French Fry Diary 678: KC Steak Fries

When I write I usually have to have something on in the background. I used to have one of the 24/7 news channels going. My rage at them (all of them) being more opinion than actual news stopped that. Then I tried CourtTV, but once the Jodi Arias trial started, that too proved a distraction.

And then there was QVC, which worked for a while with its innocuous programming. While the recent Isaac Mizrahi moon-is-a-planet kerfuffle is typical of the channel, the foodie in me was soon seduced by their cooking shows. The Kansas City Steak Company sells their wares on QVC often, including their juicy Steakburgers and huge hot dogs, both tempting, but I never broke down and ordered anything until they sweetened the deal with... wait for it... French fries.

The package arrived just a few days later, a big styrofoam box with dry ice in it, along with three smaller black boxes marked Kansas City Steak Company. One box had the burgers, another had unusually large hot dogs, and the third - two big white label-less one pound bags of French fries. I couldn't wait to try them, and by them, I meant the fries.

From what I saw on television, KC Steak Fries (TM) are seasoned steak fries, long planks of natural cut potato, with a golden brown sprinkling of spices. They could be deep fried, but everyone knows that frozen fries are best baked. The reality of the situation was a bit different.

But first, a word about the other stuff in the package. The hot dogs are made from 100% beef, and are huge, approximately an inch longer and twice as thick. They will make most rolls seem puny. These dogs take a little longer to cook, but wow. The burgers, excuse me, Steakburgers, are also huge, and pretty good too, a five ounce patty of corn fed ground beef from western Kansas. Thumbs up.

At first sight, out of the blank white bag, they were natural cut steak fries, some coated in Kansas City's special 'old bay' seasoning, and some not, very uneven. I have to be honest, as excited as I was when I first saw them on QVC, I was a little disappointed when I opened the bag. We'll see how they cook. After all, the dogs and burgers were great, why wouldn't the fries be as well?

The directions were not quite right, so keep an eye on your fries, and cook appropriately. I had to keep cooking them for an additional five minutes. The crispier and crunchier these fries were, the better they were. The fries are certainly seasoned, but I have to say I wasn't getting an Old Bay vibe. They were good, but not that good. I would definitely get the dogs or burgers again, but maybe not the fries.