Tweet
The thread title is a nod to Mr. G. So any way an old high school friend of mine plans on opening some type of fast casual burger and fries type restaurant next year so this afternoon he invited a bunch of us over to his house to use as guinea pigs to try different recipes out. I think his burgers are spot on using locally sourced grass fed, free range, organic beef topped with local one of three different cheeses also sourced here in SoCal while the salad options were all great as well but his french fries still need a bit of work. The big problem is everyone seemed to have their own ideas about what constituted really good fries so we couldn't settle on which variety of fry was the best. Personally, I like thin crispy shoe string fries with a bit of parmesan cheese sprinkled on top but others wanted thick wedge cut or crinkle cut fries and one person even suggested both curly fries and criss cut fries.
Now, my friend wants to keep his menu very simple so he can keep the kitchen running quickly and efficiently so he wants to do one style of fries but do it very well. His business plan is for a fast casual sit down restaurant offering a limited menu but doing it very well with superior ingredients; kind of like Five Guys but with food you actually want to eat instead of the commodity crap Five Guys shovels. So what exactly do you think makes the best french fry and what is your most memorable french fry experience? Was it crispy or less well done? What style of fries was it (shoe string, wedge cut, crinkle cut, criss cut, or some other style)? Was there some special type of potato used (with several hundred different varieties of potatoes out there some people claim certain breeds of potatoes are better then others when it comes to making fries)? Were the potatoes skinned or was the skin left on? What type of oil was used (or at least did they taste oily or not), were they twice fried or fried only once, was there a vinegary taste to them (some places soak the fries in vinegar before frying them to help get the water out of them so they crispy up better), and what sort of condiments or toppings were used?
I honestly never knew making french fries was so complicated with so many different options but my friend went into detail on all of them plus made us fill out little cards describing our reactions to each proposed recipe. He seems very serious about coming up with a better french fry recipe.
Now, my friend wants to keep his menu very simple so he can keep the kitchen running quickly and efficiently so he wants to do one style of fries but do it very well. His business plan is for a fast casual sit down restaurant offering a limited menu but doing it very well with superior ingredients; kind of like Five Guys but with food you actually want to eat instead of the commodity crap Five Guys shovels. So what exactly do you think makes the best french fry and what is your most memorable french fry experience? Was it crispy or less well done? What style of fries was it (shoe string, wedge cut, crinkle cut, criss cut, or some other style)? Was there some special type of potato used (with several hundred different varieties of potatoes out there some people claim certain breeds of potatoes are better then others when it comes to making fries)? Were the potatoes skinned or was the skin left on? What type of oil was used (or at least did they taste oily or not), were they twice fried or fried only once, was there a vinegary taste to them (some places soak the fries in vinegar before frying them to help get the water out of them so they crispy up better), and what sort of condiments or toppings were used?
I honestly never knew making french fries was so complicated with so many different options but my friend went into detail on all of them plus made us fill out little cards describing our reactions to each proposed recipe. He seems very serious about coming up with a better french fry recipe.
Comment