Masala French Fries

Manjula of Manjulaskitchen shows us how to make French fries Masala style. Mmmm... spicy...


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2008 – The Year of the Potato

Multimedia presentation for the United Nations International Year of the Potato 2008.

French Fry Diary 09: The Potato Onion Web

On a recent trip to Orlando Florida I discovered a place called CityWalk’s Rising Star. It’s karaoke with a twist – you do it on stage with a live band and back-up singers. Terrific fun.

Now what’s that got to do with the favorite fried food I hear you ask, well, I’ll tell you. Rising Star has the usual variety of bar foods available to guests while they watch or wait their turn, and on that menu is a magical item called “The Potato Onion Web.” It’s described simply as beer-battered potato and onion, but it’s all that and more.

Served in a basket, it appears to be nothing but golden brown hot fried lumps but is really a mix of battered and deep-fried chunks of crunchy, but soft in the middle, potatoes stuck together with frizzled onions. It’s a cholesterol nightmare and a heart-attack-waiting-to-happen but it’s oh-so-delicious.

If you get down to Orlando, definitely check this out. Oh, and the show is good too.


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French Fry Diary 08: Aboard the Disney Wonder

Cruises are notorious for the never-ending parade of food on board ship. The Disney Cruise Line is no different. What is different on board their two ships, the Magic and the Wonder, is the quality of the food. Personally I’ve only cruised on two other lines, the Disney Cruise proving to be vastly superior in comparison.

I’ve traveled on the Magic my first two times and the Wonder my second, including this most current trip. The ships are virtually identical with one major difference – the dress-up restaurant on the Magic is Lumiere’s and Triton’s on the Wonder. But both ships have variations on the favorite fried food.

Starting with the morning, the breakfast potatoes at Beach Blanket Buffet up on Deck 9 came in a few different varieties. There were hash browns of the flat tater tot style, closer to store brand than McDonalds, but nowhere near as greasy and just as tasty. Also available were potato wedges, baked and seasoned, and soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The final type were stir-fried scalloped potatoes – my personal breakfast fave on the cruise (potato-wise at least) – made from reds and cooked perfectly in that nebulous area between crisp and baked potato goodness.

In the fries category, natural cut shoestrings came as a side with most offerings at Pluto’s Doghouse. For free fast food sides, not bad, hot and tasty, and they certainly compliment the giant hot dogs they have. My only complaint would be that the last thing I want on an open deck in the Caribbean is hot food. Still good fries though.

The prize find of the trip however, as far as the favorite fried food goes, would be at Triton’s. The French fries available at lunch seatings (and dinner if you ask nicely) are very close to the best fries on Earth (those found at Cooke’s of Dublin in Orlando, FL). Obviously fried then baked, these fries are thick cut, three-quarter inch by three-quarter inch and perfectly delicious. The only problem would be the sparse amount one gets, but as with most things Disney, you only need but ask and you shall receive. Just ask for more.


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French Fry Diary 07: Captain Cook’s at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Orlando

You want snacks, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida is a cornucopia of snacks, and of course the number one snack is the favorite fried food – the French fry.

On our most recent trip to WDW, we stayed at the Polynesian Resort. It’s one of the main on-property hotels, one of the big three, the one with the island theme and the flaming luaus. Heck, it’s even a monorail stop.

Their 24/7 kid-friendly snack shop/restaurant is called Captain Cook’s Snack Company. Referred to by more than one employee here as their version of McDonalds, it’s really more like a Wawa meets cafeteria with nicer trimmings sort of place. Really, the only thing that says Disney about the whole place is the friendly atmosphere and service, and the Mickeys and Minnies on the cups and napkins. Come to think of it, one must wonder the why of the name – yes, Captain Cook was a real pirate, but Captain Hook was a Disney pirate.

The official blurb reads: “A 24-hour walk-up counter café on the first floor of the Great Ceremonial House. Features include egg sandwiches, bakery bar, hamburgers, pizza, hot/cold sandwiches, salads, and snacks.” Snacks. That would be the fries, people.

My visit was in the morning, so I, of course, got their breakfast potatoes. After marveling at the concept of being given a beeper for my short order I picked them up and proceeded to eat. At first glance they appeared to be quite similar to the potato wedges one might get at KFC, only not seasoned so darned much. After a taste they proved to be more.

They were in fact potato wedges, but freshly cut and baked, lightly seasoned and then sautéed. I doubt they were fried. They had the wonderfully texture of a boiled potato inside but cooked just enough. Yes, it was a short order, but filling enough to be a meal. Good stuff.

I wonder what their fries are like? I got to find out later that day. Nothing to write home about (blogging is a different story…). They are standard-tasting deep-fried natural cuts, but the magic is in the post cook/pre-serve technique. After the deep fry, the fries are shaken in a metal mixing bowl with a splash of salt and shaken some more, a la Belgian fries. Bravo. Fun to watch, just okay to eat.


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Me Love… French Fries

From FriesInAPan, a love song for fries, music is “Me Love” by Sean Kingston.

French Fry Diary 06: The Steakhouse, Harrah's Atlantic City

For my birthday this year, the Bride used up her comps at Harrah's Atlantic City and took me to The Steakhouse there, a place I had always wanted to go. Well, that’s not exactly true. I like steakhouses, so going to any steakhouse is someplace I always want to go, but perhaps not that one in particular, but still.

The Steakhouse, as it is simply called, is a well-to-do place, one that if it were not in the middle of a casino would definitely have a dress code. On our visit we saw evening wear and jean shorts and sandals. The steaks were to die for, so juicy and tender, a knife was hardly needed to cut it. There was also a interesting variety of breads available before the main course.

And now we get to the, pardon the pun, meat of the meal – the fries. I was a bit tempted by the onion rings, having seen them brought out to another customer. They were thick, crunchy and served vertically on a stick a la Red Robin, but our waiter, when asked what he preferred, suggested the fries. "When else will you have a chance to have real Belgian fries?" True, true, and so I was sold.

I cannot deny that I was impressed by the presentation. The fries came in a wax paper cone, just like Belgian fries are supposed to, and this deep cone came in a specially made metal container. The cone was stuffed with natural cut fries, not exactly Belgian fries, but close. The problem was that the ones on top, the ones I could see at first that were bursting from the cone, were barely warm and kinda crunchy. And not good crunchy, mind you, crunchy as in rock hard and unbreakable by fork or teeth.

The good news was that the fries underneath, kept from the air by the 'bad ones,' were quite tasty and everything promised. And the cone and metal container were deep enough that there were quite a few of these. I then did what I should have done at first, just dumped the whole cone onto a plate and ate from there. I’ll know for next time.

So, Harrah's Steakhouse fries – A+ for presentation, B for taste and D for continuity. Worth a try. But I’m still getting the onion rings next time too.


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Breakfast Potatoes from Around the World

Cooking.com has a variety of hash browns and breakfast potatoes and more on their website. Tasty pics and yummy recipes await.

Clickety-Click

How to Make French Fries

Another tutorial on the art of making (baked) fries from scratch, this one from xJianwei92x with musical accompaniment.


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According to the Huffington Post...

Chris Hall dishes out the secret to good French fries, along with some good advice on reusing cooking oils and a few cool recipes as well.

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