Especially when you consider they are Cinnamon & Sugar Flavored.

I tried one very tentatively, as I am sometimes allergic to cinnamon, usually the aroma more than ingesting it. I was feeling funky before I ate the crisp, it was definitely getting to me, only 'Flavored' or not.

The Bride was right on target, just a Pringles crisp with baker's cinnamon sugar on it. A bit too much for me though. Good thing The Bride likes them.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #89

Some of the special favors of Pringles that came out over the holidays, courtesy of my big sister Bobbie.

French Fry Diary 429: Nadia G.'s Duck Fat Fries

You folks know how how much I love Nadia G. and her "Bitchin' Kitchen." I watch religiously, or so I thought. Recently my buddy Ray told me about an episode I had apparently missed. It's called "Getting the Romance Back," and featured recipes for rib-eye steak, oysters with creamy spinach alfredo, strawberry shortcake, among others, and, yeah baby, duck fat fries. Yeah, I know, how could I have missed this one? So after a long search through the Xfinity schedule grids for weeks, I finally found it.

The episode presents a dinner designed to get couples who have been together a looong time some romance into their lives. And you know Nadia, she does it with style. And here's the recipe for both the ribeye and the fries from Nadia's website:

Ingredients:

Fries: 2 cups warm water, 1/2 cup raw sugar, 2 russets, cut into 1/4 inch fries, 3 cups duck fat, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, Freshly cracked pepper, Sea salt

Beurre blanc: 1/4 cup good dry white wine, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 2 shallots, minced 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, roughly chopped, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, Freshly cracked pepper

Steak: 2 1 inch thick rib-eye steaks, at room temperature, 2 tablespoons canola oil, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, Freshly cracked pepper, 2 tablespoons butter

Recipe tools: Medium saucepan, Large pan, Salad spinner

Directions Making the fries: To warm water, add raw sugar and whisk.  Soak fries in sugar water for 1hour or overnight. Strain and dry off in salad spinner. In a pot heat duck fat to 325˚F. Blanch 1 cup of fries at a time for 5 minutes, until cooked but not crispy. Remove and raise temperature of oil to 375˚F. Fry for 3-4 minutes until golden and crispy. Season with cayenne, pepper, and salt.

Making the beurre blanc: Heat saucepan on medium high. Add white wine, vinegar, and shallots. Let boil and reduce down to 2 tablespoons of liquid. Take off heat and let cool for about 1 minute. Put saucepan back on burner without turning on the heat. Throw in a few butter cubes at a time; whisk until butter is melted. Continue until all butter is melted. Add tarragon, salt, and pepper. Mix. Cover, turn heat to very low and let sit.

Making the steak: Heat canola oil in a pan on medium high. Season steak with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 ½ minutes per side, for medium-rare. For last minute of cooking, add butter and melt. Remove steak from heat, tent and let rest for 5 minutes.

Place steak and fries on a plate and top steak with sauce.

See the whole recipe here.

Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Home Fries

This past week or so here at French Fry Diary we have been talking a lot about breakfast potatoes, especially on board the Disney Dream. For Food Network Friday today, I thought I'd share the incomparable Paula Deen's take on breakfast potatoes, with a new twist, she's using sweet potatoes.



The video is courtesy of Food Network, the recipe can be found here, and it's from the "Gone Brunchin'" episode of "Paula's Best Dishes." Enjoy!

To quote Paula, "There's nothing like the sound of a fryer... especially if it's full of taters, y'all!" Indeed.