French Fry Diary 672: Not All Fries Taste the Same

A friend's husband just this morning on the Facebook purported the opinion that "all French fries, in his expert opinion, taste the same. Greasy. And it's only dips that make them stand out."

 I didn't respond at first, I waited, because I knew others would correct him of his misunderstanding. And they did. I was going to as well, but then I thought, why waste it on the Facebook, I'd just make an entry of it right here. There just might be others in need of an education on the favorite fried food.

First off, anyone who has had McDonald's fries, and Wendy's fries, and duck fat truffle fries, can tell you that they do not all taste the same. There's a reason you pay two bucks for Mickey D's and twelve dollars for duck fat fries. It's not the dipping sauce, it's the taste of the fry. 

Also, there are dozens and dozens of potato varieties, none of which taste the same or cook the same. Most American fries are made from Russets, but try a fry made from a different potato, and you'll get a different taste.

As far as the greasy comment goes, yes, some fries do taste greasy, mostly because they are cooked badly (or just plain wrongfully) in grease. Some folks, some cooks and chefs even, don't know how to make French fries. They shouldn't taste greasy. As anyone who appreciates good food knows, 'greasy' is not a positive word. How about baked or grilled fries? They certainly do not taste greasy. Nor do those cooked in one of those new air deep fryers.

The last part of the quote is absolutely true however. The dipping sauce will make the fry (which as I've explained is already different in its own right) stand out. Whether you're dipping your fries in ketchup, honey, milkshake, curry, barbeque sauce, cheese, mayo, teriyaki, mustard, or an almost infinite number of others, it makes a difference. But not all fries taste the same. Lesson over.

Potato-Turnip Latkes Fried in Duck Fat

This one comes from Chow.com just in time for Hanukkah. You can check out the recipe right here.

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.

French Fry Diary 410: Village Whiskey, Revel Casino, Atlantic City

I have gotten so many French fries recommendations for the Village Whiskey in Philadelphia, but had never gotten over there. They have duck fat fries, duck fat being the gold standard in fries, going to Village Whiskey was like going to find the Holy Grail.

The mom-in-law had gone to the new Revel Casino in Atlantic City a few times and raved about the fries at the Village Whiskey they had opened there. That was unusual, the mother-in-law raving about fries. So we planned a road trip. Fries so good that mom raved? Indeed, these were fries that needed to be tried.

Upon arrival at the Village Whiskey in Atlantic City, it was quite a sight. Inside the huge modern confines of the casino, they had built a quaint little Philadelphia pub, nice contrast. Inside it was very dark, lit by a single candle. Old sixties psychedelic music played overhead much too loud, but it certainly did a lot to bring a dingy Philly nightclub/bar to life inside the Atlantic City casino.

We did have some trouble with seating for my father-in-law as all the seating was non-conducive to the handicapped, and the staff wasn't very helpful, standing by and watching. The place is all high tables and booths, very hard to seat from a wheelchair. The attitude, not just at Revel but all AC casinos, seems to be that they only need to outfit one restaurant of their many to be handicapped friendly. Village Whiskey was just not one of them, so just cross it off your list if you're handicapped. Seriously, Disney should get into the casino business and show these folks how things should be done.

Once we were all seated, which took maybe twenty minutes, again, with no help from the staff, other than to get the wheelchair out of other customers' way, we looked at the menu. It was full of several burgers mostly, a few pub offerings and a lot of alcohol, all very classy. Despite all the effort to make the place seem like a Philly bar, and the anti-handicapped seating difficulties, its Garces Group pedigree shines through. I got my usual.

The fries were very thick (British chip sized, yay!) natural cuts. Crunchy on the outside, soft and hot inside, these were near perfect fries. Served in a metal cup with a cup of ketchup and ramekin of cheese, it was classy. I was not sure what to make of the duck fat. While one or two fries were greasy, they didn't taste greasy. That may be the result of the duck fat, but I didn't taste a distinct difference. They were seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper, and maybe a bit of rosemary or parsley. Very good fries.

The tiny tin cups of fries however were seven dollars an order, and were said by the waitress to serve two or three diners. Two or three what, I don't know, maybe two or three baby birds, perhaps? I know I didn't get enough. The fry crumbs in the bottom of the cup weren't cool and kinda disturbing. The Duck Fat Fries also come with sly fox cheddar cheese for nine dollars, and with shortrib and cheddar for a whopping fourteen dollars. Whoa, these are expensive fries.

The burger was huge, like a filet mignon of chopped beef on a big old baked roll, and very tasty. It was hard to finish, but I did. It was that good as were the Duck Fat Fries. The fries get a solid thumbs up. I might not be back to this location because of the seating, but the fries were definitely worth it, even if a bit expensive. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 259: The Capital Grille, Cherry Hill NJ

My good friend Ken came up from Kentucky to spend some time with us here in the wretched state of his birth, New Jersey. My job, while he's here, is to ruin his diet. Also, because he'll let me. The problem sometimes with doing French Fry Diary is that many of my friends and family are on diets, and they won't/can't come out to play with me when it comes to reviewing fries. So, sometimes, I save the big ones for when Ken visits. Such was the case with the Capital Grille at the Cherry Hill Mall. We decided to go there for a late winter lunch and see what we could see.

