French Fry Diary 291: Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries

I usually get the store brand of this variety of the favorite fried food as it's less expensive, but this was an impulse buy, so I gotta roll with the punches.

Surprisingly, on the package for Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries, other than that name, there is nothing that describes the product or explains why they are called that. Oh, it says they're made from Grade A potatoes and that they have zero grams of transfat, but nothing about the product itself.

Curiously the baking instructions are for a half a bag, and three quarters of a bag. This bothered me. What about instructions on how to cook the quarter bag that's left after you make the three quarter bag serving? I mean, come on, if you're doing instructions for dummies, be complete. So, ignore the instructions, they won't do you any good. My suggestion - twenty minutes at 450 degrees, stopping once halfway to turn.

The fries come out a bit crisp, as they do have a slight batter covering, but not enough to be offensive. They are excellent for dipping or dripping. The accompanying pic has them with Chick-fil-A Polynesian barbecue sauce. Yum. Not fantastic, and not exactly a good semblance of actual fast food fries (other than being shoestrings), but still very good.

French Fry Diary 257: Ore-Ida Grill Fries

I've known how to do this for some time, even tried it myself and posted it on French Fry Diary last summer, but it seems now the big French fry companies are catching on to the grilled fries bandwagon.

I recently received an email from Ore-Ida suggesting you "take those sides outside," "keep your cool with hot sides" and "get your grill on." They also offered several recipes for fries and other favorite fried foods on the summer barbecue grill. Check them out here.

French Fry Diary 209: Reflections, Harrah's, Atlantic City

I had been here before, more times than I want to admit actually, but when I came to Reflections the last time it was for breakfast, and at that time had seen a sign for bottomless fries and vowed to return. It took a long time to come back, but then again, those of you who know how I feel about casinos, you know that's a good thing. Sadly, the menu has changed since then.

On the good side, our waiter, Joseph, was extremely helpful, courteous, friendly and knowledgeable. He knew his stuff and got our orders quickly and accurately, always a plus and high marks as far as I'm concerned. He even taught us about the cooking term "Pittsburgh well" which means well done inside and blackened outside as well for beef. Good to know for future use.

Unfortunately, while my burger was near perfect, the fries were much less so. These regular cuts were deep-fried, battered Invisicoated crunchies. Hot and very crispy on the outside and what potato was left inside was soft and hot as well. I ate less than a third of the generous portion on my plate. Not good fries in my opinion. If you need fries at Harrahs in Atlantic City, and can't leave the casino, go to The Deli.

French Fry Diary 128: Sage Diner for Breakfast

The Sage Diner Restaurant in Mount Laurel NJ has been a landmark on Route 73 for over twenty years. It might not have the history of some or be open 24/7 like most, but it is part of the long tradition of Jersey diners. Occasionally the family will get together for breakfast at the Sage, and this time I decided to write it up.

First things first, they seem to be completely incapable of not making bacon any way other than well done. And by well done, I mean little strips of brown charcoal. But, we're not here to discuss the bacon, we're here for the favorite fried food, and in the morning, it's home fries.

The home fries at the Sage Diner are scalloped and chopped up potatoes, interestingly, some with skins. Many places don't do that and it adds to the presentation a bit. They were not seasoned however, and they arrived at the table just barely warm. The potatoey bits were decent but the crispy ones were as crunchy as the bacon. Cook's day off maybe?

This was very disappointing as I have had good breakfast potatoes here before. In hindsight, on previous trips with good potatoes it was not during business hours so perhaps they were cooked fresh then. After this experience I suspect that these home fries were cooked much earlier, kept under a heat lamp and dispensed throughout the morning. Boo hiss.

As I didn't eat most of my serving I took it home. Much later, reheated and seasoned they weren't bad. I guess, just like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, they just needed a little bit of tender loving care. Or to be finished being cooked, and seasoned...

French Fry Diary 97: Reflections for Breakfast, Harrahs, Atlantic City

Reflections is one of the main casual restaurants at Harrah's in Atlantic City. Again, as with any trip to the casinos, there is the problem of when any given restaurant is actually open. The hours are so sparse and confusing that each restaurant has a sign in front of it with its hours for that particular day. I kid you not, it’s that bad. I have an image in my head of a monkey with a hat full of numbers and that’s how the opening and closing times are chosen.

I’m beginning to think that there is really only one dining and kitchen staff here at Harrah's because when I called the concierge to find out what was open for breakfast – Reflections was our only choice. And when confronted lightheartedly with my monkey analogy, the man at the end of the phone became Queen Victoria with a "We are not amused" attitude. Gotta love Harrah's.

