French fries

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

French fries, chips, or pommes frites are potatoes that have been cut and deep-fried (i.e., french-fried potatoes). Called 'french fries' in North America, the name is often shortened to just 'fries'. They are known as 'chips' in the Great Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, excluding Canada, and "frites" or 'pommes frites' in Belgium, France and Germany. Usually, the first f in french fries is not an uppercase f, since it does not refer to the nationality. French fries are distinct from potato chips (also called 'crisps').

The Belgians are noted for claiming that french fries are Belgian in origin, but have presented no convincing evidence; the weight of evidence leads to the conclusion that they did indeed originate in France, but they have gained international prominence perhaps partly due to their pre-eminence in fast-food menus, propagated by fast-food chains like McDonald's and Burger King (Hungry Jacks in Australia). In America, french fries are typically served with hamburgers, a latter-day descendent of the French "steak-frites" combination. They are also often eaten with meat, fish, and vegetables or by themselves. They also make up half of the classic food combinations fish and chips and "moules-frites".

The largest producer of french fries in the world is McCain Foods Limited, a Canadian company in Florenceville, New Brunswick. Such is the popularity of french fries that McCain Foods Limited can produce potato products at the rate of more than 1,000,000 lb/h (125 kg/s) in its 30 potato processing plants on six continents around the world.

Origin of the name

The logical explanation of the origin of the North American name of the dish is that it derives from potatoes that have been "fried in the french manner". The English verb fry is ambiguous?it can refer to both to sautéeing and to deep-fat frying-- while the french verb it derives from refers unambiguously to the latter.

However, there exist many other widely disseminated legends: By one account, the fried potatoes are called 'french fries' because they are commonly fried in the Belgo-French manner (that is to say, frying them twice with a small pause in the middle).Other accounts say that they were once called 'German fries' but the name was changed either for political reasons (Germany was once the enemy of the United States) or simple historical reasons (a traditional theory poses that it was in France during World War I that American soldiers first encountered the dish). Still another totally unsubstantiated legend claims that the inclusion of the word "French" in the fried potatoes most likely has its origin in the fact that the American and Canadian soldiers in World War I when they were served the "Belgian Fries" misunderstood the denomination when the local population referred to what they were serving them as "Franged fried potatoes". The verb "frange" meant "broken" and has disappeared from the English language. The meaning can still be found in the word "frangible". Unfamiliar with the verb "Frange" and referring to the language (French)spoken where those soldiers ate those fried potatoes transformed the name in "French fried potatoes" or "French fries". Note that only in the US and in Canada are deep-fried potatoes called "French fries".

History

"Potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small slices" are noted in a manuscript in Thomas Jefferson's hand (circa 1801) and the recipe almost certainly comes from his French chef, Honoré Julien. From 1813 ("The French Cook" by Louis Ude) on recipes occur in popular american cookbooks. Recipes in French cookbooks date back at least to Menon's "Les soupers de la cour" (1755).

Variants

French fries have numerous variants, from "thick-cut" to "shoestring", "curly", and "waffle-cut". They can also be coated with breading and spices to create "seasoned fries", or cut thickly (often with the skin left on) to create "steak fries".

In Australia, Britain, Ireland, and many other countries, the term french fries is only used by fast-food restaurants serving narrow-cut (shoestring) fries prepared in the American style. Traditional chips in these countries are usually cut much thicker and cooked for a shorter period of time than American-style french fries, making them less crunchy on the outside and fluffier on the inside. This results in a relatively healthier dish as the area saturated with oil is much less. Chips form one half of the popular British takeaway dish fish and chips. In another example of two nations being divided by their common language, potato chips are called crisps in British English.

