French fries (North American English, sometimes capitalized), fries , or french-fried potatoes are thin strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans often refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries , while in other parts of the world, long slices of potatoes are sometimes called fries to contrast them with the thickly cut strips, which are often referred to as chips . French fries are known as frites or pommes frites in many parts of Europe, and have names that mean "french potatoes" in others (Icelandic Franskar kartöflur , Finnish Ranskalaiset perunat ).
Etymology
The phrase means potatoes fried in the French sense of the verb "to cook", which can mean either sautéing or deep-grease frying. While its French origin, frire , unambiguously means deep-frying, frites being its past participle used with a plural (not singular, but plural) feminine substantive, as in pommes de terre frites ("deep-fried potatoes"). Thomas Jefferson at a White House dinner in 1802 served "potatoes served in the French manner". In the early 20th century, the term "French fried" was being used for foods such as onion rings or chicken, apart from potatoes.
The verb "to french", though not attested until after "French fried potatoes" had appeared, can refer to "julienning" of vegetables as is acknowledged by some dictionaries, while others only refer to trimming the meat off the shanks of chops. In the UK, "Frenched" lamb chops (particularly for serving as a "rack of lamb") have the majority of the fat removed together with a small piece of fatty meat from between the ends of the chop bones, leaving mainly only the meat forming the "eye" of the chop attached.
Culinary origin
Belgium
Belgian historian Jo Gerard 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."
A Belgian legend claims that the term "French" was introduced when British or American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, and consequently tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them "French", as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.
Whether or not Belgians invented them, "Frieten" became the national snack and a substantial part of several national dishes.
France
In France, fried potatoes are called "pommes de terres frites" , "pommes frites" or more simply (and commonly) "frites" .
Recipes for fried potatoes in French cookbooks date to Menon's Les soupers de la cour (1755). 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. In addition, from 1813 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".
Spain
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, 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.
Spreading popularity
United Kingdom
The first chip fried in Britain was apparently on the site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market in 1860. 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."
United States influence
Although the thicker cut British style of fried potato (known as 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.
In the 2000s
Pre-made french fries have been available for home cooking since the 1970s, 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 the traditionally fried item.
Variants
There are variants such as "thick-cut fries", "steak fries", "shoestring fries", "jojo fries", "crinkle fries", and "curly fries". They can also be coated with breading and spices, which include garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, and salt to create "seasoned fries", or cut thickly with the skin left on to create potato wedges, or without the skin to create "steak fries", essentially the American equivalent of the British "chip". 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" 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.
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.
In Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, the term "French fries" was made popular by American fast food franchises setting up restaurants and serving narrow-cut (shoestring) fries. Traditional "chips" in the United Kingdom and Ireland are usually cut much thicker, typically between ⅜ and ½ inches (9.5-13 mm) square in cross-section and cooked twice, making them less crunchy on the outside and fluffier on the inside. Since the surface-to-volume ratio is lower, they have a lower fat content. Chips are part of the popular take-away dish fish and chips. In Australia, the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand, few towns are without a chip shop (colloquially, a chippie/chippy/chipper ).
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.
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 us
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