Breakfast, I ordered pretty much my regular, including home-fried potatoes and bacon. These breakfast potatoes were diced potatoes, well cooked and not greasy, and soft and tasty. Actually very good breakfast potatoes for this type. There were mystery strands of grass throughout them though that I could not identify. Harmless but unidentifiable.

The bacon however was mostly inedible, crispier than kettle cooked potato chips. That’s the petrified bacon to the right of the potatoes there in the pic. After mentioning it to the waiter, these charcoal crisps were replaced by slightly less crunchy bacon. Sigh. This must be how the chef cooks bacon I suppose. If I come back for breakfast, maybe I’ll just ask for my bacon raw and see what I get.

Speaking of coming back, I probably should, though for dinner or lunch next time. The menu mentioned something that made me perk up immediately – 'endless fries.' Next time, friends, next time.

French Fry Diary 93: Ore-Ida Easy Fries

Having mentioned these the other day, and frequently comparing them to Burger King’s new product, I figured it was about time I reviewed Ore-Ida’s Easy Fries. These Golden Crinkles come in their own trademarked Crisp & Serve Tray. They’re fun, quick and easy.

Like Burger King’s microwave fries, these cook right in the box in which you purchased them. The directions are very simple with one-word commands also similar to the BK variety. I have to wonder if the folks in charge of microwave fries think French fry lovers have a learning deficit.

Here are the directions you really need to know. Make sure the fries are flat in a single layer, and that the lid is touching them wherever possible. Microwave times and temperatures vary so experiment a bit. The box says four minutes but I have found three minutes and fifty seconds are best for me. And the box gets very hot while cooking and might stick to the bottom of the oven so use a paper plate underneath.

The whole thing remains very hot when they are done, so be careful, use a potholder if necessary. Shake the box onto a plate – you can even use the paper plate you rested the box on like I do. Season as desired, eat and enjoy.

The fries themselves are crinkle cuts (Easy Fries also come in a regular cut style), and if you’re lucky, they should come out just the right amount of hot, soft and crisp. There might be one or two that don’t make the cut – usually the thin or very small pieces – but for the most part, these are quick perfect fries.

Are you paying attention, Burger King?

French Fry Diary 43: Deep Fried Breakfast Potatoes

One thing I have noticed of late at diners is a trend toward deep frying breakfast potatoes. If you ask for them well done or extra crispy – the first question from the waitress will be "Would you like them deep-fried?" or "Should we drop them in the deep fryer?" To me, for the most part, it seems a bit extreme.

Of course it also depends on what you mean by breakfast potatoes. Are you talking home fries or hash browns and what form do they take? Shredded deep-fried is a bad idea – I mean, really, just burn some potato sticks if that’s the kind of crunch-fest you’re looking for. A hash brown, similar to the McDonald’s standard, could go in the fryer briefly, but not much longer in my opinion.

Now breakfast potatoes in the diced style or sliced style, that would probably work. Myself at home, I’ve done this with both the frozen varieties of these as well as the fresh cuts, and these come out quite tasty. Again, it’s a matter of how long you leave them in the hot oil.

I’ve never had them done this way at a diner or similar restaurant, but I guess it’s worth a try. We’ll see.

French Fry Diary 40: IKEA… Fries?

I wish I could be more positive about this one, but I just can’t. Finding French fries in new and interesting places is a pleasure and an adventure. It is truly one of the best parts of this job – unless they suck, and trust me, IKEA fries do indeed suck.

For those not in the know, IKEA is that funky Scandinavian place with all the cool furniture that sometimes can drive you insane putting it together by yourself when you get home. For quite some time I have been hearing rumors that IKEA also had a restaurant, and that the food was really quite good. As you can imagine, my first thought was of the fries, so I set out to try them.

Now mind you, I had been warned. I was told repeatedly that the fries at IKEA were bad, even crappy, and that I wouldn’t like them. But, I have a duty here, and like my friend Ben, I decided I had to try them, so you won’t have to.

These are really crappy fries. Wow. Yeah, really crappy. IKEA fries are diner quality regular cuts with lotsa batter, like lotsa batter in the manner of the old KFC Extra Crispy chicken recipe, and that’s not a good thing. This is truly the invisicoat from Hell. Once you get through the coating there’s a processed mashed potato taste inside. Not hot, barely warm, and served cafeteria style, these are probably the worst fries I’ve had in quite some time. I barely ate more than half a dozen of the wretched things in the photo shown. And then I couldn’t even give the rest away.

Friends assure me that the mashed potatoes are good, and I myself can attest to the ‘cholad ljus’ chocolate bar being quite tasty, and some of the furniture at IKEA is great – but whatever you do, stay away from these crappy fries.

Stand Tall