The insanity of the campaign season resulted in our virtually ignoring an important holiday, National French Fry Day. Yesterday, July 12, was set aside to acknowledge yet another of my favorite food groups, the french fry, a delicacy I have enjoyed throughout my life. We had one of those little french fry cutters at home when I was a kid, and mom would squeeze a potato or two through it and drop the square cut delicacies into a pot of hot Crisco to our delight. The french fry is about the only thing that will cause me to abandon my disdain for Catsup even though many eateries are now peddling “french fry sauce”, a concoction that is a favorite at Freddy’s restaurants.
Sharon and I have personally tried nearly every joint in town that serves french fries, and Springfield is blessed with a huge variety of offerings. It is important to note that a good french fry needs to be piping hot and properly seasoned when served, as they degrade quickly if they sit. Here we go.
McDonalds sells about 9 million pounds of french fries a DAY. They promote the beef flavored overtones to their fries which are cut from 4 varieties of potatoes. When fresh, which is a hit or miss proposition, they are a great way to clog your arteries and raise your blood pressure. They are also wonderful, if hot, terrible when they cool down. Most restaurant fries are factory cut, processed, flash frozen and hit the oil out of a bag where they languish for a minute or two before dropped into a grease strainer, salted and delivered. The sitting part is the death knell for good fries. In Springfield, you have a fifty-fifty chance of fresh fries at Mackie-D’s, with some stores doing a great job some not so good. What-A-Burger and Burger King generally serve up average fries, with freshness not being their forte’. Red Robin delivers an excellent fry. Steak & Shake offers an interesting, very thin fry, also good when fresh. Wendy’s is better, but the best fries come from two joints in our opinion. Always fresh, piping hot and seasoned to taste are the fries from Black-Sheep. You can get them seasoned with a variety of spices and we have never been disappointed with their potatoes. A close second are the roost-fries from The Roost, with two locations in town. They are not a normal fry in that they are wedge cut, seasoned to perfection and hit your table too hot to eat.
French fries are an appropriate accompaniment for everything from fish to steak, with hotdogs and burgers reigning supreme. They are also a great go to snack. The bottom line is they are eaten by the billions and under appreciated. Enjoy an order this weekend at your favorite purveyor. Everybody eats french fries…….don’t they?
Have a great week!
SR
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