So I googled French Fries again in the news, since I forgot about this blog, and have been incredibly icky feeling/busy, and found an article (here) about a woman observing the use of ketchup in fast food restaurants.
People often will grab so many ketchup packets (more than they'll use) and just throw the rest away.
That really is a waste of food if you think about it. I know at my house, we have a drawer in the fridge filled with packets from McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell, and we use them when we run out of the bottle stuff, but there are many people who just discard the unused food. French Fries are one of the main things you use ketchup for, besides other things like burgers or hot dogs.
Sometimes (kind of related) when I go to Dunkin' Donuts, I want a single ketchup packet for my bagel sandwich. I tell this to the teller, and I usually get two. And then I just wonder what I'm going to do with the other one. So I let it sit in this little change-dish type thing in my car until I get another sandwich, this time, not asking for the packet.
But yeah. We waste ketchup a lot. Does anyone else try to conserve?
But in reality, what doesn't?
Googling "french fries" in the news section, there were quite a few articles explaining that soaking potatoes before making them into french fries can remove an acrylamide risk, whatever that is. Block quote time:
Acrylamide is a carcinogen that is created when starchy foods are baked, roasted, fried or toasted. In 2002, when scientists at the Swedish Food Administration first reported unexpectedly high levels of acrylamide, found to cause cancer in laboratory rats, in carbohydrate-rich foods. [Food Navigator]Basically what it is saying, is that you should wash your potatoes (with moving water to remove 28% of the acrylawhatever, or soak them for a half-hour to remove 38%[LA Times]) before you french-fry them.
Which I am pretty sure people do normally, since 9 times out of 10 you are supposed to wash your vegetables before you use them anyway.
Okay, so I remember hearing this song a while back, but we're talking about fast food in class, so I thought of it again.
And it is still hilarious.
This song is called the "Fast Food Song" by the Fast Food Rockers. Some weird dance-pop group from Europe. It's catchy and hilarious.
I find it interesting how much these American fast food joints have made their way into other countries (french fries included!), and even inspired this completely random song.
And oh look, there's a version dedicated to Christmas
So last night for an assignment, we were to look at nutrition facts and what not for fast food places.
Naturally, I decided to look at french fries:
| Nutrition Facts |  |  |  |  |  |  | |  |  |  |  | |  | |  | |  |  | % Daily Value | |||
 |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||
| Medium French Fries | 4 oz (114 g) | 380 | 180 | 20 | 31 | 4 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 220 | 9 | 47 | 16 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 6 |
Oh god, is there really that much crap in them? 380 calories for fries alone; that's not including your burger with 500+ calories or your milkshake with another bajillion calories.
Is it necessary to be that unhealthy? If McDonald's really wanted to, could they make a healthier french fry? Maybe it wouldn't be cost effective, so maybe that's why they wouldn't want to. But they could totally pull a new marketing stunt for a new, healthy french fry.
Everyone thinks of McDonald's as unhealthy, but people still eat there, so why should McDonald's do anything about it?
Often people will argue about who makes the best frnech fry in the fast food agency. There certainly is variation between them, but it mostly comes down to personal preference, I think.
McDonald's french fries claim to be America's favorite fry. They have a special taste and texture to them that you don't really find elsewhere. They're usually crispy, and generally thin like shoestring fries. In an excerpt from the book Fast Food Nation, they actually report that McDonald's fries taste so different because of the way they are fried. The "oil" the fries are made in is actually mostly beef tallow, so when you're eating that french fry, it has a subtle taste of that burger you're eating too. I wonder if the vegetarians know this? Anyway, then the fries are usually drowned in salt afterward and end up tasting like poo anyway.
I remember a few years ago when Toy Story came out and Burger King was all, "Look guys we changed our fries!!1!" I feel like they've changed again since then too, because they have a little less seasoning on them than they did then, and I think it works better. A Burger King fry is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and also has a trademark taste, different from McDonald's. However, out of the main three burger joints in the North East, I think their fries are the worst. I guess it is because they are so soft in the middle, and the weird seasonings they use. I just don't like it haha.
Now Wendy's, they know how to make a good french fry. It's not too crispy, it's not too soft, it has a happy place right in the middle. I remember a couple years ago that Wendy's redid their fries too (although they didn't make as big of a deal as BK did.) They used to be more irregularly shaped and a lot more soggy. Recently, they've taken a uniform shape, almost similar to McDonald's, but a little thicker, and the seasonings were worked on too a little. Another thing I like about Wendy's, is that they don't over salt their french fries like the other places do. They give you your own little salt packets to do that (I usually don't use them and throw them out). If McDonald's gave you a salt packet to put on their fries, I would be afraid, since they're already saturated with it.
But yeah. In the three major burger joints in the North East, I'd have to say Wendy's has the best french fry made of delicious and potato. Other fast food places make fries too, like Poppeye's (nasty fries), KFC (mediocre potato wedges), and so on, but none of them are really good, haha.
Fast food restaurants everywhere, as well as fancy-shmancy ones, all have french fries. So why shouldn't Dunkin' Donuts?
Dunkin' Donuts recently released these little hash brown creations (they were actually released last year, I believe, but they have just started pushing them), to go with their combo meals (McDonald's much?). You can get a sausage, egg & cheese bagel, medium hot coffee -- regular, and now you can get your hash browns to go with it.
These hash browns are definitely related to the french fry we find everyday at fast food restaurants. McDonald's and Burger King had been adding hash browns to their breakfasts for ages. Since you obviously can't serve french fries for breakfast (at least for now), Dunkin' Donuts had to think of another solution.
A side order is a staple in American fast food cuisine. Without one, it just doesn't really seem like a meal.
This hash brown pretty much serves the purpose of a breakfast french fry (as the real ones usually aren't bite sized). They're quick to cook, easy to sell, and if Rachel Ray loves them, why shouldn't America?
Personally, I think they taste like seasoned cardboard, but I am no food connoisseur. Give them a try. They'll probably become as common as french fries in McDonald's some day.
Sometimes people can get bored with their plain french fries with ketchup. They turn to alternate ways to dress them up!
A favorite of mine is the bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing explosion. You start with a layer of french fries, add some cheese on top of that, sprinkle some crumbled bacon, and dip it in a small (or large) cup of ranch dressing on the side.
Sometimes, people will substitute the bacon & ranch for some chilli, to create the ever delicious chilli cheese fries.
Googling french fry toppings, I also found something interesting.
Poutine is a dish of french fries found in Canada (especially in Quebec), topped with some sort of cheese curd and gravy. Yum. /sarcasm
Apparently, this is something popular in Canada, sold even at fast food resturaunts like McDonald's.
Other countries top their fries with different things too, like tartar sauce in the Netherlands, but that's too far from home for me.
I don't know how I feel about this curd-gravy dish, but I suppose maybe Canadians think the same of our cheddar-bacon-artery-hardening goodness.