French fries

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French Fries

A dish of French fries
Origin
Alternative name(s)	Belgian fries, chips, fries, French-fried potatoes, steak fries, wedges, potato wedges
Place of origin	Belgium
Dish details
Course served	Side dish or, rarely, as a main dish
Serving temperature	Hot, generally salted, with or without a side of ketchup or other dips, like vinegar or barbecue sauce. In Belgium, amongst other countries, mayonnaise is the most popular dip.[1]
Main ingredient(s)	Potatoes and oil

French fries (American English, sometimes capitalized^[2]), fries,^[3] or French-fried potatoes are thin strips of deep-fried potato.^[4] Americans often refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries, while in other parts of the world, most notably the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of fried potatoes are called fries to distinguish them from the thickly cut strips called chips.^[5] French fries are known as frites or pommes frites in French, a name which is also used in many non-French-speaking areas, and have names that mean "fried potatoes" or "French potatoes" in others.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Culinary origin 2.1 Belgium 2.2 Great Britain 2.2.1 Chips 2.3 France and French-speaking Canada 2.4 Spain 3 Spreading popularity 3.1 United States influence 4 Variants 4.1 Curly fries 5 Accompaniments 6 Health aspects 7 Legal issues 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Etymology

Thomas Jefferson at a White House dinner in 1802 served "potatoes served in the French manner".^[6][7][8] In the early 20th century, the term "French fried" was being used in the sense of "deep-fried," apart from potatoes, for foods such as onion rings or chicken.^[9][10]

It is unlikely that 'French fried' refers to 'frenching' in the sense of "julienning" and is not attested until after 'French fried potatoes'; previously, Frenching referred only to trimming the meat off the shanks of chops.^[11]

[edit] Culinary origin

[edit] Belgium

The Belgian journalist Jo Gérard recounts that potatoes were fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals."^[12][13]

Many Belgians^[who?] believe that the term "French" was introduced when American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, and consequently tasted Belgian fries.^{[citation needed]} They supposedly called them "French", as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.

"Les frites" (French) or "Frieten" (Dutch) became the national snack and a substantial part of several national dishes.

[edit] Great Britain

[edit] Chips

The first chips fried in Britain were apparently on the site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market in 1860.^{[citation needed]} In Scotland, chips were first sold in Dundee, "...in the 1870s, that glory of British gastronomy – the chip – was first sold by Belgian immigrant Edward De Gernier in the city’s Greenmarket."^[14] Traditional "chips" in the United Kingdom and Ireland are usually cut much thicker, typically between 9.5–13 mm (⅜ - ½ inches) square in cross-section and cooked twice (although double frying is less commonly practiced today), making them more crunchy on the outside and fluffier on the inside. Since the surface-to-volume ratio is lower, they have a lower fat content. Thick-cut British chips are occasionally made from unpeeled potatoes to enhance their flavor and nutrional content, and are not necessarily served as crisp as the European French fry due to their higher relative water content.

Chips are part of the popular take-out dish fish and chips. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, few towns are without a fish and chip shop. In these countries, the term "French fries" refers to the narrow-cut (shoestring) fries that are served by American-based fast food franchises.

[edit] France and French-speaking Canada

In France and French-speaking Canada, fried potatoes are called "pommes de terre frites",^{[citation needed]} "pommes frites", "patates frites", or more simply (and commonly) "frites". Pommes frites are somewhat different than American French fries in that they are often fried twice, use different oils to fry them, use the left over bits, and different types of potatoes are used.

Eating potatoes was promoted in France by Parmentier, but he did not mention fried potatoes in particular.

Many Americans attribute the dish to France and offer as evidence a notation by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. "Pommes de terre frites à cru, en petites tranches" ("Potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings") in a manuscript in Thomas Jefferson's hand (circa 1801-1809) and the recipe almost certainly comes from his French chef, Honoré Julien.^[6] In addition, from 1813^[15] on, recipes for what can be described as French fries, occur in popular American cookbooks. By the late 1850s, one of these mentions the term "French fried potatoes".^[16]

Frites are the main ingredient in the Québécois dish known as poutine, comprising fried potatoes covered with cheese curds and brown gravy, a dish with a growing number of variations.

[edit] Spain

In Spain, fried potatoes are called "patatas fritas". Another common form in which the potatoes are cut into irregular shapes and seasoned with a spicy tomato sauce, are called "patatas bravas".

Some claim that the dish was invented in Spain, the first European country in which the potato appeared via the New World colonies, and assumes the first appearance to have been as an accompaniment to fish dishes in Galicia,^{[citation needed]} from which it spread to the rest of the country and further to the Spanish Netherlands, which became Belgium more than a century later.

Professor Paul Ilegems, curator of the Friet-museum in Antwerp, Belgium, believes that Saint Teresa of Ávila fried the first chips, referring also to the tradition of frying in Mediterranean cuisine.^[13][17]

^[17]

[edit] Spreading popularity

This section requires expansion.

[edit] United States influence

Although chips was already a popular dish in most Commonwealth countries, the thin style of French fries has been popularized worldwide in part by U.S.-based fast food chains such as McDonald's.^{[citation needed]}

Pre-made French fries have been available for home cooking since the 1960s, usually having been pre-fried (or sometimes baked), frozen and placed in a sealed plastic bag.