According to American culinary celebrity Alton Brown, Belgian pommes frites are usually fried in horse fat. However, he is mistaken, as traditionally, ox fat was used, although now nut oil is usually preferred for health reasons. Belgian fries must be fried twice, and are thicker than french fries, but thinner than British chips. Fries with Mayonnaise is actually the national dish of Belgium and Belgians are very fussy about how their fries are served. Even the smallest Belgian town has its own "fritkot" (a Flemish word literally meaning "fries shack" which has also been adopted by the French speaking part of the country in addition to the French "Friture"), the Belgian equivalent of the British "Fish & Chips", only that its main dish is... fries with mayonnaise. Belgians actually have their "Frites met/avec Mayonnaise" as a main dish, without any side orders.

In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the word chips is used for both forms of fried potato; although the phrase hot chips unambiguously refers to french fries or chips.

Most home cooks who prepare french fries from potatoes that they have cut themselves cook them a single time in a generous amount of oil pre-heated to a temperature around 375°F (190°C) until they are golden and slightly crisp. Many restaurants, especially those reputed to have excellent french fries, cook them in two batches: the first at a temperature that varies from chef to chef but that is generally around 350°F (177°C), until the fries are nearly cooked but still limp and pale; the second, after the first batch has been removed from the oil and allowed to cool, at a higher temperature, generally around 375°F (190°C), until they are golden and crisp, which normally takes less than a minute. A third method, invented by the celebrated French chef Joël Robuchon for the home cook, is to put the sliced potatoes into a saucepan with just enough cold oil in it to cover the potatoes, then cook them over high heat until golden, stirring occasionally. Frozen french fries are widely available in supermarkets; it is not unheard of for them to be baked instead of fried.

French fries are almost always salted just after cooking for enhanced taste. They are then served with a variety of condiments, most notably ketchup, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, tartar sauce, brown sauce, vinegar (especially malt vinegar) or gravy. In the Netherlands, peanut sauce is also popular (also called satay sauce, after the Indonesian meat sateh on which the same sauce is used). The Dutch also use the word mayonnaise to refer to frietsaus (fries-sauce) a thicker, less acidic sauce made specially to accompany french fries. Another interesting combination is Patatje Oorlog (Dutch for: French Fries War), which is French Fries with mayonnaise, peanut sauce and raw onions.

In Quebec and New Brunswick, french fries are the main component of a dish called poutine: a mixture of french fries with fresh cheddar cheese curds, covered with hot gravy. In the United States, fries are sometimes coated with melted cheese, called cheese fries. Often this is in combination with chili. Another variation is garlic and cheese fries (cheese with garlic mayonnaise).

Health aspects

French fries may contain a large amount of fat (usually saturated) from frying and from some condiments or topping and may be bad for the health of those who consume them regularly. Some researchers have also suggested that the high temperatures used for frying such dishes may have results harmful to health (see acrylamides.) In the United States about 1/4 of vegetables consumed are prepared as French Fries and are believed to contribute to an epidemic of obesity. Frying french fries in beef tallow, the traditional McDonald's recipe, produces a very tasty product but adds saturated fat to the diet. Replacing tallow with tropical oils such as palm oil simply substitutes one saturated fat for another. Replacing tallow with partially hydrogenated oil reduces cholesterol but adds trans fat.

United States political controversy

On March 11, 2003 the cafeteria menus in the three United States House of Representatives office buildings changed the name of french fries to freedom fries in a symbolic culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over that country's opposition to the United States government's position on Iraq. French toast was also changed to freedom toast. In response, the French embassy noted that french fries are Belgian. "We are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes," said Nathalie Loisau, an embassy spokeswoman.

Even though the name change started with private restaurants across the country and was later picked up by the House of Representatives, many French people considered the quick and highly visible reporting of the name change needlessly spiteful, and a media-driven attempt to direct Americans' attention away from the serious reasons for French opposition. See media manipulation and anti-French sentiment in the United States.

In June 2004, the United States Department of Agriculture, with the advisement of a federal district judge from Beaumont, Texas, classified batter-coated french fries as a vegetable under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Although this move was mostly for trade reasons (french fries do not meet the standard to be listed as a "processed food"), this received significant media attention partially due to the documentary Super Size Me.