The Capital Grille is a very ritzy place, various ceramic animal heads and a few birds of prey around a classic wood decor and an onsite wine reserve and butcher shop. Regarding that last bit, our server Christopher, who was very friendly and informative, says TCG specializes in dried aged beef. And extra points for Christopher - he didn't discriminate against us in t-shirts and jeans as opposed to everyone else there in office suit attire. We felt very out of place, but he made us feel at home.

I ordered, go ahead and guess what I ordered, folks, yes, a burger. Even in a classy restaurant, this catastrophically picky eater and fast food junkie still goes for the burger. This was a wonderfully rich chopped sirloin burger, but still a burger. Bread came and included a crispy flatbread that tasted a bit sweet. The burger was superb (dried aged beef, remember?), one of the best burgers I've had in a while, but that's not what you're here for, you want to hear about the favorite fried food, right?

The French fries were regular cut natural cuts called Parmesan Truffle Fries. Now truffle is one of the Holy Grail ingredients when it comes to fries, both truffle oil and truffle salt. The third in the triumvirate is of course duck fat. These fries were cooked in a garlic truffle oil with Parmesan and shaved parsley. They were very crispy, possibly deep-fried - very very good, but underneath it all they weren't that special. On the other hand, Ken said they were best fries he'd ever had, and that the spices made them. I thought they were great but if anything the truffle oil might have overpowered them a bit.

So despite the difference of opinion on the fries, my trip to the Capital Grille, and my first encounter with truffle oil, was a terrific lunch with a great friend. Good food, good conversation, good times.

French Fry Diary 182: "America's Best"

"America's Best" is a recent mini-series on the Food Network. In the "Comfort Food" episode, Alton Brown and the Food Network database came up with a countdown of the best destinations for comfort foods, and one of those comfort foods is, of course, French fries.

Before we hit the favorite fried food though, they also talked about the best mashed potatoes. They went to L'Atelier inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. These high class mashers include French butter, lots and lots of it, perhaps as much butter as there is potato. And the potato used is fingerling, by the way. These are also perhaps the smoothest mashed potatoes as the fingerlings are smashed through a mesh net strainer, so zero lumps get through. Wow.

For the best French fries location, they chose the Boise Fry Co. in, where else, Boise Idaho. This is both a cop out and a bonanza, because rather than choose one fry they chose a place that serves dozens of kinds of fries. Dozens of different potatoes in dozens of different styles, with various seasonings and sauces.

They did spotlight their fries cooked in duck fat as having an out of this world taste. I have yet to try duck fat fries, let alone these, but I look forward to it. Apparently in the foodie world, duck fat fries are the gold standard for fries. The chef's specialty at the Boise Fry Company is the Bourgeois - the basket of fries cooked in duck fat, sprinkled with black truffle salt.

French Fry Diary 154: Cook Fries Like an Iron Chef

On his TV show "Cook Like an Iron Chef" on the new Cooking Channel Iron Chef Michael Symon shows us how they do it in the Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium. Gee, do ya think I could have used the words 'Iron Chef' a few more times in that sentence? Anyway, the episode I just watched had the secret ingredient of the potato, so I was mesmerized.

Symon made 'Pan Roasted Diver Scallops with Potato and Celery Root Puree and Brown Butter,' and 'Potato wrapped Pacific Cod with a Grilled Leek, Red Bliss and Purple Peruvian Potato and Lobster Salad,' with their recipes found here and here, but what really caught my eye was when he made, yeah, you guessed it, French fries.

Iron Chef Mike Symon put an interesting spin on the favorite fried food with his 'Duck Fat Fries with Rosemary and Parm with Greek Yogurt Aioli.' First and foremost he cooked them in duck fat, a luxury I have yet to try. Rumor has it the best fries are done that way. But he also deep-fried sliced garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary in with the fries as well, an intriguing technique, and there was also only one fry, as opposed to the par-fry/shock-fry method.

He can keep the yogurt and aioli, but the fries still looked darn good. You can check out the recipe here at the Cooking Channel website. Mmmm... fries...

Pickled French Fries

Executive Chef Don Santos has a very cool blog, called "A Half Cup of Life, A Teaspoon of Insanity," that has the catchphrase "Don't make what people want - Make people want what you make." That's a rockin' attitude for a chef in my opinion.

Make sure you check out his blog, but especially his recipe for Pickled French Fries, found here. A combination of interesting tactics - malt vinegar, duck fat, cranberry ketchup - all working together for a fine final product. Mmmm... fries...


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Duck Fat French Fries

Another video adventure from the folks at Expert Village, this one, in eleven demented parts, is how to cook French Fries in duck fat. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but here’s the link...

clickety-sizzle-click

There are eleven parts, step by step. That’s a lot of videos for duck fat fries... they’d better be good...