Later varieties of French fries include those which have been battered and breaded, and many U.S. fast food and casual-food chains have turned to dusting with kashi, dextrin, and flavors coating for crispier fries with particular tastes. Results with batterings and breadings, followed by microwaving, have not achieved widespread critical acceptance. Oven frying delivers a dish different from its traditionally fried counterpart.^[18]

[edit] Variants

There are variants such as "thick-cut fries", "steak fries", "shoestring fries", "jojo fries", "crinkle fries", and "curly fries". Fries cut thickly with the skin left on are called potato wedges, and fries without the potato skin are called "steak fries", essentially the American equivalent of the British "chip". They can also be coated with breading, spices, or other ingredients, which include garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, and salt to create "seasoned fries", or cheese to create cheese fries, or chili to create chili fries. Sometimes, French fries are cooked in the oven as a final step in the preparation (having been coated with oil during preparation at the factory): these are often sold frozen and are called "oven fries" or "oven chips". Some restaurants in the southern and northeastern United States, particularly New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Louisiana, offer French fries made from sweet potatoes instead of traditional potatoes.

In France, the thick-cut fries are called "Pommes Pont-Neuf"^[19] or simply "pommes frites", about 10 mm; thinner variants are "pommes allumettes" (matchstick potatoes), ±7 mm, and "pommes pailles" (potato straws), 3–4 mm (roughly ⅜, ¼ and ⅛ inch respectively). The two-bath technique is standard (Bocuse). "Pommes gaufrettes" or "waffle fries" are not typical French fried potatoes, but actually crisps obtained by quarter turning the potato before each next slide over a grater and deep-frying just once.^[20]

Jean Ceustermans, a Belgian chef patented "steppegras" ("prairie grass"), his variety of extremely thin-cut French fried potatoes developed in 1968 while working in Germany. The name refers to a dish including its particular sauce, and to his restaurant.^[21]

In an interview, Burger King president Donald Smith said that his chain's fries are sprayed with a sugar solution shortly before being packaged and shipped to individual outlets. The sugar caramelizes in the cooking fat, producing the golden color customers expect. Without it, the fries would be nearly the same color outside as inside: pasty yellow. Smith believes that McDonald's also sugar-coats its fries. McDonalds was assumed to fry their fries for a total time of about 15 to 20 minutes, and with fries fried at least twice. The fries appear to contain beef tallow, or shortening.^[22]

[edit] Curly fries

Curly fries are a kind of French fry characterized by their unique spring-like shape. They are generally made from whole potatoes that are cut using a specialised spiral slicer. They are also typically characterized by the presence of additional seasonings (which give the fries a more orange appearance when compared to the more yellow appearance of standard fries), although this is not always the case.

Sometimes they are packaged for preparation at home, often in frozen packs. In the US they can also be found at a number of restaurants and fast food outlets like Arby's and Hardee's, where they are served with condiments such as ketchup, cheese, fry sauce, or sweet chili sauce and sour cream.

[edit] Accompaniments

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Chips are almost always salted just after cooking. They are then served with a variety of condiments, notably salt, vinegar (malt vinegar, or, in Canada, white vinegar), ketchup, curry, curry ketchup (mildly hot mix of the former), hot or chili sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, bearnaise sauce, tartar sauce, tzatziki, feta cheese, garlic sauce, fry sauce, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, gravy, aioli, brown sauce, lemon, piccalilli, pickled cucumber, gherkins, very small pickled onions, honey or hot sauce.

[edit] Health aspects

French fries can contain a large amount of fat from frying. A 13 year long observation performed by the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, on 120,000 subjects between 55 and 70, has shown that increased intake of acrylamide (formed when potatoes are baked or fried) raises the chance of kidney cancer by 60%.^[23] (see acrylamides). However, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found no association between the consumption of foods high in acrylamide and increased risk of three forms of cancer: bladder, large bowel and kidney.^[24]

In the United States about ¼ of vegetables consumed are prepared as French fries and are proposed to contribute to widespread obesity. Frying French fries in beef tallow, lard, or other animal fats adds saturated fat to the diet. Replacing animal fats with tropical oils such as palm oil simply substitutes one saturated fat for another. Replacing animal fats with partially hydrogenated oil reduces cholesterol but adds trans fat, which has been shown to both raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol. Canola oil could also be used, but beef lard is generally more popular, especially amongst fast food outlets that use communal oil baths.^[25][26][27] Many restaurants now advertise their use of unsaturated oils. Five Guys, for example, advertises their fries are prepared in peanut oil.

[edit] Legal issues

In 1994 Peter Stringfellow, the owner of Stringfellows nightclub in London, took exception to McCain Foods' use of the name "Stringfellows" for a brand of long thin chips and took them to court. He lost the case (Stringfellows v McCain Food (GB) Ltd (1994)) on the basis that there was no connection in the public mind between the two uses of the name, and therefore McCain's product would not have caused the nightclub to lose any sales.^[28][29]

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 was primarily done for trade reasons – French fries do not meet the standard to be listed as a "processed food" – it received significant media attention partially due to the documentary Super Size Me.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bocuse, Paul (December 10, 1998) (in French). La Cuisine du marché. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 978-2082025188. 
• Tebben, Maryann (2006). "“French” Fries: France’s Culinary Identity from Brillat-Savarin to Barthes (essay)". Convivium Artium. University of Texas at San Antonio. http://flan.utsa.edu/conviviumartium/Tebben.html. Retrieved December 28, 2009. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: French fries

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on French Fries

• The Official French Fries Pages -- information and fan site (1996-pres.)
• News on French Fries and Potato Processing

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