Seasoned Fries How-to and Recipe

Seasoned Fries How-To Recipe

Seasoned fries are delicious. Various restaurants make them and you may purchase them in the grocery store. The bad news is that in both cases they cost more than the regular fries.

The good news is that they are super easy to make yourself!

This is an extension of Cooking Flavor Enhancing Tricks and I have linked that article to this one at the bottom of this article.

French Fries

French fries have been around for a long time. The Jefferson White House listed fried potatoes in the French manner on a state dinner menu. The British call them chips and the French call them pommes frit. In Canada the national French fry dish is poutine where cheese curds and brown gravy or sauce are slathered on a generous serving of them. The Spanish call them patatas fritas. However, papas fritas are more like skillet fried potatoes here in New Mexico. Papas fritas have other things like onions and chilés in them too!

Once in Denmark I was served French fries with a huge dollop of mayonnaise on them. And in Great Britain I had to learn to ask for a ‘sachet of tomato sauce’ rather than a packet of catsup. They were tiny sachets of tomato sauce too!

McDonald’s is known for their fries. The McDonald’s French fry is superior on color, crispness, and taste. But maintaining those high standards was difficult. McDonald’s uses the Idaho Russet as their potato of choice. The Idaho Russet is only fresh harvested nine months a year. So, how did McDonald’s find fresh potatoes the other three months?

At first, they didn’t and it was a problem.

Along came Jack Simplot who had a revolutionary way to freeze fries. Oh, he had problems getting attention from McDonald’s. Ray Kroc, the founding father of the McDonald’s Chain, listened when Simplot said he had a superior way to freeze potatoes. Then Simplot worked with McDonald’s to further perfect the McDonald’s French fry.

Quality control of McDonald’s French fry was assured by the then ‘new’ method of freezing the Idaho Russets. Simplot also became the largest frozen French fry supplier and very wealthy due to this!

When McDonald’s first moved into Russia they introduced the Idaho Russet potatoes to their suppliers. The common potato grown in Russia did not meet the McDonald’s standard. Almost every country that McDonald's has expanded to has had to adapt to the McDonald's French fry standards!

McDonald’s Behind the Arches by John F. Love is a great book to read on the history of McDonald’s. The story is a fascinating one!

Here is the easy-peasey way to have seasoned fries at home.

Seasoned Fry How-To (Recipe)

Bag of julienned frozen French fries

1-3 T. of olive oil

1 t. cumin

1 t. onion powder (not onion salt)

1 t. garlic powder (not garlic salt)

Toss all ingredients together

Lay out on baking stone (will make crisper fries)

Season with salt

Bake per instruction on the frozen bag of fries

(Hint: it usually takes a bit longer than the instructions on the bag says in order to achieve a crisper fry.)

Add chipotle powder for a nice variation!